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ICT Group Research

Introduction

ICT Group research is aimed at furthering the Group's mission:

To increase the understanding of ICTs and their role in society through our interdisciplinary teaching, research, scholarship, partnerships and outreach.

Our research addresses the history, philosophy and socio-technical context of Information and Communication Technologies. It is multidisciplinary, drawing on the wide range of backgrounds of ICT Group staff, and makes extensive use of partnerships both within and outside the University. This work is supported by a number of research groups. For details of these as well as other information about the ICT Group's research, see Further Research Information.

Research Themes

Our research strategy focuses effort and resources on three headline themes:

• ICT in life
• ICT for work
• Education and ICT

These three themes are supported by research on the:

• Modelling and theory of ICT and the
• History of ICT

ICT in life

ICT plays a part in all aspects of life and of society. ICT can be found in fields such as health, commerce, government and ecology. In particular, the internet and web connect people in ways which were not previously possible, or imagined. These ideas are already well-integrated into our teaching. The ICT Group sees many research opportunities in this area, particularly in relation to Web 2.0 and Web science, and plans to build on them.

Current research

BIOLOGICAL IDENTIFICATION ON MOBILE DEVICES, Jon Rosewell, funded by Eduserv (£153,000)

BIOENGINEERING & PROSTHETIC LIMBS, Adrian Poulton, in collaboration with Brunel Institute for Bioengineering and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.

ICT for work

The Group has significant research strengths in the theme of ICT in work, and this is also one of the main directions in which our teaching is developing. Of particular note is the international recognition of Clem Herman's work on Gender and SET (Science, Engineering and Technology) including specific work on gender and ICT, with significant external funding.

Current research

EAST-WEST EUROPEAN WOMEN'S CAREERS IN SET, Clem Herman, funded by DTI and ESF (£50,000)

ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING AND WOMEN'S CAREERS IN SET, Clem Herman, Karen Kear & Helen Donelan, with colleagues in IET and Science Faculty, funded by DTI and ESF (£70,000)

RETAINING WOMEN IN THE IT INDUSTRY, Clem Herman (part of EU experts group on Women in Science and Technology)

E-PORTFOLIOS FOR WORK-BASED LEARNING, Neil Murray, OU part-time D.Ed (supervised by colleague in IET).

FOUNDATION DEGREES, Neil Murray (paper to be presented at Foundation Degrees Forward 2007 conference).

Education and ICT

For more than three decades, the ICT Group has been highly innovative in its teaching, both in the use of technology and in pedagogy There is a vast amount of experience and expertise within the Group, and a major part of our strategy is to capitalise on this experience. Members of the EATING research group have excellent links with other relevant OU groups, such as IET, CREET, KMi and the eLearning Community.

Current research

OPEN COURSE COLLECTION AND AGGREGATION MODEL, Ian Martin, funded by JISC (£7000), part of the (£100,000) eXchanging Course Related Information project partnership of six HE institutions.

VLE TOOLS PILOT PROJECT, John Woodthorpe, funded by OU VLE team & Student Services (£5000)

FEEDBACK, ASSESSMENT AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT, Mirabelle Walker, OU COLMSCT Fellowship (and paper to be presented at Improving Student Learning Symposium, 2007).

MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES FOR LEARNING, Richard Seaton, OU COLMSCT Associate Fellowship.

ROBOTICS FOR ICT OUTREACH, Tony Hirst, Jon Rosewell & Dave Vallis (Robofesta events and partnerships with: UWE in EPSRC Robot Thought project; UWE Walking with Robots EPSRC stage award; Fraunhofer Institute in EU funded Roberta Goes EU. Frequent funded 'gifted and talented' activities for schools.)

OPEN CONTENT INTRODUCTION TO ROBOTICS PROGRAMMING, Tony Hirst, Jon Rosewell & Giselle Ferreira, funded by Higher Education Academy (£5000).

DESIGN FEATURES OF CMC SYSTEMS, Karen Kear, OU part-time PhD, supervised by Nick Heap & Chris Bissell (papers accepted for publication in Journal of Computer Assisted Learning and for presentation at Ed-Media 2007 conference)

STUDENT WORKLOAD ON A LEVEL 1 COURSE, Karen Kear, in collaboration with IET.

INNOVATIONS IN ICT TEACHING, members of the Group (Proprietary Software Tools as Learning Aids, Allan Jones, to be presented at Ed-Media 2007 conference, Keeping Ahead in ICT, Chris Bissell & David Chapman, to be presented at the joint SEFI-IGIP 2007 conference)

Studentships

One PhD student, supervised by Roger Jones

History of ICT

Understanding the history of ICT helps us to understand its current and future development. This aspect of the Group's research is led by Professor Chris Bissell, who has an excellent research record in this area.

Current research

TECHNOLOGIES OF MODELLING: MODELS OF TECHNOLOGY , Chris Bissell (organiser), a four-paper session at Society for the History of Technology 2007 conference

SEMINAL PAPERS IN ICT Translations by Chris Bissell of classic papers hitherto unavailable in English http://ict.open.ac.uk/classics/

HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BROADCASTING, Allan Jones, part-time PhD, University College, London (paper to be published in special issue of Minerva journal).

HISTORY OF COMPUTING, Ian Martin, part-time PhD, University of Manchester (paper to be presented at British Society for the History of Science 2007 conference).

Studentships

One PhD student, supervised by Chris Bissell & John Monk

Modelling and theory of ICT

Understanding of any aspect of ICT requires theoretical underpinning. As ICT develops, so too must the modelling and theory. ICT Group strengths in this area include: intelligent computer systems; control systems; and communication systems.

Current research

AVERAGING TECHNIQUES FOR ESTIMATION OF CHANNEL SPECTRAL CHARACTERISTICS, John Monk, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police.

A COMPREHENSIVE ALGEBRA FOR STATE TRANSITION DIAGRAMS, John Monk.

A THEORY OF OBJECTS AND DIAGRAMS, John Monk (book in preparation).

ENGINEERING MODELS, Chris Bissell, (paper to be presented at Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice 2007 conference)

COMMUNICATIONS THEORY, John Newbury funded by Framework 6 (£32,000).

INTELLIGENT ASSISTANCE FOR TABLE TENNIS UMPIRES, Patrick Wong (paper to be presented at First Asia Conference on Modelling and Simulation, 2007)

NON-CONCEPTUAL CONTENT AND ARTIFICIAL AGENTS, Nicky Moss, OU part-time PhD, supervised by Adrian Hopgood & Martin Weller.

TECHNOLOGY AS A LANGUAGE, John Monk.

THE NATURE OF INFORMATION, David Chapman (OU internal conference, organised with colleagues in Systems Dept)

Studentships

Seven PhD students, supervised by John Newbury/Nick Heap/Roger Jones/Adrian Poulton/David Chapman