Archived on: 11 March 2005, 15:58:35 UTC
Source: Web Archive

Welcome to My Little Room in Cyberspace

“Think of this site as a window into my office.”

This is an archive of my original personal website, simonharper.info, captured in March 2005. The site was initially built over a few weeks in July and August 1998 and represented my early work in web accessibility and hypermedia research.

Site Philosophy

The site was unmistakably research/business orientated and that was intentional. It served as:

• A point of contact - making useful information easily accessible
• A research repository - documenting ongoing and completed projects
• A collaboration hub - facilitating communication with colleagues
• An online office - a one-stop-shop for information about my work

You wouldn’t find lots of time consuming fancy graphics, endless ranting about sci-fi epics, lots of links to other sites or a list of bookmarks. What you would find was a cleanly designed, fast loading site using Cascading Style Sheets, relating information about how to contact me, what I did and when I did it.

About Me (2005)

Simon Harper was a Research Fellow in the Information Management Group of the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester working on cognitive solutions to the problems inherent in accessing large, heterogeneous, non-linear information sources without vision (or with limited vision).

Research Interests

My primary research interest lay at the intersection between information and users - focusing on assisting the cognitive needs of users as they moved through information. I was more interested in user cognition and the boundary between computer systems and knowledge, perception, awareness and reasoning than on ‘straight’ HCI and the Interface.

This manifested itself as the research area of hypertext/hypermedia and the web along with:

• The accessibility of information
• Universal cognition of information resources
• Ambient hypermedia through small screen devices

Key Projects (2005)

proXimity Project
A multi-disciplinary cross-platform system joining the three domains of Knowledge, Environment, and User - helping users more easily perceive an environment. Collaborating with Carole Goble (Manchester, UK), Helen Petrie (City, UK), and Bernard Horan (SUN).

Semantics and Users
Collaboration with Sean Bechhofer (Manchester, UK) on encoding RDF into XHTML for use by users (as opposed to agents) in an attempt to augment knowledge and awareness of information.

Aphasia Communication
Grant proposals to the Stroke Association with Robert Stevens and Helen Petrie based on hypermedia pictorial representations for communication by users with Aphasia.

Ambient Hypermedia
Informal conversations with Gustavo Rossi (Facultad de Informatica, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina) on extensions to his OOHDM (methodology) with regard to encoding spatial cognition into ambient hypermedia systems at the design stage.

Research Lines

The ‘augmented’ website dealt with research into ways of augmenting the cognition of users with hypermedia techniques along these research lines:

• Semantics and annotation
• Transcoding
• Ambient systems
• Nuts & bolts (formative surveys of hypermedia user preference)

Achievements (as of 2005)

• Organiser of the International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility run at the World Wide Web Conference
• Guest editor of the New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia
• Programme Committee member and reviewer for numerous conferences
• Session chair at the ACM Hypertext Conference
• Doug Engelbart Prize recipient for best paper at the ACM Hypertext 2000 Conference

Personal Note (2005)

I lived happily in Manchester (UK) with my artistic (and therefore reasonably insane) Armenian fiancée. I was an active supporter of many charities, among them Greenpeace, Amnesty, MSF, and Oxfam. I had travelled solo through Europe, Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East. I was a qualified yachtsman and an avid kayaker and sub-aqua diver. And I liked nothing better than a good curry and a good beer - an all around gastronome and Bon viveur!

Site Structure

The original site included:

Main Sections

• Home - Introduction and overview
• About / Biography - Multiple length biographies (Tiny, Short, Medium, Large, Extra Large, Obese!)
• A Short Potted History - Background and journey
• Contact - Contact information
• Directions - How to find me
• Filter - Content filtering
• Calendar - Availability (via iCal)
• En Passant - Web log (blog)

Research

• Lines of Investigation - Research directions
• Papers / Publications - Academic output
• Projects - Research projects
• Artefacts - Software releases
• RAE - Research Assessment Exercise
• Collaborations - Collaborators and partnerships
• W4A Workshops - Web accessibility workshops
• SIGACCESS Column - ACM SIGACCESS Left-Field Column
• On the Slate - Upcoming work

Technical

• Heavy Lifting - Major technical work
• Skills - Technical capabilities

Teaching

• Databases (CS2312) - CS2312 Fundamentals of Databases
• 3rd Year Projects - Undergraduate project supervision
• MSc Projects - Postgraduate project supervision

Technical Notes

• Built initially in July-August 1998
• Used Cascading Style Sheets for design
• XHTML 1.0 Strict compliance
• Focus on fast loading and clean design
• Accessible by design (eating my own dog food!)

Historical Context

This archive represents a snapshot of my work during a pivotal period in web accessibility research. The W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 had been released in 1999, and the field was rapidly evolving. My focus on cognitive approaches to accessibility, rather than purely technical compliance, represented an important research direction that continues to influence the field today.

This archived content represents the website as it appeared on 11 March 2005. Some links and references may no longer be active. The content is preserved here for historical interest and as a record of early web accessibility research.

Original site copyright © 2004 Simon Harper. Archive preserved under fair use for historical and educational purposes.