Gemma Webster
Gemma Webster

Dr Gemma Webster

Associate Professor

 0131 455 2667

  G.Webster@napier.ac.uk

  

Biography

Gemma Webster is a Lecturer in the Centre for Social Informatics in the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University. Gemma completed her undergraduate degree in Computing BSc (Hons) in 2008 and PhD in 2011 at the School of Computing, University of Dundee. She has completed postdoctoral positions at Lancaster University as a Research Associate. In 2013 she joined the dot.rural Digital Economy Research Hub at the University of Aberdeen were she was a Research Fellow on the CURIOS, POWKist and MinkApp projects. Gemma joined Edinburgh Napier University in 2015 were she currently supervises 3 research students, is the School lead for Research Integrity and Data Management, has assumed the role of Programme Leader for BSc (Hon) IT Management for Business Graduate Apprentice degree (2017-2020) and Module Leader for various modules ( currently including Introduction to Human Computer Interaction, User Centred Organisation Systems). She has been a fellow of the higher education academy since 2016.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Gemma's principle research interests lie in the field of human computer interaction and information behaviour with a recent focus on health care, older adults, community and assistive technologies. She is an experienced multidisciplinary researcher who has worked in a number of different environments and areas including healthcare, nature conservation, community organisations and heritage. A key aspect of all Gemma's research is that it involves ‘real-world’ environments, problems and partners.

Recent research projects as Principle Investigator include 'Social media by proxy: Managing online information for adults with dementia' (Carnegie Trust 2019), 'Information Avoidance and Diabetes' (2020), 'Information professionals and volunteers as ‘digital proxies’: impact on effectiveness of clients and employees of informal support in accessing services' (SFC Covid 2021). Gemma has (co)authored over 25 publications in peer-reviewed national and international conferences and journals during her time at Edinburgh Napier University.

INTERNATIONAL DISTINCTIONS, AWARDS & PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

- Gemma's research was included in RCUK's Digital Economy's Decade of Success

- She was invited to attend Roundtable on Technology and Digital Social Care hosted by Scottish Care

- She was selected to participate in the Digital Economy Crucible programme

- Gemma is a full member of the EPSRC College

- Gemma's research has been awarded the EPSRC Telling Tales of Engagement award, 1st place at British Science Festival for impact and public engagement

- She reviews for Carnegie Trust Scotland and EPSRC, has been a programme committee member for ICTAS, COMPSAC, PATH, completes reviewing for DIS, CHI, BHCI, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, and Journal Interacting with Computers

School

Research Groups

Themes

Research Areas

News

Esteem

Conference Organising Activity

  • Program Committee - ICTAS 2017: Information Communication and Technology and Society Conference, Durban, South Africa, 9 – 10 March 2017.
  • Program Committee - COMPSAC 2017: The 41st Annual International Computers, Software & Applications Conference, Italy, July 4-8, 2017.
  • Program Committee - COMPSAC 2016: The 40th Annual International Computers, Software & Applications Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, USA - June 10-14, 2016.
  • Program Committee - COMPSAC 2015: The 39th Annual International Computers, Software & Applications Conference, Taiwan, July 1-5, 2015.
  • Gemma Webster has been invited to be on the program committee for the International Workshop on Personalisation and Adaptation in Technology for Health (PATH 2016) at the 24th International Conference on User Modelling, Adaptation and Personalisation (UMAP 2016)
  • Dr Gemma Webster is appointed to international symposium programme committee

 

Grant Reviewer

  • Carnegie Trust
  • EPSRC Grant Reviewer
  • EPSRC Peer Review Associate College member

 

Invited Speaker

  • Roundtable on Technology and Digital Social Care hosted by Scottish Care
  • Digital Economy Crucible

 

Media Activity

  • Research Included in RCUK's Digital Economy's Decade of Sucess

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • EPSRC Full Peer Review College Member
  • Fellow of Higher Education Academy
  • EPSRC Peer Review Associate College member

 

Reviewing

  • DIS : ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems
  • 2020 CHI Reviewer
  • CHI: ACM conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • DIS : ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems
  • DIS : ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems
  • CHI: ACM conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • DIS : ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems
  • Reviewer International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
  • CHI: ACM conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems,
  • Reviewer Journal: Interacting with Computers
  • womENcourage 2015: ACM womENcourage Conference, Sweden, September 24-26, 2015.ber 24-26, 2015.
  • DIS : ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems

 

Filter by

Date


32 results

Is the public library included? An analysis of local government documentation on the integration of forced migrants in Scotland

Journal Article
Salzano, R., Hall, H., Webster, G., & Brazier, D. (2022)
Is the public library included? An analysis of local government documentation on the integration of forced migrants in Scotland. Information Research, 27, https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2218
Introduction - Library and information science researchers identify public library roles in the integration of forced migrants into local communities. Here an analysis of form...

What are public libraries for? Culture as a determinant of conceptualizations of public library services for forced migrants

Journal Article
Salzano, R., Brazier, D., Hall, H., & Webster, G. (2022)
What are public libraries for? Culture as a determinant of conceptualizations of public library services for forced migrants. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 59(1), 276-286. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.752
Public libraries offer important services for newcomer populations, including forced migrants. They help facilitate the integration of forced migrants into the host country, i...

Social Media by Proxy: how older adults work within their ‘social networks’ to engage with social media

Journal Article
Webster, G., & Ryan, F. (in press)
Social Media by Proxy: how older adults work within their ‘social networks’ to engage with social media. Information Research,
Introduction. Social media use is at an all-time high, and the adoption of online tools by older adults is increasing. This paper reports an exploratory qualitative study inve...

Let’s Play the Arcade Machines

Conference Proceeding
Stewart, F., Flint, T., Grandison, T., Webster, G., & Tyrie, C. (2022)
Let’s Play the Arcade Machines. In Proceedings of the 35th British HCI and Doctoral Consortium 2022, UK. https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/HCI2022.46
“Let’s Play the Arcade Machines” showcases games made by children in schools in the Wester Hailes area of Edinburgh. The project aims to expose the children to a constructioni...

Investigating the ‘why’ rather than the ‘how’: current research priorities on the influence of culture on new-comer populations’ use of public libraries

Journal Article
Salzano, R., Hall, H., & Webster, G. (2020)
Investigating the ‘why’ rather than the ‘how’: current research priorities on the influence of culture on new-comer populations’ use of public libraries. Information Research, 25(4), https://doi.org/10.47989/irisic2032
Introduction - Library researchers are often concerned with the factors that affect individual use of public library resources. To date, culture as a determinant of public lib...

Assisting Information Practice: From Information Intermediary To Social Proxy

Journal Article
Cruickshank, P., Webster, G., & Ryan, F. (2020)
Assisting Information Practice: From Information Intermediary To Social Proxy. Information Research, 25(4 (supplement)), https://doi.org/10.47989/irisic2017
The increasing dependence on social media and other online systems as part of everyday life has grown considerably over the years. At the same time, the complexity and securit...

The relationship between culture and public library use: non-Western students in Scotland

Journal Article
Salzano, R., Hall, H., & Webster, G. (2020)
The relationship between culture and public library use: non-Western students in Scotland. Information Research, 25(4 (supplement)), https://doi.org/10.47989/irisic2035
Introduction - Individuals’ cultural backgrounds influence their use of societal resources, including those offered in public libraries. Well-established in library research a...

Corralling Culture as a Concept in LIS Research

Conference Proceeding
Salzano, R., Hall, H., & Webster, G. (2020)
Corralling Culture as a Concept in LIS Research. In Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology. , (e368). https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.368
Individuals’ cultural backgrounds influence their use of societal resources, including libraries. A literature search and review was completed on the treatment of culture in l...

Information avoidance and diabetes – a preliminary empirical study

Presentation / Conference
Ryan, B., & Webster, G. (2020, June)
Information avoidance and diabetes – a preliminary empirical study. Poster presented at Information Science Trends: Health Information Behavior, Online
This poster presented at #AECIST20 on 2020_06_10 describes the work done so far on a seed-project investigating information avoidance by people with Type 1 diabetes about thei...

Diabetes research: at Edinburgh Napier University's School of Computing

Digital Artefact
Ryan, B., & Webster, G. (2020)
Diabetes research: at Edinburgh Napier University's School of Computing. [Blog]
This 'Diabetes Research' blog is initially about the seed-project 'Information Avoidance and diabetes'. This project is an initial investigation of how and why people with dia...

Current Post Grad projects

Previous Post Grad projects