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Research Expertise & Interests:
General Expertise:
Information
Systems.
Specific Expertise:
E-Business,
Community Informatics, E-Government.
Core Research Interests:
Community
Informatics, Socio-Technical Research, Knowledge Management.
Peripheral Research Interests:
Mobile
Technology Applications, Intellligent Agents, Supply Chain Management
Information Systems.
Research Philosophy:
Click
here to read my Statement of Teaching & Research Philosophy.
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About my Ph.D. Dissertation:
My
Ph.D. research comprises an investigation of factors that enhance
user participation in virtual communities. As
part of my research, I am looking at community-mediated spaces that
facilitate communication, information sharing, social interaction and
relationship formation among participating members. Here's a brief abstract
highlighting my discourse:
| ABSTRACT |
The
recent unprecedented growth of virtual communities on the Internet
in both the commercial and the personal domains has provided an
impetus for researchers and practitioners to investigate factors
that facilitate and inhibit user participation in these communities.
Online communities play an important role in enabling information
sharing, communication and social interaction among their participating
members.
Despite
the crucial realization that engaging and involving members constitutes
a basic requirement for successful and thriving communities, little
research has been done to study the behavioral characteristics
of online community participants. The goal of this research is
to identify and ascertain the determinants for sustaining and
enhancing user participation in virtual communities. As a means
of operationalizing this objective, the research aims to analyze
the factors affecting user participation in virtual communities
through a sequential exploratory mixed
methods study of various social, professional and
commercial online communities.
The
research derives its conceptual framework from the fields of community
informatics and socio-technical research. Specifically, the framework
explores the interplay among four factors affecting the adoption
and use of virtual communities, namely: i) user
participation in virtual communities; ii) the usability
of the virtual community interface; iii) trust
users have with the virtual community institution and other virtual
community members; and iv) the ability of the virtual community
to promote a sense of community.
It
is hoped that the study’s framework and research findings
will make significant contributions to the growing body of literature
on virtual communities and community informatics, and provide
useful guidelines for enhancing the usability and sociability
of various virtual community types. |
I
am conducting my research under the supervision of Dr.
Brian Detlor, and am currently in the midst of the data collection
phases for my Ph.D dissertation.
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Other Research Projects:
Research Affiliations:
- Research
Associate,
McMaster
eBusiness Research Centre (MeRC), McMaster Univeristy.
- Faculty
Researcher,
Centre
for Supply Chain Management, School of Business & Economics,
Wilfrid Laurier University.
Recent & Current Projects :
Adoption
and Use of myhamilton.ca: A Research Study
[Research
Team: Dr. Brian Detlor, Dr. Maureen Hupfer, and Umar Ruhi]
In
this research project, we plan to investigate and develop an understanding
of the relationships among: 1) individual user characteristics such
as demographics and personality traits; 2) user attitudes toward and
perceptions about accomplishing tasks in the community portal environment;
3) the portal's features and functions; and 4) actual usage behaviour.
We are studying the myhamilton.ca community portal. Data collection
will include Web tracking, two online Web surveys, focus groups and
interviews.
A summary of this project can be found here
at the myhamilton.ca portal website.
Managing
Knowledge and Information in Times of Major Organizational Transition
[Principal
Investigator: Dr. Chun Wei Choo, University of Toronto;
Co-investigators: Dr. Pierrette Bergeron, Université de Montréal,
Dr. Brian Detlor, McMaster University, Dr. Lorna Heaton, Université
de Montréal
Research Assistants: Umar Ruhi, Ofir Turel, Scott Paquette]
The
objective of this SSHRC-funded research project is to increase our
understanding of how organizations mobilize and leverage their knowledge
and information capabilities during times of significant organizational
change. Thus, the study investigates the interactions and dynamics
between knowledge and information management practices and major organizational
transition. By major transitions, we mean strategic organizational
transformations such as mergers and acquisitions, privatization, technology
disruption, and changes induced by external environmental forces.
By knowledge and information management practices, we include formal
elements such as intranets, portals, information systems, archives
and records, as well as informal elements such as information sharing
behaviors, communities of practice, social networks, and communication
roles and patterns.
Research Analyst 
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