Professor Harold Thimbleby
Computer Science, Swansea University
Harold Thimbleby is Professor of Computer Science, Swansea University. He joined the Department in 2005, and he directs the Future Interaction Technologies Laboratory.
Future interaction technologies - the complex devices that change our lives, for better or worse - whether in our homes, cars, mobile phones or medical devices, etc. The FIT Lab is about evaluating and changing design through better technology.
Harold published his first paper, on menu selection, in 1978, and has since written nearly 400 publications - of which nearly 200 were invited - from newspaper articles to Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as many refereed research publications. He wrote User Interface Design, published in the ACM Press Frontier Series in 1990.
He was a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award Holder. He was 28th Gresham Professor of Geometry. He was awarded the British Computer Society Wilkes Medal, and won a Toshiba Year of Invention prize. He is a visiting professor at UCL and Middlesex University.
Harold has worked in algorithms, artificial life, autostereograms, computer ethics, computer viruses, digital libraries, human-computer interaction, mobile computing, software engineering and the public understanding of science.
Harold has held visiting positions in Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, etc. He is on numerous international editorial boards and conference committees, and gave keynotes at first German Software Ergonomics conference, first International Handheld and Ubiquitous Computing Conference, first Asia-Pacific Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, ... and at 30 other national and international conferences. Harold is particularly interested in research itself, particularly with the rapid expansion of computer science.
Harold believes strongly that public understanding and awareness of technology and the science behind it is crucial for us to benefit from it to the full. He was the keynote speaker at the "Next Generation Tour," a research workshop that toured New Zealand Universities, inspiring undergraduates to take up research. Harold regularly runs conferences and workshops.
Harold has given over 350 seminars and presentations (including at Cambridge, MIT, Oxford, Royal Institution, Stanford and the House of Lords) in 15 different countries. He's talked at 10 Edinburgh International Science Festivals, the British Association Annual festival, Spoleto, etc.
He has been widely interviewed and reported in the media. Harold gives numerous public lectures and school talks. He had the largest post-bag ever for a New Scientist feature article he wrote about video recorders.
His fifth book, Press On, has recently been published by MIT Press. Press on explains the problems of interactive devices and explains how to design and engineer better systems that are more reliable, simpler and easier to use, and is for anyone who wants to understand how interactive technology could be better.
Speaking at:
Public Lecture - Press On
Monday 19 November
5.30pm - 6.30pm
Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea University
