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Karyn Moffatt

Academic title(s): 

Associate Professor
Canada Research Chair in Inclusive Social Computing
Graduate Program Director, PhD

Karyn Moffatt
Contact Information
Phone: 
514-398-1878
Email address: 
karyn.moffatt [at] mcgill.ca
Link(s): 
Research lab: Accessible Computing Technology Research Group ( ACT Lab)
Media Guide to McGill Experts profile
Curriculum vitae: 
PDF icon karyn_moffatt_cv_apr_2024.pdf
Degree(s): 
  • PhD (Computer Science), University of British Columbia
  • MSc (Computer Science), University of British Columbia
  • BASc (Computer Engineering), University of British Columbia
Biography: 

Karyn Moffatt is an Associate Professor in the School of Information Studies at McGill University and the Canada Research Chair in Inclusive Social Computing. She leads the Accessible Computing Technologies Research Group where she studies how computing applications can be designed to be more inclusive of diverse needs and preferences across the lifespan, especially with respect to supporting social engagement and interaction. Her work has been recognized with Best Paper awards from ASSETS, CHI, and CSCW. She currently serves as an Associate Editor for ACM’s Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS), and recently served as Program Co-Chair for ASSETS 2020 and Sub-Committee Co-Chair—Accessibility and Aging for ACM CHI 2023.

Courses: 
Graduate supervision: 

Current

Former

Professional activities: 
Research areas: 
Accessibility of computer systems
Computer-mediated communication within families & across generations
Human-computer interaction
Interactive technologies for older users & individuals with disabilities
Current research: 
2024–2029

Ethical and appropriate AI enhanced services to support active aging in later life. NSERC Discovery Grant. (Principal Investigator)
2022–2027

Inclusive Social Computing. Canada Research Chair Program. (Principal Investigator)
2023–2025

The Collaborative Design, Usability and Acceptability of “iRespite”: An mHealth App Prototype to Coordinate Palliative Oncology Respite Care Services in Quebec. McGill Nursing Collaborative for Education and Innovation in Patient- and-Family-Centered Care. (Co-Investigator)
Selected publications: 

A full listing of publications is available on Google Scholar. Recent publications include:  

  • Yang, M. and Moffatt, K. (2024). Navigating the maze of routine disruption: Exploring how older adults living alone navigate barriers to establishing and maintaining physical activity habits. Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI ’24, Article 944, 15 pages. doi: 10.1145/3613904.3642842

  • Fontana de Vargas, M. and Moffatt, K. (2024). Co-designing QuickPic: Automated topic-specific communication boards from photographs for AAC-based language instruction. Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI ’24, To Appear

  • Ghenai, A., Ayeni, P., Yu, J., Cohen, R., and Moffatt, K. (2023). Guidelines for designing social networking sites for older adults: A systematic review with thematic synthesis. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing, 16(3):Article 19, 1–23. doi: 10.1145/3615662

  • Dai, J. and Moffatt, K. (2023). Enriching social sharing for the dementia community: Insights from in-person and online social programs. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing, 16(1):Article 11, 1–32. doi: 10.1145/3582558

  • Dai, J., Bartlett, J., and Moffatt, K. (2023). Library services enriching community engagement for dementia care: The Tales & Travels program at a Canadian public library as a case study. Journal of Librarianship & Information Science, 55(1):123–136. doi: 10.1177/09610006211065170

  • Fontana de Vargas, M. and Moffatt, K. (2021). Automated generation of storytelling vocabulary from photographs for use in AAC. Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the 59th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics and the 11th International Joint Conference on Natural Language Processing, 11 pages.

  • Dai, J. and Moffatt, K. (2021). Surfacing the voices of people with dementia: Strategies for effective inclusion of proxy stakeholders in qualitative research. Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI ’21, Article 374, 13 pages. doi: 10.1145/3411764.3445756.

  • Pang, C., Wang, Z. C., McGrenere, J., Leung, R., Dai, J., and Moffatt, K. (2021). Technology adoption and learning preferences for older adults: Evolving perceptions, ongoing challenges, and emerging design opportunities. Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI ’21, Article 490, 13 pages. doi: 10.1145/3411764.3445702.

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