Project Description
This is my Masters Thesis project work. It is an ongoing project that I am working on with Brian Haven, another Interaction Design student. Together we are designing a system that supports the process of inquiry that doctoral students in the arts and humanities undertake.

At this point in the project we have researched our intended audience, analyzed and modeled our findings, and developed concepts and scenarios that describe our proposed solution. The project will conclude through processes of validation and refinement in conjunction with our audience.

Design Solution
We are proposing a system that reflects that inquiry is a building process—a series of activities in which understanding grows within the inquirer over time, through interaction with subject matter, community, environment and their own thought processes.

Current tools that support inquiry work in isolation from each other. Search tools are an example of this. Search in its current form is used to locate discrete texts or pieces of information. It is an activity that is completed by a specialized application in isolation from the other activities of inquiry, and any found material is not given context within the users inquiry.

This isolation of tools and materials fosters the belief that understanding is to be found in books, and that the trick of inquiry is to find the right books that have the needed answers. We believe a truer picture is that understanding builds out of engagement with resources ( including books) within the context of the inquirers community, environment and mental model of the inquiry. In this approach, understanding grows organically through participation in the world of concern.

In our proposed solution we are suggesting providing the user with an environment within which they build representations of their worlds of concern. Within these built worlds users participate in the activities of inquiry, in such a way that their interactions with subject matter and community richly connect and scaffold to grow the inquiry. These built worlds are highly personal places of activity, that position the inquirer at the center of the growth of their inquiry.

More information can be found by downloading the following:
Research poster (1.6Mb)
Details of research findings at the mid point of the project.
Model (.4Mb)
A model of inquiry created to serve as a framework for concept development.

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