Irina Shklovski - Projects

Irina Shklovski		Human Computer Interaction Institute : Carnegie Mellon University

Current Projects	Irina Shklovski irinas [at] cs [dot] cmu [dot] edu
Adapting to evacuation: Using information technology for social support With: Robert Kraut & Sara Kiesler New Orleans has often been acknowledged for its profound influence on contemporary music. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many expressed concern for the possible loss of the city's unique music culture. Katrina devastated performance venues, dispersed bands and their audiences, and destroyed instruments. This research focuses on how subpopulations of New Orleans, such as musicians or food professionals, coped with changes brought on by destruction from the Hurricane and the involuntary exile from their tightly-knit communities. For example, we are interested in how musicians used available technologies to reconnect with friends and family, band members, booking personnel and audiences and whether and how they were able to continue their music careers. Preliminary round of data collection was completed in May 2006 with the help of Moira Burke and Cristen Torrey. Shklovski, I., Kraut, R., and Kiesler, S. (2005). Adapting to evacuation: Using information technology for social support. SGER NSF Proposal Funded March 2006. Carnegie Mellon University [local pdf]
Residential mobility, technology & social ties With: Robert Kraut & Jonathon Cummings (Duke University) Proximity generally increases the likelihood of personal and work relationships, and geographic mobility disrupts them. Is this true in the Internet age? This research examines how information and communication technologies, such as cellular phones and the Internet, change the initiation, maintenance, and dissolution of personal, work, and community ties for recent movers. This research also attempts to understand what factors influence psychological and social adjustment to the new location after a residential move. Shklovski, I., Kraut, R. E. & Cummings, J., (Under review). Effects of social integration on adjustment to a new location after a long distance move. Submitted March 2007 [local pdf] Shklovski, I. (2006). Residential mobility, technology and social ties. Doctoral Consortium Extended abstracts. Conference on Human Factors in Computer Systems (CHI 2006), Montreal, Canada Best Doctoral Consortium Contribution Award [local pdf] Shklovski, I., Kraut, R., and Cummings, J. (2006). Routine patterns of Internet use and psychological well-being: Coping with a residential move. In proceedings of CHI 2006, New York: ACM Press. nominated for Best Paper Award [local pdf] Shklovski, I., Mainwaring, S. (2005). Exploring technology adoption and use through the lens of residential mobility. In proceedings of CHI 2005, New York: ACM Press. [local pdf]
HomeNet With: Robert Kraut, Sara Kiesler & Katie Bessiere HomeNet is a research program to understand Americans' use of the Internet at home. Starting in 1995, we have carefully documented how families use online services, how they are integrating electronic communication and information services into their lives and the impact these services are having. Kraut, R. E., Kiesler, S., Boneva, B. & Shklovski, I. (2006). Examining the impact of Internet use on TV viewing: Details make a difference.In R. Kraut, M. Brynin, and S. Kiesler (Eds). Computers, Phones, and the Internet: The Social Impact of Information Technology. Oxford University Press.[pdf] Boneva, B., Quinn, A., Kraut, R. Kiesler, S., Cummings, J.,Shklovski, I. (2006). Teenage communication in the instant messaging era. In R. Kraut, M. Brynin, and S. Kiesler (Eds). Computers, Phones, and the Internet: The Social Impact of Information Technology. Oxford University Press.[pdf]
The Internet and Social Interaction - a Meta-analysis With: Sara Kiesler & Robert Kraut This project reviewed existing large-scale national surveys that examined how people's Internet use affects their social interaction. Although there has been a lot of research on the topic, the results are contradictory. The goal of this project was to conduct a quantitative summary of existing evidence in an attempt to reconcile differences by paying attention to methodology. Our meta-analysis showed studies using cross-sectional designs suggest that more Internet use is sometimes associated with less interaction with friends. Studies using longitudinal repeated measures designs, which can reveal changes in interaction over time, suggest that more Internet use leads to a slight increase in interactions with friends. Shklovski, I., Kiesler, S. & Kraut, R. E. (2006). The Internet and Social Interaction: A Meta-analysis and Critique of Studies, 1995-2003. In R. Kraut, M. Brynin, and S. Kiesler (Eds). Computers, Phones, and the Internet: The Social Impact of Information Technology. Oxford University Press. [pdf]
The Internet and Social Relationships With: Robert Kraut & Lee Rainie (Pew Internet Project) The Internet opens new options for communication and may change the extent to which people use older communication media. Changes in the way people communicate are important, because communication is the mechanism people use to develop and maintain social relationships, so valuable for their physical and mental health. This project used data from a national panel survey conducted by Pew Internet & American Life project in 2000 and 2001 to examine the influence of Internet use on communication and on social involvement. In doing so, it contrasts the conclusions one can draw from cross-sectional and longitudinal data on these issues. Shklovski, I., Kraut, R. E. & Rainie, L., (2004). The Internet and Social Participation: Contrasting Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analyses. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, v10(1) [html pub.]
Engaging the city With: Michele Chang (Intel Research), Chet Orloff (Oregon State) & Katrina Junginckel (Surrey University) Socio-technical research on the urban environment often treats a city's citizens as simply a dense population of users. This project attempts to advance discussion on the role of public interfaces in engaging citizens within the urban context. The aim is to determine how technology can help to develop cities that address the needs and reflect the desires of its inhabitants. The challenge for the HCI community is to design more effective public interfaces that provide citizens with more active access, authorship, and agency. This work resulted in a CHI 2005 workshop, featured in the Oregonian (a Portland, OR newspaper) and a special issue of IEEE Computer on Urban Computing, published September 2006 Shklovski, I. & Chang, M. (2006). Urban computing: Navigating space and context. IEEE Computer Sept 2006, V. 39(9) p. 36-37 [local pdf] Chang, M., Jungnickel, K., Orloff, C., Shklovski, I. (2005). Engaging the City: Public Interfaces as Civic Intermediary. In proceedings of CHI 2005 Extended Abstracts, Workshop organizer's proposal, Portland, OR, April 3-7, 2005 [local pdf]
Keywords With: danah boyd (UC Berkeley), Amanda Williams (UC Irvine) & Paul Dourish (UC Irvine) As researchers in a field that is considered highly interdisciplinary, we find that the same words may be used in many different ways to mean many different things. The word "system" for example, may be understood radically differently by social scientists and computer scientists. In this project we want to advance discussion of common vocabulary that harbors different meanings and may contribute to misunderstandings. This project is based on the book by Raymond Williams, called "Keywords".