Background
My current work focuses on making medical information easier for people
with lower literacy skills to find, navigate, and read on the Web. The
results of this research have been presented at a variety of international
conferences. During the spring of 2005, I did qualitative observational
research supported by eyetracking measurements on how to make online
forms such as registration and medical assessment tools easier to use
for people with lower literacy skills.
Earlier work included working with Nancy Kaplan and Stuart Moulthrop on a three-year grant from NSF to develop an intergenerational design team with faculty, graduate students, and children. The SIAT KidsTeam, in collaboration with a team at the University of Maryland's Human Computer Interaction Lab, helped to interfaces for the International Children's Digital Library.
I also direct the School of Information Arts and Technologies' User Research Lab. The Lab supports research activities for faculty, students, and local businesses.
Courses
Fall
- IDIA 612: Interaction and Interface Design
- IDIA 640: Humans, Computers, and Cognition
Spring
- IDIA 630: Information Architecture
- IDIA 642: Research Methods for Interaction Design
Also taught
- WRIT 313: Writing for Information Systems
- ENGL 317: English Fiction
- ENGL 350: Tolkien
Publications
Reading and Navigational Strategies of Web Users with Lower Literacy Skills. ASIS&T Proceedings, Oct 2005. Charlotte, NC.
Clear Health Communication on the Web: Making Medical Content Accessible to Lower-Literacy Users. Usability Professionals Association Proceedings, June 2005. Montreal, Canada. (Forthcoming.)
Making the Web Friendlier for Lower-Literacy Users. Intercom June (2004): 19-21. With Michael Summers.
Creating Websites That Work. Kathryn Summers, Michael Summers. New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 2004.
Contextual Inquiry into Children’s Reading Working with Children as Research Partners. Usability Professionals Association Proceedings, June 2003. Scottsdale, AZ.
Libraries in Computers: Working with Children as Research and Design Partners. Computers in Libraries Proceedings, March 2003, Washington, D.C.
Identifying Web Site Requirements. Intercom June (2001): 6-13. With Michael Summers.
Epideictic Rhetoric in the Englishwoman’s Review. Victorian Periodicals Review (Fall 2001) 34.3: 25-33.
Discourse and the Carnivalesque Woman: The Book of Margery
Kempe. Quidditas (1998) 19: 1-26.
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