I am a Professor in Computer Science, Head of Postgraduate Research for Computer Science, a University Senator, a Member of the General Assembly and a member of the University Examinations Board. Professionally, I am a Fellow of the British Computer Soc., a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering Technology, and an Association of Computing Machinery Distinguished Scientist.
My work is centred on understanding, predicting and influencing a user’s behaviour in the real-world and through interfaces and information, while taking into account cognitive, behavioural, perceptual and technological factors. My contributions lie in the development of adaptive user models of extreme users and/or extreme environments.
Grants and Translation
I've been an Investigator on 19 grants (10 as PI). Having ongoing projects and relationships with: BBC R&D; Google; IBM R&D; Intel; CTIC-Telefonica; Ove Arup Partners; Age Concern; Buttercup Telecommunications; and Docobo, these contributions have not only stayed within the academic community but have made their way into the DNA of the Web via browsers (chromium), software tools (eclipse ACTF) and internationalstandards (W3C UAAG 2.0 / W3C RDWG Symposia). I have led the ACM Special Interest Group on the Web for 2 terms and have led the W3C (the International Standards Body for the Web) Research and Development working group for 4 years making decisions by building consensus when creating web standards (my working being commended as “instrumental to the development of the Web” by Sir Tim Berners Lee).
Past Work
My particular interest is in Web Accessibility with specific regard to profound blindness and visual disability. My work is centred around building computational models of human behaviour and includes understanding, predicting, and influencing a user’s interactions and flow through interfaces and information, while taking into account neurophysiological, cognitive, behavioural, perceptual, and technological factors. In this case, my contributions lay along two paths. The first investigates ‘facilitating access and enhancing interactive Web behaviours’, while the second focuses on ‘understanding, evaluating, and modifying the Web experience’.
I co-founded the Web4All Conference Series (now in its 11th Edition) and organised the first four (2004-2007 inc.) as General Chair; Steering Committee – International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility; Steering Committee – International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility; and Steering Committee – International ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia. Programme Chair for ACM ASSETS (2006); Submissions Chair for the WWW Conference (2006) and Accessibility Chair for the 2012 edition; ACM Student Research Competition Grand Finals Judge (2012), General Chair for ACM Hypertext (2007) and ACM ASSETS (2008) and is also a member of the steering committee for these two conferences. I have served on the programme committees, doctoral consortium panels, and review panels for a number of international conferences including ACM HT, WWW, ISWC, ACM CHI, UIST, ACM ASSETS, and ACM SAC. I have guest edited the New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia; Journal of Web Engineering; Journal of Disability and Rehabilitation, and Universal Access in the Information Society. He currently reviews for ACM Transactions on Computer Human Interaction, ACM Transactions on the Web, Elsevier Journal of Web Semantics, and IEEE Internet Computing.
Live Notes | Category:Cards on the Table
By way of “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_disclosure">full disclosure</a>” I should also say I pay for this site myself, but do not make any significant financial profit from it. So this site is a shop window for research I’m doing as well as related work. Any opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily representative of my employer.
Unless stated otherwise, words, pictures, audio and video you find here are licensed under a CC-BY license, which requires attribution, but allows free redistribution (see below). So feel free to copy, distribute, transmit, remix and adapt work you find here, just give me credit and attribution by linking back to where you originally took the data from.
This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.
How did I get here? Well I haven't been here forever. I failed all my exams at school and so became a worker at <a class="ref" title="Blidworth Village" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blidworth">Blidworth</a> Colliery in Nottinghamshire (Soap Box... you know, before <a class="ref" title="Margaret Thatcher" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher">Thatcher</a> <a class="ref" title="Miners Strike" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_miners%27_strike_%281984-1985%29">wiped out a whole working community of a couple of hundred thousand in one stroke</a>. Yes people unemployed are always acceptable as long as it's all done in the name of a free market, tell that to the Nuclear Industry, even if the European market, in fact all markets aren't truly free!). But while loads of people liked it I didn't, so I took some courses and got myself onto a degree program. And hey-presto here I am!
Personal Note
I live happily in Manchester (UK) with my <a title="To Rina's Site" href="http://www.rina-srabonian.co.uk/">artistic Armenian fiancee</a>. I'm an active supporter of many charities, among them Greenpeace, Amnesty, MSF, and Oxfam. I've travelled solo through Europe, Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East - and most other places on research related activities. I'm a qualified yachtsman and an avid kayaker and sub-aqua diver. And I like nothing better than a good curry and a good beer; in fact I'm an all around gastronome and Bon viveur!
Who Pays Me?
The University of Manchester are my main employer. I'm also paid a small amount for collaborations, however, all is bound up with the University of Manchester and so becomes indivisible. This is all; I receive no other payments.
What are my Politics?
I'm a paid up member of the Labour Party, the Fabian Society, and the University and College Union, as well as being a signatory to the Euston Manefesto. I'm reasonably ethical, global warming due to Greenhouse gases IS OCCURRING, all politicians are self serving and power hungry - just deal with it - we therefore have lots of control. Make changes to your own life don't complain about the things that governments aren't doing and then forget about it. You should take control of your own life.
Am I in a Union?
Yes, I'm a member of the <a title="What is the UCU" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_and_College_Union">University and College Union (UCU)</a>. The UCU trade union represents lecturers, professors and researchers, as well as administrative, library and computing staff in universities across the UK. We represent around 110, 000 academic and academic related staff in Further and Higher Education. I'm not particularly active in the union however <a title="What is the NUM?" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Union_of_Mineworkers_%28Great_Britain%29">I tend to be quite hard line (it's my NUM upbringing)</a> in voting and industrial actions.
Charitable Giving
<a title="The Millennium Project was commissioned by the United Nations Secretary-General in 2002 to develop a concrete action plan for the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to reverse the grinding poverty, hunger and disease affecting billions of people." href="http://www.unmillenniumproject.org" target="_self">The UN Millennium Project</a> refers to the repeated commitment of the world's <a title="The UN Millennium Project's analysis indicates that 0.7% of rich world GNI can provide enough resources to meet Millennium Development Goals, but developed countries must follow through on commitments and begin increasing ODA volumes today. If every developed country set and followed through on a timetable to reach 0.7% by 2015, the world could make dramatic progress in the fight against poverty and start on a path to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and end extreme poverty within a generation. " href="http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/press/07.htm" target="_self">governments to commit 0.7% of rich-countries</a>' Gross national product (GNP) to Official Development Assistance. Spurred by this target I give 3% of my Gross Salary to Charities specifically: League Against Cruel Sports, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Royal National Lifeboat Institute, Dr Hadwen Trust, Amnesty International, The Woodland Trust, Mind, The Stroke Association and Médecins Sans Frontières.
Religious Leanings
I'm pretty agnostic about religion and spirituality. I don't really believe in it but I'm fine if others do, maybe because I'm prepared to admit I may be wrong, well not really, but let's say I'd like to be wrong. I'm a vegetarian though!
The move to T1DM was not accidental. In Autumn 2018 my Granddaughter (then 16 months old) became a person with T1DM. Why this autoimmune condition occurs is not really clearly understood at present. At that time I could see how my work could be useful in T1DM and so I pivoted away from my past-work and focused my entire research portfolio (except accessibility) to T1DM,
TL;DR I'm a researcher professor (full) working at the University of Manchester in the Department of Computer Science. Since 2018 I've focused in technology for people with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, but the last 25 years I've been working in Web Accessibility with a particular focus on profound blindness, with a foray into Parkinson's Disease.
