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Dr Alex Taylor

Reader in Human Computer Interaction

School of Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering Department of Computer Science

Contact details

Address

Dr Alex Taylor A207, College Building
City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom

Personal links

About

Overview

Alex Taylor is a sociologist working in the Centre for Human Computer Interaction Design. Showing a broad fasciation for the entanglements between social life and machines, his research ranges from empirical studies of technology in everyday life to speculative design interventions—both large and small scale. Across these realms, he draws on a feminist technoscience to ask questions about the co-constitutive roles human-machine composites play in forms of knowing and being, and how they might open up possibilities for fundamental transformations in society. Most recently, he’s begun to wonder about the abilities of humans and non-humans, together, and to speculate on hybrid compositions that enlarge capacity and offer the chance of something different-than, something more-than.

For up to date details see: https://ast.io

Memberships of professional organisations

  1. Fellow, RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce), Sep 2012 – present

Publications

Featured publications

  1. Taylor, A. (2016). Data, (bio)sensing, and (other-)worldly stories from the cycle routes of London. Quantified: Biosensing Technologies in Everyday Life (pp. 189–209). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-33454-9.
  2. Crivellaro, C., Taylor, A., Vlachokyriakos, V., Comber, R., Nissen, B. and Wright, P. (2016). Re-making places: HCI, 'community building' and change.
  3. Taylor, A.S., Lindley, S., Regan, T., Sweeney, D., Vlachokyriakos, V., Grainger, L. … Lingel, J. (2015). Data-in-place: Thinking through the relations between data and community.
  4. Taylor, A. (2011). Out there.
  5. Taylor, A.S. (2009). Machine intelligence.
  6. Brown, B., Taylor, A.S., Izadi, S., Sellen, A., Kaye, J. and Eardley, R. (2007). Locating family values: A field trial of the whereabouts clock.
  7. Taylor, A.S. and Swan, L. (2005). Artful systems in the home.
  8. Taylor, A.S. (2017). What lines, rats, and sheep can tell us. Design Issues, 33(3), pp. 25–36. doi:10.1162/DESI_a_00449.
  9. Lindley, S.E., Thieme, A., Taylor, A.S., Vlachokyriakos, V., Regan, T. and Sweeney, D. (2017). Surfacing Small Worlds through Data-In-Place. Computer Supported Cooperative Work: CSCW: An International Journal, 26(1-2), pp. 135–163. doi:10.1007/s10606-017-9263-3.
  10. Taylor, A. (2015). After interaction. Interactions, 22(5), pp. 48–53. doi:10.1145/2809888.
  11. Rosner, D.K. and Taylor, A.S. (2012). Binding and aging. Journal of Material Culture, 17(4), pp. 405–424. doi:10.1177/1359183512459630.
  12. Swan, L., Taylor, A.S. and Harper, R. (2008). Making place for clutter and other ideas of home. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 15(2). doi:10.1145/1375761.1375764.
  13. Laurier, E., Lorimer, H., Brown, B., Jones, O., Juhlin, O., Noble, A. … Weilenmann, A. (2008). Driving and 'passengering': Notes on the ordinary organization of car travel. Mobilities, 3(1), pp. 1–23. doi:10.1080/17450100701797273.
  14. Taylor, A.S. and Harper, R. (2003). The gift of the gab?: A design oriented sociology of young people's use of mobiles. Computer Supported Cooperative Work: CSCW: An International Journal, 12(3), pp. 267–296. doi:10.1023/A:1025091532662.

Publications by category

Book

  1. Harper, R., Palen, L. and Taylor, A. (2005). The Inside Text Social, Cultural and Design Perspectives on SMS. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4020-3059-8.

Chapters (6)

  1. Taylor, A., Jain, A. and Swan, L. (2010). New Companions. In Wilks, Y. (Ed.), Close Engagements with Artificial Companions (pp. 107–120). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 978-90-272-4994-4.
  2. Taylor, A. (2009). Ethnography in Ubiquitous Computing. In Krumm, J. (Ed.), Ubiquitous Computing Fundamentals (pp. 203–236). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-9360-5.
  3. Harper, R., Taylor, A. and Molloy, M. (2008). Intelligent Artefacts at Home in the 21st Century. In Knappett, C. and Lambros, M. (Eds.), Material Agency (pp. 97–120). London: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-74710-1.
  4. Taylor, A. and Vincent, J. (2005). A SMS History. Mobile World: Past, Present and Future (pp. 75–91). Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-825-1.
  5. Taylor, A. (2005). Phone Talk. In Ling, R. and Pedersen, P. (Eds.), Mobile communications (pp. 149–166). London: Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-931-9.
  6. Taylor, A. and Harper, R. (2003). Switching on to switch off. In Harper, R. (Ed.), Inside the Smart Home (pp. 115–126). London: Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-688-2.

Conference papers and proceedings (45)

  1. Vincenzi, B., Taylor, A. and Stumpf, S. (2021). Interdependence in Action: People with Visual Impairments and their Guides Co-constituting Common Spaces. CSCW: Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing 23-27 October, Virtual event.
  2. Bennett, C.L., Rosner, D.K. and Taylor, A.S. (2020). The Care Work of Access.
  3. Vincenzi, B., Taylor, A. and Stumpf, S. (2019). Hacking Sighted Guide Navigation. CHI 4-9 May, Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
  4. Schlesinger, A., O Hara, K.P. and Taylor, A.S. (2018). Lets Talk about Race: Identity, Chatbots, and AI. CHI ’18 21-26 April, Montreal, Canada.
  5. Thieme, A., Bennett, C.L., Morrison, C., Cutrell, E. and Taylor, A.S. (2018). "I can do everything but see!" - How people with vision impairments negotiate their abilities in social contexts.
  6. Reeves, S., Porcheron, M., Fischer, J.E., Candello, H., McMillan, D., McGregor, M. … Zouinar, M. (2018). Voice-based conversational ux studies and design.
  7. Morrison, C., Cutrell, E., Dhareshwar, A., Doherty, K., Thieme, A. and Taylor, A. (2017). Imagining artificial intelligence applications with people with visual disabilities using tactile ideation.
  8. Regan, T., Sweeney, D., Helmes, J., Vlachokyriakos, V., Lindley, S. and Taylor, A. (2015). Designing engaging data in communities.
  9. Mentis, H.M. and Taylor, A.S. (2013). Imaging the body: Embodied vision in minimally invasive surgery.
  10. Taylor, A.S., Piterman, N., Ishtiaq, S., Fisher, J., Cook, B., Cockerton, C. … Benque, D. (2013). At the interface of biology and computation.
  11. Cycil, C., Perry, M., Laurier, E. and Taylor, A. (2013). 'Eyes free' in-car assistance: Parent and child passenger collaboration during phone calls.
  12. Kuznetsov, S., Taylor, A.S., Paulos, E., DiSalvo, C. and Hirsch, T. (2012). (DIY)biology and opportunities for HCI.
  13. Kuznetsov, S., Taylor, A.S., Regan, T., Villar, N. and Paulos, E. (2012). At the seams: DIYbio and opportunities for HCI.
  14. Benque, D., Bourton, S., Cockerton, C., Cook, B., Fisher, J., Ishtiaq, S. … Vardi, M.Y. (2012). BMA: Visual tool for modeling and analyzing biological networks.
  15. Sundström, P., Taylor, A.S. and O'Hara, K. (2011). Sketching in software and hardware Bluetooth as a design material.
  16. Helmes, J., Taylor, A.S., Cao, X., Höök, K., Schmitt, P. and Villar, N. (2011). Rudiments 1, 2 & 3: Design speculations on autonomy.
  17. Rosner, D.K. and Taylor, A.S. (2011). Antiquarian answers: Book restoration as a resource for design.
  18. Davidoff, S., Villar, N., Taylor, A.S. and Izadi, S. (2011). Mechanical hijacking: How robots can accelerate UbiComp deployments.
  19. Sundström, P., Taylor, A.S., Grufberg, K., Wirström, N., Belenguer, J.S. and Lundén, M. (2011). Inspirational bits: Towards a shared understanding of the digital material.
  20. Helmes, J., O'Hara, K., Vilar, N. and Taylor, A. (2011). Meerkat and tuba: Design alternatives for randomness, surprise and serendipity in reminiscing.
  21. Marquardt, N., Taylor, A.S., Villar, N. and Greenberg, S. (2010). Rethinking RFID: Awareness and control for interaction with RFID systems.
  22. Swan, L., Tanase, D. and Taylor, A.S. (2010). Design's processional character.
  23. Seitinger, S., Taub, D.M. and Taylor, A.S. (2010). Light bodies: Exploring interactions with responsive lights.
  24. Marquardt, N., Taylor, A.S., Villar, N. and Greenberg, S. (2010). Visible and controllable RFID tags.
  25. Durrant, A., Taylor, A.S., Frohlich, D., Sellen, A. and Uzzell, D. (2009). Photo displays and intergenerational relationships in the family home.
  26. Taylor, A.S., Wyche, S.P. and Kaye, J.J. (2008). Pottering by design.
  27. Durrant, A., Taylor, A.S., Taylor, S., Molloy, M., Sellen, A., Frohlich, D. … Swan, L. (2008). Speculative devices for photo display.
  28. Swan, L. and Taylor, A.S. (2008). Photo displays in the home.
  29. Chen, J. and Taylor, A.S. (2008). Entrigue: Re-picturing the home.
  30. March, W., Nafus, D., Swan, L. and Taylor, A.S. (2008). Night and darkness: Interaction after dark.
  31. Fernaeus, Y., Ljungblad, S., Jacobsson, M. and Taylor, A. (2008). Where third wave HCI meets HRI: Report from a workshop on user-centred design of robots.
  32. Lindley, S., Durrant, A., Kirk, D. and Taylor, A. (2008). Collocated social practices surrounding photos.
  33. Taylor, A.S., Swan, L. and Durrant, A. (2007). Designing family photo displays.
  34. Swan, L., Taylor, A.S., Izadi, S. and Harper, R. (2007). Containing family clutter.
  35. Wyche, S.P., Taylor, A. and Kaye, J. (2007). Pottering: A design-oriented investigation.
  36. Brown, B., Taylor, A.S., Izadi, S., Sellen, A., Kaye, J.J. and Eardley, R. (2007). Locating family values: A field trial of the whereabouts clock - (Nominated for the best paper award).
  37. Taylor, A.S., Swan, L., Eardley, R., Sellen, A., Hodges, S. and Wood, K. (2006). Augmenting refrigerator magnets: Why less is sometimes more.
  38. Sellen, A., Harper, R., Eardley, R., Izadi, S., Regan, T., Taylor, A.S. … Wood, K.R. (2006). HomeNote: Supporting situated messaging in the home.
  39. Lindström, M., Ståhl, A., Höök, K., Sundström, P., Laaksolathi, J., Combetto, M. … Bresin, R. (2006). Affective diary - Designing for bodily expressiveness and self-reflection.
  40. Swan, L. and Taylor, A.S. (2005). Notes on fridge surfaces.
  41. Brush, A.J., Palen, L., Swan, L. and Taylor, A.S. (2005). Designs for home life.
  42. Taylor, A.S. and Swan, L. (2004). List making in the home.
  43. Berg, S., Taylor, A.S. and Harper, R. (2003). Mobile phones for the next generation: Device designs for teenagers.
  44. Taylor, A.S. and Harper, R. (2002). Age-old practices in the 'New World': A study of gift-giving between teenage mobile phone users.
  45. Heitlinger, S., Houston, L., Taylor, A. and Catlow, R. Algorithmic Food Justice: Co-Designing More-than-Human Blockchain Futures for the Food Commons.

Journal articles (19)

  1. Thieme, A., Cutrell, E., Morrison, C., Taylor, A. and Sellen, A. (2020). Interpretability as a dynamic of human-AI interaction. Interactions, 27(5), pp. 40–45. doi:10.1145/3411286.
  2. Taylor, A. (2020). Life less normal. Interactions, 27(4), pp. 78–82. doi:10.1145/3406296.
  3. Feuston, J.L., Taylor, A.S. and Piper, A.M. (2020). Conformity of Eating Disorders through Content Moderation. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4(CSCW1). doi:10.1145/3392845.
  4. Ratto, M., Rosner, D., Boeva, Y. and Taylor, A. (2019). Special issue on hybrid pedagogies editorial. Digital Creativity, 30(4), pp. 213–217. doi:10.1080/14626268.2019.1699576.
  5. Taylor, A. and Rosner, D. (2017). What are you reading? interactions, 24, pp. 12–13. doi:10.1145/3145630.

    [publisher’s website]

  6. Chuang, R., Hall, B.A., Benque, D., Cook, B., Ishtiaq, S., Piterman, N. … Fisher, J. (2015). Drug Target Optimization in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Using Innovative Computational Platform. Scientific Reports, 5(1). doi:10.1038/srep08190.
  7. Taylor, A.S., Lindley, S., Regan, T. and Sweeney, D. (2014). Data and life on the street. Big Data and Society, 1(2). doi:10.1177/2053951714539278.
  8. O'Hara, K., Harper, R., Mentis, H., Sellen, A. and Taylor, A. (2013). On the naturalness of touchless: Putting the "interaction" back into NUI. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 20(1). doi:10.1145/2442106.2442111.
  9. Lindley, S.E., Durrant, A., Kirk, D. and Taylor, A.S. (2009). Collocated social practices surrounding photos. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 67(12), pp. 995–1004. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2009.08.004.
  10. Lindley, S.E., Banks, R., Harper, R., Jain, A., Regan, T., Sellen, A. … Taylor, A.S. (2009). Resilience in the face of innovation: Household trials with BubbleBoard. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 67(2), pp. 154–164. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2008.07.008.
  11. Little, L., Sillence, E., Sellen, A. and Taylor, A. (2009). The family and communication technologies. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 67(2), pp. 125–127. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2008.08.007.
  12. Ståhl, A., Höök, K., Svensson, M., Taylor, A.S. and Combetto, M. (2009). Experiencing the affective diary. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 13(5), pp. 365–378. doi:10.1007/s00779-008-0202-7.
  13. Taylor, A.S., Harper, R., Swan, L., Izadi, S., Sellen, A. and Perry, M. (2007). Homes that make us smart. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 11(5), pp. 383–393. doi:10.1007/s00779-006-0076-5.
  14. Poria, Y. and Taylor, A. (2002). I am not afraid to be gay when im on the net’: Minimising social risk for lesbian and gay consumers when using the internet. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 11(2-3), pp. 127–142. doi:10.1300/J073v11n02_07.
  15. Poria, Y. and Taylor, A.S. (2002). MUDs and their potential contribution to tourism. Anatolia, 13(2), pp. 198–212. doi:10.1080/13032917.2002.9687133.
  16. O'Hara, K.P., Taylor, A., Newman, W. and Sellen, A.J. (2002). Understanding the materiality of writing from multiple sources. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 56(3), pp. 269–305. doi:10.1006/ijhc.2001.0525.
  17. Newman, W.M., Taylor, A.S., Dance, C.R. and Taylor, S.A. (2000). Performance targets, models and innovation in interactive system design. Proceedings of the Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods, and Techniques, DIS pp. 381–387. doi:10.1145/347642.347796.
  18. Taylor, S., Dance, C., Newman, W., Taylor, A., Seeger, M., Taylor, M. … Aldhous, T. (1999). Advances in interactive video scanning of paper documents. IEE Colloquium (Digest), (41).
  19. Newman, W., Dance, C., Taylor, A., Taylor, S., Taylor, M. and Aldhous, T. (1999). CamWorks: a video-based tool for efficient capture from paper source documents. International Conference on Multimedia Computing and Systems -Proceedings, 2, pp. 647–653.