Elaine Raybourn's Research Homepage

Welcome to my research page. I am a member of the Advanced Concepts Group at Sandia National Laboratories and a National Laboratory Professor in the Department of Communication & Journalism at the University of New Mexico. Presently I am a Guest Researcher in Sankt Augustin, Germany for CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) at Fraunhofer FIT, formerly GMD-FIT (German National Research Center for Information Technology, FIT - Institute for Applied Information Technology). I contribute to the Tower Project .

In February 2002 I will be joining BTexCT (British Telecom Advanced Communications Technology Centre) in the U.K. as a Research Fellow in Knowledge Management. My expertise lies in bringing my experience with cultures and intercultural communication to IT development teams, design, and deployment.

My research interests include intercultural communication, human-computer interaction design, collaborative virtual environments, and games. My current efforts include creating intrinsically motivating computer-mediated learning environments by incorporating a games perspective, adding cultural signposts in intelligent community-based knowledge environments, and designing cultural frameworks for the cognitive architecture of models and simulations that incorporate human actors, or human learning. I have also conducted research on virtual communities such as Multi-user Dimensions (MUDS or MOOs), intercultural communication simulations in a computer-mediated context, computer games, and on how pairs of kids collaborate side-by-side at a single computer display. I designed my own multi-user simulation game as part of my dissertation work. When I'm not having fun working, I'm usually having fun with friends, rollerblading, SCUBA diving, rock climbing, practicing martial arts, learning Flamenco dancing, reading, and doing art.

I earned my Ph.D. (with distinction) in November, 1998, from the University of New Mexico Department of Communication & Journalism--ranked in 1995 as the top intercultural communication Ph.D. program in the United States. The title of my dissertation is:

An Intercultural Computer-Based Multi-User Simulation
Supporting Participant Exploration of Identity and Power
in a Text-Based Virtual Reality: DomeCityMOO

Let me know if you'd like to see it online!
Bypass my research and go directly to my
Hommage to the Beauty of One Word Quotes

    Press Releases Links

  • Sandia's Elaine Raybourn explores ways to make Internet communication more like being in a 'real' place. Sandia Lab News, May 11, 2000.

  • Read the full article on my work in introducing cultural cues in collaborative virtual environments in Global TechnoScan, a weekly magazine on new technology. May 17th to May 23rd, 2000 Vol 1 Issue 016.

      Selected Workshops

  • IEEE International Workshops on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises (WetIce 2002): Evaluating Collaborative Enterprises
    A three-day workshop I will co-chair in June. View the 2001 Evaluating Collaborative Enterprises Workshop report.

    Voltage in the Milky Night: The Future of CVEs
     A one-day workshop I co-organized for CVE 2000, Collabortive Virtual Environments, San Francisco, CA, September 10, 2000. Take a look at our workshop notes.

  • Designing From the Interaction Out: Using Intercultural Communication as a Framework to Design Interactions in Collaborative Virtual Communities One-day workshop I conducted at GROUP'99 (International Conference on Supporting Group Work), Phoenix, Arizona, November 14-17, 1999. Visit our workshop concept map designed by Gil Regev.

      Selected Publications

  • Designing an Emergent Culture of Negotiation in Collaborative Virtual Communities
    My book chapter in Collaborative Virtual Environments edited by Churchill, Snowden, and Munro.

  • Research Directions in Designing Intercultural Interactions in Collaborative Virtual Communities : report on the Group 99 workshop. Published in ACM SigGroup Bulletin, 2000.

  • Designing an Emergent Culture of Negotiation in Collaborative Virtual Communities. Publication in ACM SigGroup Bulletin, 2000.

  • When Two Hands Are Better Than One: Enhancing Collaboration Using Single Display Groupware
    Late-Breaking Results Paper published in the proceedings of CHI'98 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), Los Angeles, CA, April 18-23, 1998. Read Jason Stewart's doctoral thesis available from the University of Maryland HCIL, or check out the 9/23/99 Sun interview with Ben Bederson for more details about Java-based SDG.

  • The Quest for Power, Popularity, and Privilege in Cyberspace: Identity Construction in a Text-Based Multi-User Virtual Reality
    Presented at the Western Speech Communication Association Conference, Denver, CO, February 14-17, 1998.

  • Computer Game Design: New Directions for Intercultural Simulation Game Designers
    Published in Developments of Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, vol. 24, 1997.

  • Intercultural Communication, Simulation Games, and Computer Game Technology
    Presented at the Association for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning Conference, New Orleans, LA, March 19-21, 1997.

  • Demand Activated Manufacturing Architecture (DAMA) Model for Supply Chain Collaboration. Presented at the International Conference on Modeling and Analysis of Semiconductor Manufacturing (MASM 2000) May 10-12, 2000, Tempe, Arizona. I was a project team member, and contributor to this paper.

      Selected Presentations

  • FIG LEAF: Arcadia After The Fall--The Effect of Original Sin on A Communication Information Space
    Presentation given at the i3 (European Intelligent Information Interfaces) workshop on Arcadian Virtuality: Ecological Information Spaces, Sitges, Spain, March 7-10, 1999.

  • The Cost of Being Here and There, Now: Implications for Communication in Computer-Mediated Collaborative Environments
    Paper and presentation given at ECSCW (European Computer-Supported Cooperative Work) workshop on Ubiquitous Virtual Communities for Collaborative Working, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 14, 1999.

  • Designing the DomeCityMOO Collaboratory Presentation at Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW '98) Doctoral Colloquim, Seattle, WA, November 14-15, 1998.

  • The Experience of Flow in Play and Games
    Sorry--this page is still under construction. To those of you who have contacted me--I will eventually expand this page!

      Resources Linked to My Research

  • Women & Language: An Interdisciplinary Journal. See Selected Language and Gender articles online.

  • The Edge E-Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 1, 4.

  • CyberCulture, Identity and Gender Resources Cyber Resources on MOOs, MUDs, and CVEs.

  • Moo History and Social Research See Social Research section.

  • Computer Games Design. An annotated bibliography on articles and essays.

  • Premature Adoption of a Constructive Educational Technology Research on collaboration from a constructionist approach.

  • Citations for Single Display Groupware Links to articles in which our work is cited. Textual context provided.

  • Albuquerque Software Process Improvement Network. Presentation on user interface design, August 20, 1998.

      Hommage To The Beauty of One Word

    Favorite one-word quotes that are not necessarily related to my research:

    "Engage." --Jean Luc Picard
    "DOH!" --Homer Simpson
    "Doch!" --uttered by Germans everywhere
    "Spoon!" --The Tick
    "www.shhh.com!"--Dr. Evil
    "Muevete!"--Ruben Blades
    "Rock!" --rock climbers
    "MOO!" --all MOOers, MOO researchers, and anyone who has a conversation with a MOOer about MOOs or MOOing.

    Longest one-word quote that is also the title of a song:

    "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"
    --Mary Poppins

    Favorite song that exalts the beauty behind the use of one word:

    Monosyllabic Girl--No FX

    Most communicated in a one-word email:

    Dog?--T.G.

    Continue to visit and check on my progress as I expand and update this page.
    This page last updated on November 27, 2001.

    Let me hear from you!

    University of New Mexico
    Department of Communication & Journalism
    Sandia National Laboratories
    Advanced Concepts Group

    Tel: +1 505.844.7975 Fax: +1 505.845.7890
    Sandia National Laboratories
    P.O. Box 5800 MS 1188
    Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185
    Send me comments at emraybo@sandia.gov