I have held a succession of research posts, mainly related to information extraction from texts in the biodiversity domain.
Currently engaged on the EU FP7 funded ViBRANT project (Virtual Biodiversity Research and Access Network for Taxonomy), which has the goal of providing a more integrated and effective framework for those managing biodiversity data on the Web, I contribute to ViBRANT’s work package 7, biodiversity literature access and data mining.
The work in ViBRANT builds on an earlier JISC funded project, ABLE (Automatic Biodiversity Literature Enhancement) completed in 2010. While engaged with ViBRANT, I helped write several biodiversity information extraction related bids. This has resulted in two additional projects for the Open University, agINFRA (A data structure for agriculture, EU FP7 funded) and ComTax (Community curation of taxonomic databases, JISC funded). I act as a consultant to both projects.
In contrast, my earlier research looked into using technology to support learning, especially using wikis to support reflection. I have long been interested in knowledge management in general and wikis in particular, since my days as a document management and workflow consultant in the ’nineties. This earlier work of mine clearly still attracts some interest as my PhD thesis, An investigation into the role of a wiki in supporting collaborative learning activities was the top download from the OU’s ORO system in May 2013.