Dr Monika Buscher

PhD Supervision Interests

mobilities research creative practice ethnomethodological and ethnographic studies innovation and socio-technical change ubiquitous computing computer supported collaborative work digital economy

Current Teaching

• Part I Sociology
• MA Mobilities, Society and Change
• Media in a Global Age
• Design: Management and Policy (LICA)
• Design 101 (LICA)
• FASS 507 Introduction to the Philosophy of the Social Sciences

Research Interests

I'm interested in how people collaborate, at work or elsewhere. Everyday material and epistemic practices - on the move or in situ - including experiences and practices of place-making, distributed collaboration, collective intelligence are the focus of my studies. My approach is ethnographic and analytically rooted in ethnomethodology, science and technology studies, mobilities research and phenomenology. My work critically informs participatory, interdisciplinary socio-technical innovation. I actively co-design and facilitate the appropriation of cutting edge ubiquitous computing visions, technologies, platforms, and content in different settings (see, for example,Bridge, Workspace and PalCom).

I am Director of mobilities.lab - an interdisciplinary collaboration between several different departments at Lancaster and a range of international academic and industrial partners. Mobilities.lab research connects different fields of research: Mobilities Research, Design, Ethnomethodology, Science and Technology Studies, Participatory Design, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and Ubiquitous Computing.

The book series Changing Mobilities, which I edit together wih Peter Adey, invites contributions that address the empirical realities of changing mobilities and opportunities to inform design, policy and social change.

Please contact me at m.buscher@lancaster.ac.uk

Twitter @mbuscher

Profile

Selected Research projects

Bridge: Bridging resources and agencies in large-scale emergency management (2011-2015)

A collaborative design project funded by the EU Commission. We are co-designing a system to support interoperability (both technical and social) in large-scale emergency relief efforts with stakeholders. The system will be a bridge between multiple agencies: It will help to mediate the activities of the command and professional staff, which is where most of the strategic decision making must occur; it will also help to merge the systems and resources from different agencies into a cohesive whole and support collaboration with user generated 'crisis informatics'.

Citizens Transforming Society: Tools for Change (CaTalyST) (2011-2014)

This project will bring together a group of social scientists (sociology; anthropology), computer scientists (mobile computing; web2.0; distributed systems), management scientists (consumer behaviour) and designers (innovation) to develop next generation systems that empower citizens to create bottom-up innovative solutions to 'wicked' societal problems. It will promote cross-disciplinary working across Lancaster University (and beyond) between the School of Computing & Communications, Sociology, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster Environment Centre, and Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts.

New Interaction Order (2010-2011)

This pilot project studies the 'new' interaction order from different empirical and analytical perspectives. Drawing on sociology, ethnomethodology, criminology, geography, and design, we are carrying out studies of 'behaviour in public places' in Manchester.

Design for Flexibility and Change within Health Service Providers (DFC)

This project explores how medical practitioners can mobilize local and expert domain knowledge and dovetail it with new design and managerial skills to implement the Practice Based Commissioning (PBC) framework to shape NHS service provision. Designing new health and care service models and facilities requires creative, managerial and/or design skills and this 18 month research project is part of the EPSRC funded innovation centred called HACIRIC (Health and Care Infrastructure Research and Innovation Centre).

Innovative media for a digital economy

In this research cluster, we investigate digital economy practices that are emerging around the capabilities of social, mobile and pervasive technologies. We explore how we can develop new services, new forms of exchange and interaction that benefit the whole of the UK economy.

PalCom, Palpable Computing: A new perspective on Ambient Computing, FP6 IST Future and Emerging Technologies, 2004-7.

As computing technologies become an ever more 'invisible' and powerful part of our mobile lives, it is crucial that people are supported in understanding what these technologies are doing and what they could do for them.

WorkSPACE, Distributed Work Support through Component Based SPAtial Computing Environments, FP5 IST Future and Emerging Technologies, 2000-3.

Mobile workers often generate dynamic configurations of spaces, information, and people - within the office, but also beyond. These practices pose great challenges to the computer as-we-know-it today and open up a range of opportunities for innovative design. Spatial computing environments respond to these challenges. They exploit technical possibilities to support the social and spatial organization of work.

Past doctoral students and postdocs

Jesper Wolff Olsen (visiting PhD student): Palpable computing

Dr. Sergio Benicio (2009/10): Hypermobility

Dr Jamie O'Brien (2008/9) Honorary Research Fellow - now at EngD Centre in Virtual Environments, Imaging and Visualisation Computer Science Department University College London

• Citizens Transforming Society: Tools for Change (CaTalyST)

  01/11/2011 →
  Jon Whittle, Gordon Blair, Monika Buscher, Paul Coulton, Leon Cruickshank, Tim Dant, Rebecca Ellis, Robert Fildes, Drew Hemment, Awais Rashid, Corina Sas, Didier Soopramanien, Lucy Suchman
  ... Read more»

• ZIF: Centre for interdisciplinary research, Univ of Bielefeld , communicating disaster programme

  01/03/2011 →
  Monika Buscher
  ... Read more»

• New Interaction Order

  01/02/2011 → 31/10/2012
  Monika Buscher
  This pilot project studies the 'new' interaction order from different empirical and analytical perspectives. Drawing on sociology, ethnomethodology, criminology, geography, and design, we are carrying ... Read more»

• Research cluster on innovative media for a digital economy

  01/04/2008 →
  Monika Buscher
  ... Read more»

• Mobile Publics

  06/02/2013
  Monika talks about mobile publics. ... Read more»

• A Walk in the Inferno

  28/07/2012
  Lisa Wood observes collaboration during a firefighting exercise in a tunnel in Switzerland.   ... Read more»

• Monika Buscher to be awarded honorary doctorate

  30/06/2011
  1) Monika Buscher of Mobilities.lab and CeMoRe has been recommended for the award of 'Doctor Honoris Causa' by the Academic Council of Roskilde University, having been nominated by both the Department ... Read more»

• ECSCW 2011 - CfP - Collective Intelligence

  05/05/2011
  Call for papers for a workshop at ECSCW 2011 CSCWSmart? Collective Intelligence and CSCW in Crisis Situations There are potentially rich synergies between socio-technical innovation in collective i ... Read more»

• Bridge - New EU project - mobilities.lab

  04/04/2011
  Bridge: Bridging resources and agencies in large scale emergency management (2011-2015, EU FP7 Security Theme) Joining a chorus of post-disaster inquiries (such as 9/11, Katrina, London 7/7), local an ... Read more»

• URBAN MOBILITIES: SETTING LONG-TERM FOUNDATIONS FOR TRANSNATIONAL RESEARCH

  Monika Buscher (Speaker) 31/8/2011
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Honorary Doctorate

  Monika Buscher (Recipient) 16/9/2011
  Activity: Honorary degree
  Read more»

• 9th International Conference on Crisis Response and Management

  Monika Buscher (Speaker) 21/4/2012 → 25/4/2012
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• FutureEverything

  Monika Buscher (Participant) 16/5/2012 → 19/5/2012
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• VideoConference

  Monika Buscher (Speaker) 5/7/2012
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• New Interaction Orders, New Mobile Publics?

  Monika Buscher (Organiser) 13/4/2012 → 14/4/2012
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»

• Mobilizing Communications and Networked Reinvention: Persons, Cities, Social Worlds

  Monika Buscher (Speaker) 9/5/2012
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Materialities, Visualities, Securities

  Monika Buscher (Invited speaker) 7/6/2012
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Centre for Mobilities Research Day

  Monika Buscher (Speaker) 30/5/2012
  Activity: Participation in workshop, seminar, course
  Read more»

• Mobilizing Emergency/Disaster Response Workshop

  Monika Buscher (Host) 10/9/2012
  Activity: Hosting of external, non-academic visitor
  Read more»

• ISCRAM 2013

  Monika Buscher (Chair) 12/5/2013 → 15/5/2013
  Activity: Participation in conference
  Read more»