Research
Alex Qiang Chen is a PhD candidate in the School of Computer Science at The University of Manchester, with a concentration in Human Computer Interaction with the Web. He is advised by Dr. Simon Harper. He graduated from University of Leeds in 2006, receiving a Bachelor of Engineering with honors in Electronic and Computer Engineering. In 2008 Alex received his Masters of Science in Advance Computer Science from The University of Manchester. His Masters thesis was titled Web Evolution.
Alex's keen research interest in User-Centred Design, Web Mining, Web Accessibility, Usability, Interface Design and Human Computer Interaction is very much influenced by the research projects, as well as many community involvement in these areas. He is currently a postgraduate researcher in the Web Egronomics Lab (WEL) where he take on two research projects.
The Web Evolution project examines the Web at different instance in time since 1999 to identify the technological trends of the Web. This project allows Alex to understand and spot problems faced by Web developers and users, and predict future upcoming trends.
Alex's current research, the Widget Identification and Modification for Web 2.0 Access Technologies (WIMWAT) project investigate an eminent accessibility issue faced by many when using Web pages with dynamic content. Dynamic content provide users with more interactivity and developers with more expressive capabilities. However, Assistive Technologies - such as screen readers - are often slow to adapt to the technological advancement, and frequently, dynamic content go unnoticed. WIMWAT attempts to identify areas on the page where dynamic content exist and inform Assistive Technologies and user agent with useful information about the live regions.
