Dana McKay: About
About Me
I am currently Associate Dean, Interaction, Technology and Information in the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University. I am doing research across the School on social and interactive issues to do with information technology, focusing particularly on the role of information. I teach usability related subjects across degrees.
My research focuses on ensuring that advances in information technology make society better, fairer and more equitable. To achieve this aim, I study how people use information gained from digital systems.Â
I believe that information seekers have the right to look for and find information in ways that suit them and their information needs, rather than being dictated to by systems that don't suit them. I also believe that individuals have the right to understand and control information about themselves. Novel systems afford great opportunities to improve information interaction; we could make the experience of looking for, finding and managing information much better. We are also living in a time with complex and difficult ethical questions about information, who owns it, who shares it, and how it might be controlled. I am delighted to be an information interaction academic at such a fascinating time.
I got my PhD in information interaction at the University of Melbourne in the School of Computing and Information systems in 2019. My PhD looked specifically at how readers browse the library shelves with a view to making online browsing better. This PhD follows 10 years of working as a UX researcher practitioner in an academic library, making information experiences better in a practical environment.
When I am not at work (wait...I'm an academic) I can be found gaming frequent flyer programs, playing inordinately complex board games, exercising for fun, or listening to music (most likely Florence and the Machine or Placebo, each of which I acquired during a thesis writing process).