Research brief:

I am a human-computer interaction researcher who studies socially intelligent computing which combines the power of human sensemaking with collaborative technologies and social networks. I use empirical, theoretical, and design research to explore how to transform large amounts of data into actionable information in order to improve humanitarian crisis response. Obtaining timely and trustworthy facts is a critical challenge during a crisis. My dissertation focuses on temporality as one of the more pervasive examples of social discord that must be accounted for in a socially intelligent computing system that generates emergent knowledge in a rapidly evolving time- and safety-critical scenario.

ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5833-9504

Publications:

dissertation
Norris, W. (2020). Sociotemporal Disorder in Globally Distributed Digital Humanitarian Work. University of Colorado Boulder. abstract
ISBN: 979-8-5570-2515-7

peer-reviewed papers
Norris, W., Voida, A., and Voida, S. (2022). People Talk in Stories. Responders Talk in Data: A Framework for Temporal Sensemaking in Time- and Safety-critical Work. In Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 6(CSCW1), 1-23. paper

Norris, W., Voida, A., Palen, L, and Voida, S. (2019). Is the Time Right Now?: Reconciling Sociotemporal Disorder in Distributed Team Work. In Proceedings of CSCW ‘19, 1-29. paper

Norris, W. (2017). Digital humanitarians: citizen journalists on the virtual front line of natural and human-caused disasters. Journalism Practice, 11(2-3), 213-228. paper

book chapters
Norris, W. (2019). Digital humanitarians: citizen journalists on the virtual front line of natural and human-caused disasters. In Mapping Citizen and Participatory Journalism in Newsrooms, Classrooms and Beyond, (Melissa Wall, ed). Routledge. link

workshop papers
Norris, W., Voida, S., Palen, L., and Anderson, K. “Unwinding Pluritemporal Time in Digital Humanitarian Crowdwork.” CHI 2019, Glasgow, UK, May 5, 2019. paper

Norris, W. and Voida, S. “Temporality in Crisis Informatics: Representations of time in digital humanitarian systems.” CHI 2017 Symposium on HCI Across Borders, Denver, CO, USA, May 6-7, 2017 paper

Norris, W. and Voida, S. “Temporality in Crisis Informatics: Representations and integrations of time in humanitarian crowd work.” Grand Challenges for HCI Crisis Informatics Researchers Workshop, Boulder, CO, USA. May 6, 2017 paper + slidedeck

Norris, W. and Voida, S. “Models and Metaphors of Temporality: Supporting Individual- and Group-Based Time-Management and Coordination Work.” CSCW ‘17 workshop: Theory transfers? Social Theory & CSCW Research, Portland, OR, USA. February 26, 2017 paper

presentations
Norris, W. Humanitarian Human-Computer Interaction. HCIC 2019, Pajaro Dunes, CA, June 25, 2019 poster and abstract

works in progress
Empirical paper on temporal sensemaking (in process)
Empirical paper on temporal discord as an HCI design resource (proposal accepted)
Empirical/methods papers on synchronous distributed participatory design (in process)
NLP analysis of 12K news articles & 25M social media posts on refugees (in process)