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Research interests

I am an active researcher in the field of information behaviour/information practices research, with a particular interest in information/knowledge sharing in academic, professional and artistic communities. My work has appeared in the leading international research journals and conferences in the field, including Information Research, Library Quarterly and the Conceptions of Library & Information Science, International Communication Association, Canadian Association for Information Science (where I was awarded ‘Best Paper’) and Information Seeking in Context conferences. My work is strongly associated with the emergence of new discourse analytic and social constructivist approaches to information research, focusing particularly on the social construction of information & knowledge and the inter-relationship of meaning and authority (Knowledge/Power). I have a strong interest in the relationship between theory, research and professional practice.

In January 2009, I was convenor and program chair of the Research Applications in Information and Library Studies Conference (RAILS 5). Papers from the conference will be appearing in upcoming issues of Australian Academic & Research Libraries.

Current research

My current major research project, ‘Constructing Shakespeare’ looks at how theatre professionals (actors, designers, directors etc.) make sense of a culturally iconic author. The findings of the study are based on interviews with 35 theatre professionals in Canada, Finland and the UK, including 14 from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, North America’s largest and most prestigious classical repertory theatre, and 12 from Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Other participants include actors, writers and directors associated with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Central School of Speech & Drama in the UK and the Tampereen Työväen Teatteri in Finland. The first paper reporting the findings will be presented at the up-coming Information: Interactions and Impact (i3) conference at to be held at The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK, 22-25 June 2009.

I am currently, with colleagues in the Journalism, Information & Media Studies group, in the early planning stages of a new research project examining the changing nature of journalists’ information practices in the 21st Century.

I completed my doctoral dissertation ‘The construction of meaning and significance of an ‘Author’ among Information Behaviour researchers – A social constructivist approach’ in 2003. Click here to download.

Teaching areas

Language and Discourse; People, Information and Knowledge; Information Cultures; Information Research and Data Analysis; Information Architecture and Design; Ideas in History; Media, Information and Society

Professional Bodies Committees

Member, Research Committee, Australian Library & Information Association, 2008-.

Council Founding Member, International Council on Knowledge Management, 2007-.