Dana McKay: Research

Research

My research focus is on how people find, use and interact with information and spans the Human Computer Interaction, Information Systems, and Information Science disciplines. For those of you who like such things, my FoR codes are (in order) 080602, 080703, and 080611. My research is ethically driven and ethics focused; I care about information because I believe it helps individuals to make the best choices for themselves, and in the wrong hands can be used by those who are more powerful to harm those who are less powerful.

I am a mixed methods researcher, comfortable with log analysis, surveys, observation, interviews, focus groups, experiments, and learning new methods if they are the best way to get the job done. My work is highly industry-engaged, predominantly with the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Musems) sector. I have worked on research projects with the University of Melbourne Library, Swinburne University of Technology Library, and the State Library of Victoria. I have also given advice on browsing to the digital team at the British Library.

The way I like to work as a researcher is best summed up by one of my (many) Twitter outbursts: