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People > Postgraduate > PhD Student, Mr Peter Francis

:: PhD Student, Mr Peter Francis


PhD Student, Mr Peter Francis PhD Student,
Mr Peter Francis


Email:
psfran@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344-1540
Office: L5.45A, 111 Barry Street.,
Carlton, 3010, Australia.






TOPIC:
"Towards a theory of digital assistive technology design for people with autism"
Supervisors: Dr Martin Gibbs, Dr Lucy Firth, Assoc. Prof. Steve Howard

Autism is a condition that affects behaviour, communication and cognition. Treatment and support for the person with autism is multidisciplinary and will often include the use of assistive technologies. This exploratory study aims to describe current practice in the support of people with autism and identify opportunities for digital assistive technologies. The scope will include the procedures and artefacts currently in place, and the processes of development and implementation of support for a person with autism. To this end, the data collected will be analysed and expressed with reference to HCI frameworks and terminology.

The expected outcomes are a taxonomy of current support practices, a description of the current processes and participants in the process of support development, identification of gaps in current supports, design sketches of possible digital assistive technologies to fill those gaps, and an understanding of the potential for the support network to contribute to the analysis and design of digital assistive technologies.



This research is supported by scholarships from The University of Melbourne and the Smart Internet Technology CRC.



Refereed Publications

Firth, L., Francis, P. and Mellor, D. (submitted). Information technology and information systems strategy in the public hospital: A case study of the impact on nurses and the lack of clinical focus. Submitted to: Health Informatics Journal.

Francis, P., Mellor, D. and Firth, L. (submitted). Techniques and guidelines for the inclusion of users with autism in the design of assistive technologies. Submitted to: Assistive Technology.

Francis, P., Balbo, S. and Firth, L. (submitted). Towards co-design with users who have autism spectrum disorders: A preliminary study. Submitted to: Universal Access in the Information Society.

Davis, H., Vetere, F., Gibbs, M. and Francis, P. (in press). “Gran, can you play with me?” Implications for the Design of New Intergenerational Technologies. International Journal of Social and Humanistic Computing (IJSHC). Accepted for publication in inaugural issue.

Francis, P. (2007). Appropriating commonplace technology for autism support. International workshop on social interactions and mundane technologies (simtech). Melbourne, Australia 26-27 November.

Davis, H., Vetere, F. Francis, P., Gibbs, M., Howard, S. (2006). Exploring Intergenerational Play Across a Distance Using Cultural Probes. ICIP conference. Melbourne, Australia 26-29 June 2006.

Vetere, F., Gibbs, M., Davis, H., Francis, P. and Howard, S. (2006). A Magic Box for Understanding Intergenerational Play. ACM CHI 2006 Montreal, Canada (Short Paper).

Davis, H., Francis, P., Benda, P., Gibbs, M., Howard, S. and Vetere, F. (2005). Bridging the Intergenerational Divide: Implications of Employing Cultural Probes in Distributed Homes. Workshop on Appropriate Methods for Design in Complex and Sensitive Settings at OzCHI 2005. Available from: http://www.dis.unimelb.edu.au/interactiondesign/methods_design/workshop.html

Francis, P., Firth, L. and Balbo, S. (2005). Approaching the sensitive user with care: An online Delphi study. Workshop on Appropriate Methods for Design in Complex and Sensitive Settings at OzCHI 2005. Available from: http://www.dis.unimelb.edu.au/interactiondesign/methods_design/workshop.html

Francis, P., Firth, L. and Mellor, D. (2005). Reducing the Risk of Abandonment of Assistive Technologies for People with Autism. Presented at the Tenth IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT 2005) in Rome, Italy, 12-16 September 2005, pp.1104-1107.

Firth, L. and Francis, P. (2004). Understanding the lack of adoption of e-commerce in the health sector: The clinician's strategic perspective. Presented at the IADIS International e-Commerce 2004 Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, 14-16 December 2004.

Firth, L. and Francis, P. (2004). Why don't GPs go online? Presented at the 15th annual Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS) in Hobart, Tasmania, 1-3 December 2004.

Firth, L. and Francis, P. (2004). Birth of competitive advantage in radiology (rontology): an analysis of IS strategy. Presented at the 15th annual Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS) in Hobart, Tasmania, 1-3 December 2004.

Firth, L. and Francis, P. (2004). Aligning policy with strategy to grow online education and health. Presented at the ITS 15th Biennial Conference in Berlin, Germany, 4-7 September 2004.

Firth, L., Francis, P. and Mellor, D. (2004). Barriers and drivers of online medical applications: A view from the health industry, PTC'04, Hawaii , January.

Firth, L., Francis, P. and Mellor, D. (2003). Online medical applications malaise. Presented at the International Telecommunications Society's European Regional Conference in Helsinki , 23-24 August.

Firth, L., Francis, P. and Chang, S. (2003). Appealing to IT-smart students using online interactive case studies. Presented at the International Institute of Informatics and Systemics' EISTA '03 Conference in Florida , 31 July.

Firth, L, Chang, S. and Francis, P. (2003). Online interactive case studies - a learning opportunity, a teaching challenge. Presented at the International Telecommunications Society's Asia-Australasian Regional Conference in Perth , 22-24 June.



Non-refereed Publications

Francis, P. (2006). Autism and distributed cognition. Working Paper WP_IDG-2006-01, released 27 October 2006. Available here

Benda, P., Davis, H., Francis, P., Gibbs, M. R., Howard, S., Langdale, G., Kay, J., Kummerfeld, B. and Vetere, F. (2005). A special kind of intimacy: Sustaining sociability with ubiquitous computing for the inter-generational family. Presented at the Smart Internet Technology CRC Annual Conference in Sydney, Australia, 22-23 September.



Teaching

2005 615-373 Industrial Project [Mentor]

2002-04 615-251 Organisational Analysis and Change [Lecturer - level A]

2003 615-150 Organisational Processes [Lecturer - level A]

 
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