• Theory-informed Design

    How theories inform design is fundamental to designing technology for human use.

  • PIANO

    Designing data-centric frameworks that are informed by psychology theories.

  • Rethinking Data-centric Computing Frameworks

    Exploring the role of psychology theories when data is related to humans or generated or consumed by humans.

Latest results

Our demo paper on SIERRA is accepted to SIGMOD 2024.

Our tutorial on cognitive pyschology meets data management is accepted to SIGMOD 2024.

Team

What Is PIANO?

Increasingly, data-centric computing platforms are dealing with data that are either related to humans or generated by humans or consumed directly by them as end-users. Consequently, superior and effective design of these platforms needs to be cognizant of social and cognitive psychology theories. In the PIANO project, we explore psychology theory-informed design of data-centric computing platforms where the design is guided by theories from social and cognitive psychology.

Overview

Systematic and logical engagement of theories to inform design is foundational in designing technology for human use. Theories can inspire, reflect, and facilitate in making practical choices in design. Indeed, many designs of data-centric computing solutions are grounded in theories from computer science. Increasingly, these solutions deal with data that are either related to humans (e.g., surveillance data) or produced by humans (e.g., social data). Many of these solutions are also directly consumed by humans. Consequently, they need to be cognizant of the influence of behaviours of (interacting) individuals and how people think and process information generated by these solutions. In this project, we explore psychology theory-informed design of data- and human-centric computing frameworks where theories from social and cognitive psychology, in addition to the theories from computer science, are explicitly used to guide their design. For example, social psychology theories such as conformity and confirmation bias can be exploited to guide the design of online social influence analysis techniques. Our current research focus in the arena of social analytics and database querying and exploration.

Publications