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Home > Groups > Socio-Digital Systems
Socio-Digital Systems

Elegant technologies for complex lives

 Socio-Digital Systems (SDS) aims to use an understanding of human values to help to change the technological landscape in the 21st century. Beyond making us all more productive and efficient, we ask how we can build technology to help us be more expressive, creative, and reflective in our daily lives.

Our group considers a broad range of human values, aims to understand their complexity, and puts them front and centre in technology development. An important aspect of this endeavour is the construction of new technologies that, in turn, we ourselves can shape. In so doing, we may create new ways that help us to actively realise our aspirations and desires, to engage with or disconnect from the world around us, to remember our past or to forget it, to connect with others or disengage from them. Important here are technologies which ultimately make our lives richer, and which offer us choice and flexibility in the things that we do.

SDS does this through the bringing together of social science, design and computer science. We believe that by understanding human values, we open up a space of new technological possibilities that stretches the boundaries of current conceptions of human-computer interaction.

Our publications are available here, and at the end of this page.

Socio-Digital Systems is one of three groups in the Computer-Mediated Living research area at Microsoft Research Cambridge.

SDS Themes

This group develops its work through themes that represent interlocking sets of social and technical concerns. Currently, SDS is investigating the following.

  Beyond Search   Human-centred System Architectures
The Future of Looking Back  

Interacting without Touching

  At the intersection     

 Our past themes are available here, and you can also see some of our projects here.

People
Gerardo Gonzalez
Gerardo Gonzalez

Phil Gosset
Phil Gosset

Mike Molloy
Mike Molloy

Kenton O'Hara
Kenton O'Hara

Affiliates

   Dave Kirk              

Buxton,
Bill  

Kirk,
Dave

 

Cao,
Xiang

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

     

 

 

 

           
Publications

    2012

    2011

    2010

    2009

    2008

    2007

    2006

    2005

    2003

    • Alex S. Taylor and Richard Harper, Switching On to Switch Off, in Inside the Smart Home, pp. 115-126, Springer Verlag, London, 2003


    New issue of our magazine!
    "Things We've Learnt About..." is a regular publication from the Socio-Digital Systems team that summarises our work around a specific theme in a way that we hope is interesting, insightful and inspirational. And most importantly, succinct. Issue 2 is all about MEMORY. Download your copy today!

    Being Human

    Socio-Digital Systems, along with 40 or so of the world's best HCI researchers, have put together a report for anyone interested in the ramifications of our digital future and in ways society must adjust to the technological changes to come.

    Recent Press Coverage
    Contact Us
    • Socio-Digital Systems
      Microsoft Research
      7 J J Thomson Ave
      Cambridge CB3 0FB, UK
      +44 1223 479700
    Careers
    • The Socio-Digital Systems group are always looking for interns and Post-docs. For more information, visit Microsoft Research Careers.