Principal Researcher
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, some truths about the nature of work have been underscored: it is uniquely complex, quickly shifting, and increasingly technology-mediated. Situated in…
The Socially Intelligent Meetings program explores social and technological interventions for making work-oriented telepresence effective, comfortable, adaptable, and robust. The guiding principle are are that telepresence technologies should…
Microsoft is excited to be a Champion sponsor of the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Stop by our virtual booth to chat with our…
I am a Principal Researcher in human-computer interaction exploring the Future of Work at Microsoft Research Cambridge (UK). As a sociologist of communication technology, I investigate how the design of communication technologies interacts with language, action, and culture. I am currently focused on Socially Intelligent Meetings — social and technological interventions for making organizational remote and hybrid telepresence effective, comfortable, and adaptable, ranging from traditional videoconferencing to future cross-reality systems. I have been a member of four global category first-place winning projects in Microsoft OneWeek Hackathons. I have been a PC member of CHI and CSCW, and reviewed for many HCI and communication journals and conferences.
Interests
I am interested in video-mediated collaboration, enterprise social media platforms, cross-device interaction and device ecologies, engineering culture, tangible data visualisation of cloud data, and research-product group alignment. Most of my publications cover technologized interaction across a range of contexts, such as enterprise and personal video-mediated communication in various forms, online freelancing, ambient audio technologies to support independent living, IRC openings and non-responses, social media in the workplace, crisis memes, error mascots, Internet culture, and cross-device interaction in video-mediated collaboration and slideware. I have also explored membership categorisation analysis and omnirelevance.
Approach
My approach is ethnomethodological, drawing on ethnographic data and analysing that data using qualitative methods such as conversation analysis and membership categorisation analysis. I specialize in field research but also conduct interview, diary, and survey studies, as well as lab-based studies of prototypes.
Hackathons
I have been a member of four global category first-place winning projects in Microsoft OneWeek Hackathons. You can read about the first of these in our Garage Wall of Fame post Mobile Sharing and Companion Experiences for Microsoft Teams Meetings. One day I might even be able to say what the other ones were! 😉
Academic
I received my PhD in 2010 in the field of Sociology specializing in Communication, from the University at Albany, State University of New York. My dissertation was chaired by Professor Emerita Anita Pomerantz with committee members Professor Teresa Harrison, Professor Glenna Spitze, and Professor Ronald Jacobs.
Prior to working at Microsoft I was a Lecturer in Strategic Communication at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
I have been a PC member of CHI and CSCW several times and reviewed for many major communication and technology journals and conferences. I was the Senior Editor of the Communication Technology section of the online Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. I have edited special issues of the Electronic Journal of Communication and the Australian Journal of Communication. I co-chaired the Microsoft 2020 New Future of Work Symposium (with Gloria Mark) and the 2012 conference of the Australasian Institute of Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis (with Richard Fitzgerald).
Digital Advocacy
I was the former Chair and a former Board Member of Electronic Frontiers Australia, a non-profit group advocating for digital access, freedom, and privacy.
Many organizations are deciding to adopt a hybrid way of working - one that allows employees to work from home or from the office depending on the job function and the needs of the business. As we re-enter the workplace, Microsoft research insights illustrate the need to learn new hybrid workplace skills and habits around core areas of work such as meetings and productivity.
Mobile Sharing and Companion Experiences Video meetings traditionally limit each person to one device, hindering the ways that people can participate, share, and interact. Microsoft Teams empowers users to achieve more by using their computer and phone together as companions…
EXCERPT: "Longer-term, technology will adapt to foster creativity, says Sean Rintel, principal researcher at Microsoft. Using augmented or virtual reality headsets to “bridge the physical-digital divide and improve both all-remote meetings and future hybrid meetings . . . [could] open up the possibility for engaging with one another remotely that goes well beyond what is physically possible.” This might include anonymising contributions so that ideas are judged on their merits rather than the person who presents them, which could help reduce bias or stop the group from deferring to seniority."
