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Self Efficacious in Every Case?

I carried out a survey of software engineers to establish if there was a significant difference in computer self-efficacy between genders. As expected women were less confident in their coding skills than men. However men over 30 did not show a greater confidence in their abilities than women in the same age group. I propose that this is related to the retention of women in the software industry. Less able women choose to leave the profession and more confident, better qualified women remain. My theory is based on research carried out into pull requests and gender in GitHub.


Interactive Digital Design for the British Museum

This team project involved producing an interactive digital design to enhance the British Museum Egyptian Galleries experience. It was a user centred design that included user research, conceptual design and detailed design.


Creative Design

A design to enhance connected services through the Internet of Things (IoT) in a gallery space. This team project used creative techniques to come up with a unique design. From initial concept through to a low tech prototype. 


Evaluation

A UX evaluation of the usability of the Stroke Association website. Including an expert review, user research, data analysis and recommendations to improve the design.


Inclusive Design

Conduct an expert accessibility audit of the bPay website. This individual project used WCAG standards and carried out an audit to conformance level A. The audit involved walking through a user journey and reporting the errors and their severity


Information Architecture

An Information Architecture design project. This project created an IA for a website of arts events in London and the South East. The report includes, a domain model, a site map, a user journey and wireframes. User research was carried out with tree testing and card sorting. The design artefacts were produced using Axure.


Cognition and Technologies

Designing a novel solution using cognitive models. The design used Distributed Cognition as a driver, in particular DiCoT (Distributed Cognition in Teams). The system incorporated collaborative computing principles in a coding workshop environment. The theme of gender was also discussed and the software was designed with women and girls in mind.


Web Applications Development

The task was to write a website from scratch. The technologies I used were HTML, CSS, Twitter Bootstrap, JavaScript, jQuery, data visualisation (d3) and Google Fonts. The content of the site includes a couple of my hobbies, cycling and pottery. The report discusses the issues I encountered while writing the website and an evaluation.


MSc Human Computer Interaction Design Dissertation

Abstract This study aims to investigate the use of a new framework to investigate gendered working practices in a collaborative computing environment. An experimental observational study was made of mixed gender pairs performing programming tasks. The pair programming technique studied is a method used in Agile software development. The data was analysed using thematic analysis to provide insight into the data recorded. This was combined with the new framework which uses Distributed Cognition in Teams (DiCoT) and the Gender Inclusiveness Magnifier method (GenderMag), a software inspection tool. The review of the literature informs the research methods and analysis. The study was designed to demonstrate whether gendered working practices can be better understood using the new framework. The results of the research showed that this is possible but further research should be carried out to improve the framework. The method of applying the new framework is appraised and the implications for software and tools for gender inclusivity are discussed.


The Gas Kiln is Loaded

This week I am being a full time potter, but I’m mostly doing the evening shift! Monday I fired the biscuit kiln and made up some test glazes for the gas firing, Chun, Jade, Celadon and Tenmoku. Wednesday and Thursday I was glazing and last night I stacked the kiln by electric light. All ready for firing today. The top shelf has some of my small bowls with glass. they are being re-fired because the glass didn’t settle properly during the first firing in the glaze electric firing. I thought it would be interesting to see how they come out after a reduction firing. There is one on each shelf too so I can see if they vary with the different temperatures. The three spiky things on the right hand side in the middle are called cones and they are there to measure the temperature. They each bend at a specific temperature so I can see how hot the kiln gets on that shelf. You can’t see the probe of the thermocouple which is poked through a hole on the right hand side, this will be attached to my pyrometer so that I can accurately measure the temperature. Wish me […]