Jenny Preece is an American academic who is the Dean Emerita (2005–2015) of the College of

Information Studies Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination, and protection of information. ...

, a Professor at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, and a member of the

University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. She researches online communities and is known for her work on what makes such a community successful, and how usability factors interact with sociability in online communities.

Life and work

Preece gained her Ph.D. at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

, later becoming faculty there. She went on to be a Research Professor of Information Systems and founding Director of the Research Center for People and Systems Interaction at

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. At the University of Maryland, she has studied how online communities can stimulate and support social engagement. Her current work is on citizen science and environmental education. Her work is described in Encounters with HCI Pioneers: A Personal History and Photo Journal.

Publications

* Jennifer Preece, Yvonne Rogers & Helen Sharp: ''Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction'', 2nd Edition (2007), John Wiley & Sons, . 3rd Edition (2011), John Wiley & Sons, . 4th Edition (2014), John Wiley & Sons, , 5th Edition (2019), John Wiley & Sons. * ''Online Communities: Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability'', John Wiley & Sons (2000) * ''Human-Computer Interaction'' co-author, with Yvonne Rogers, Helen Sharp, David Benyon, Simon Holland, and Tom Carey, (1994) * Jenny Preece, Blair Nonnecke, Dorine Andrews: ''The top five reasons for lurking: improving community experiences for everyone'' Preece has published papers on trust, community, and online etiquette, including the transition of readers and participants to community leaders. In 2011 she was selected to join the

CHI Academy The CHI Academy is a group of researchers honored by SIGCHI, the Special Interest Group in Computer–Human Interaction of the Association for Computing Machinery. Each year, 5–8 new members are elected for having made a significant, cumulative co ...

.2011 SIGCHI Awards
, retrieved 2012-11-05.

References

External links

A longer list of Preece's published work

Wikimania 2006 bio

Jennifer Preece's iSchool profile page at University of Maryland College Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preece, Jenny Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American computer scientists Human–computer interaction researchers Alumni of the Open University American women computer scientists 21st-century American women