Re: Academic/commercial collaboration

At 15:57 11/01/2003 +0000, William wrote:
>Nick -
>
>There is no shortage of mixed academic/commercial lists. This list is
>one (it was one of the goals in setting it up and it does have quite a
>few academic subscribers). CHI-WEB is another (send an empty email to
>[email protected] to subscribe or see the web site
>below). However, what is needed in my view is a more determined effort
>in actually bringing both sets of interests together.

I cannot agree more. While I am aware of academics who work on an ad hoc
basis with certain commercial concerns, there is a long way to go.

My own experience in the health care sector recently if of dozens of
researchers across the country conducting (what would be) expensive
research (if it were done privately), the conclusions of which are filed
away in off-line research documents, and on the other hand of millions of
pounds spent on software by NHS trusts - soon to be billions - without any
assessment of usability or any attempt at utilising existing research
findings.

The Request for Information for the NHS National Programme (published 19
December 2002, deadline for return 10 January 2003 - notice that timing!)
for NHS IT systems was formatted in such a way that it was almost
impossible to identify usability or HCI-related skills as being necessary
for such projects (it was a massive Excel spreadsheet with restricted input
formats).

As far as British Computer Society (BCS) is concerned, it seems to be busy
setting up yet more medical informatics SIGS (there are around six
medically related ones already, mostly full of people who actually
implement systems in hospitals, who design systems in specialised software
houses, or medics), while none of them seem aware of the British HCI group
(another BCS SIG, mainly academics) or its doings. British HCI Group
consultants don't appear on the general BCS consultant listing, giving the
impression that this speciality does not exist. And this is just in one
organisation.

>This is something
>that organizations like SIGCHI (in the US) and BHCIG (in the UK) do to a
>limited extent, but nowhere near enough to have a visible impact.
>
>Perhaps specific collaborative conferences and seminars would be a step
>in the right direction. It may be that BHCIG has already done this, but
>most of the conferences I have seen are either firmly academic or
>commercial, rarely a deliberate mix. (There are exceptions like industry
>day at the annual UK HCI conference.) Any BHCIG execs out there care to
>comment?

Is the move away from co-branding the annual UK HCI conference (BHCIG-EUPA
2002) helpful?

I also feel to an extent that if the profession - both academic and
practitioner sides - cannot draw closer and co-operate, it will remain
difficult to convince those non-experts in industry/commerce/public sector
who sign the cheques of the validity of the cause.

Louise

Louise Ferguson

London, UK
[email protected]
http://www.louiseferguson.com



>Regards,
>
>William Hudson
>UCD List Guy
>
>and
>
>CHI-WEB Moderation Team
>
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>
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Louise Ferguson
London, UK
[email protected]
www.louiseferguson.com
blog: www.louiseferguson.com/cityofbits.htm
M: +44 (0)781 0260637
F: +44 (0)870 1354074

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