N. Sadat Shami

I have successfully defended my PhD dissertation and am now working at IBM TJ Watson Research Center in Cambridge, MA. This website acts as a historical record of my publications and projects while I was a graduate student. I no longer have editing access so this information is outdated. For my current research please visit my homepage at IBM or follow me on Twitter.

I am broadly interested in Human Computer Interaction, Computer Supported Cooperative Work, and Computer Mediated Communication. My primary research focus is to draw on theory from the social and behavioral sciences in order to develop a grounded appreciation of how individuals and groups use information technology for information seeking and knowledge sharing. Through such an understanding, I strive to design better systems that support the information seeking and knowledge sharing activities of individuals and groups. I enjoy combining quantitative model building with qualitative data analysis.

Below is a list of my publications and research projects.

Publications | Invited Talks | Invited Participant | Research Projects | Media Coverage

Publications

Refereed journal articles

[J.2] Bos, N.D., Shami, N.S. (2006). Adapting a face-to-face role-playing simulation for online play. Educational Technology Research and Development. Vol. 54, No. 5, 493-521.
[J.1] Bos, N.D., Shami, N.S., Naab, S.R. (2006) A Globalization simulation to teach corporate social responsibility: Design features and analysis of student reasoning. Simulation & Gaming, Vol. 37, No. 1, 56-72.

Refereed conference articles

[C.13] Ehrlich, K., Shami, N. S. (2010). Microblogging inside and outside the workplace.. In Proceedings of the 4th International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM 2010), AAAI Publications. (Accpetance rate: 25/133 ~ 18.8%)
[C.12] Shami, N.S., Ehrlich, K., Gay, G.K., Hancock, J.T. (2009). Making sense of strangers' expertise from signals in digital artifacts. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2009), ACM Press. (Acceptance rate: 277/1130 ~ 24.5%)
[C.11] Shami, N.S., Ehrlich, K., Millen, D.R. (2008) Pick me! Link selection in expertise search results. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2008), ACM Press. (Acceptance rate: 61/338 ~ 18%)
[C.10] Ehrlich, K., Shami, N.S. (2008). Searching for expertise. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2008), ACM Press. (Acceptance rate: 61/338 ~ 18%)
[C.9] Shami, N.S., Yuan, Y., Cosley, D.R., Xia, L., Gay, G.K. (2007). That's what friends are for: Facilitating awareness of 'who knows what' across group boundaries. In Proceedings of the 2007 International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP 2007), Sanibel Island, FL. (Acceptance rate: 38/132 ~ 29%)
[C.8] Xia, L., Shami, N.S., Yuan, Y., Gay, G.K. (2007). The impact of negative relations on performance and satisfaction in group work. In Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences (HICSS-40 '07), Hawaii, USA.
[C.7] Bos, N.D., Olson, J.S., Nan, N., Shami, N.S., Hoch, S. (2006). Collocation blindness in partially distributed teams: Is there a downside in being collocated? In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2006), ACM Press. (Acceptance rate: 118/508 ~ 23%)
[C.6] Shami, N.S., Leshed, G., Klein, D. (2005). Context of Use Evaluation of Peripheral Displays (CUEPD). In Proceedings of the Tenth IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human Computer Interaction (INTERACT 2005), Rome, Italy, September 2005. (Accpetance rate: 70/264 ~ 27%)
[C.5] Bos, N.D., Olson, J.S., Cheshin, A., Kim, Y., Nan, N., Shami, N.S. (2005). Traveling Blues: The effect of relocation on partially distributed teams. In Extended Abstracts of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2005), ACM Press. (Acceptance rate: 113/453 ~ 25%)
[C.4] Shami, N.S., Bos, N.D., Wright, Z., Hoch, S., Kuan, K.Y., Olson, J.S., Olson, G.M. (2004). An experimental simulation of multi-site software development. In Proceedings of CASCON ‘04, IBM Center for Advanced Studies, Toronto, October 2004. (Acceptance rate: 24/97 ~ 25%)
[C.3] Bos, N.D., Shami, N.S., Olson, J.S., Cheshin, A., Nan, N. (2004). In-group/out-group effects in distributed teams: An experimental simulation. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work 2004, New York: ACM Press. (Acceptance rate: 53/176 ~ 30%)
[C.2] Shami, N.S., Bos, N.D, Fort, T., Gordon, M.D. (2004). Designing a globalization simulation to teach corporate social responsibility. Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 31, 2004. [ Recipient of Best Paper Award ]
[C.1] Bos, N.D., Fort, T., Gordon, M.D., Shami, N.S. (2003). Simulation of tradeoffs in socially responsible globalization. World Conference on E-Learning in Corp., Govt., Health, & Higher Ed. 2003(1), 23-26.

Refereed conference presentations

[P.3] Bazarova, N.N., Walther, J.B., McLeod, P.L., Shami, N.S. (2007). Minority influence in distributed groups: A comparison of four theories of minority influence. Paper presented at the 2007 annual conference of the International Communication Association, San Francisco, CA.
[P.2] Walther, J.B., McLeod, P.L., Shami, N.S. (2006). Bogus bits and discussion maneuvers in computer-mediated hidden profile discussions. Paper presented at the 92nd National Communication Association Convention, San Antonio, TX.
[P.1] McLeod, P.L., Walther, J.W., Shami, N.S. (2005). Distributed Information and Distributed People: The Hidden Profile and Decision Making in Virtual Groups. Paper presented at the 2005 annual conference of the International Communication Association, New York, NY.

Workshops, workshop papers, posters, demos

[Po.1] Shami, N.S., Cheng, L-T, Rohall, S., Sempere, A., Patterson, J. (2010). Enhancing distributed corporate meetings with 'lighweight' avatars. In Extended Abstracts of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2010), New York: ACM Press.
[D.1] Cheng, L-T, Shami, N.S., Rohall, S., Sempere, A., Patterson, J. (2010). Olympus: Enhancing online meetings with avatars. Interactive demo at CSCW 2010, Savannah, GA, USA.
[WP.5] Kellogg, W.A., Erickson, T., Shami, N.S., Levine, D. (2010). Telepresence in Virtual Conferences: An empirical comparison of distance collaboration technologies. New Frontiers in Telepresence Workshop. CSCW 2010, Savannah, GA, USA.
[W.4] Cheng, L-T, Shami, N.S., Blythe, M., Bos, N. (2010). Fun, seriously? Workshop at CSCW 2010, Savannah, GA, USA.
[WP.4] Muller, M., Millen, D.R., Shami, N.S., Feinberg, J. (2010). We are all lurkers: Toward a lurker research agenda. Collective Intelligence in Organizations: Toward a Research Agenda Workshop. CSCW 2010, Savannah, GA, USA.
[W.3] Shami, N.S., Hancock, J.T., Peter, C., Muller, M.J., Kim, Y., Mandryk, R. (2008). Measuring affect in HCI: Going beyond the individual. In Extended Abstracts of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2008), New York: ACM Press.
[WP.3] Shami, N.S. (2008). Supporting distributed meetings through 'lightweight' virtual world applications. Remix rooms: Redefining the smart conference room workshop. CSCW 2008, San Diego, CA, USA.
[W.2] Crane, E., Shami, N.S., Peter, C. (2007). Let's get emotional: Emotion research in Human Computer Interaction. In Extended Abstracts of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2007), New York: ACM Press.
[WP.2] Shami, N.S. (2006). Together apart: An ethnographic study of industry-academia collaboration. Supporting the social side of large scale software development workshop, CSCW 2006, Banff, Canada.
[WP.1] Shami, N.S. (2006). The influence of positive affect in solving a computer mediated 'hidden profile' task. The role of emotion in HCI workshop. HCI 2006 Conference, London, UK.
[W.1] Shami, N.S., Hancock, J.T., Bos, N.D., Gay, G.K. (2004). Managing distributed teams: Lessons learned. In Proceedings of CASCON ‘04. IBM Center for Advanced Studies, Toronto, October 2004.

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Invited Talks

[T.6] Shami, N.S., and Muller, M. (2009) Patterns of file-sharing in an enterprise. MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) HCI Seminar Series, Cambridge, MA, November 2009.
[T.5] Shami, N.S. (2008) Making sense of strangers’ expertise from digital artifacts. Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, March 2008.
[T.4] Shami, N.S. (2008) Making sense of strangers’ expertise from digital artifacts. IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Cambridge, MA, February 2008.
[T.3] Shami, N.S. (2005) Facilitating sharing of unique information in distributed teams. 2nd Annual IBM TJ Watson HCI Symposium, Hawthorne, NY, November 2005.
[T.2] Shami, N.S. (2005). Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Guest Lecture for INFO 440/640 Advanced Human Computer Interaction Design, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, November 2005.
[T.1] Shami, N.S. (2005). Decision making in distributed teams: The use of a hidden profile experiment. Cornell Information Science Colloquium, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY, March 2005.

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Invited Participant

[I.2] National Science Foundation review panel on Human Centered Computing in CSCW, Arlington, VA, 2009.
[I.1] Microsoft Research Faculty Summit, Redmond, WA, 2008.

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Research Projects

Making sense of strangers' expertise from digital artifacts

This research aims to develop a deeper theoretical understanding of how impressions of expertise of unknown others are formed from digital artifacts. Drawing on sensemaking, signaling, and information foraging theory, as well as Goffman’s work on impression management, I unpack the cues that lead individuals to form impressions based on social computing technologies such as social tags and bookmarks, social network connections, blogs, online forums, and mailing lists. Through a series of studies conducted at a large distributed organization, I examine the mechanisms through which signals inherent in different social software allow individuals to make sense of strangers' expertise. This research has the potential to improve our understanding of how impressions get formed in the absence of face-to-face interaction.

Publications in this stream of research:

Shami, N.S., Ehrlich, K., Gay, G.K., Hancock, J.T. (2009). Making sense of strangers' expertise from signals in digital artifacts. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2009), ACM Press.
Shami, N.S., Ehrlich, K., Millen, D. (2008). Pick me! Link selection in expertise search results. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2008), ACM Press.
Ehrlich, K., Shami, N.S. (2008). Searching for expertise. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2008), ACM Press.

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K-net: Sharing expertise through friendship networks

K-net is an expertise recommender system that utilizes friendship networks to locate and recommend expertise in an organization. Utilizing friendship networks to recommend experts is a departure from traditional expertise recommenders. It is not sufficient to just identify experts, it is equally important to ensure that experts respond. Friendship matters. Using friendship networks to recommend experts increases the probability of response. Furthermore, research has found that people enjoy working with a friend over a more competent individual. Drawing on transactive memory theory, K-net allows individuals in an organization to know 'who knows what'. It thus goes beyond recommending experts; it increases awareness of expertise distributed throughout the organization. We are studying how K-net allowed software engineering groups to increase their transactive memory, performance, and sociability.

Publications in this stream of research:

Shami, N.S., Yuan, Y., Cosley, D.R., Xia, L., Gay, G.K. (2007). That's what friends are for: Facilitating 'who knows what' across group boundaries. In Proceedings of the 2007 International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP 2007), Sanibel Island, FL.
Xia, L., Shami, N.S., Yuan, Y., Gay, G.K. (2007). The impact of negative relations on performance and satisfaction in group work. In Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences (HICSS-40 '07), Hawaii, USA.

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Affect and group decision making through CMC

There has been limited research on the impact of mild positive affect on computer mediated group decision making. While the literature has shown that mild positive affect promotes creativity and flexibility in thinking among individuals in face to face settings, the effects on group information processing through computer mediated communication has not been explored. This research looks at how inducing mild positive affect through computer mediated means may impact group information processing.

Publications/Workshops in this stream of research:

Shami, N.S., Hancock, J.T., Peter, C., Muller, M.J., Kim, Y., Mandryk, R. (2008). Measuring affect in HCI: Going beyond the individual. In Extended Abstracts of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2008), New York: ACM Press.
Crane, E., Shami, N.S., Peter, C. (2007). Let's get emotional: Emotion research in Human Computer Interaction. In Extended Abstracts of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2007) New York: ACM Press.
Shami, N.S. (2006). The influence of positive affect in solving a computer mediated 'hidden profile' task. The role of emotion in HCI workshop, HCI 2006 Conference, London, UK.

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Distributed Teams

Distributed teams are teams that are comprised of individuals located in geographically different locations. Such teams have to depend on technology to collaborate. Rapid advancements in information and communication technology has led to increased use of distributed or virtual teams for collaborating at a distance. This project was an experimental field study of sixty four groups from six universities across North America. We were interested in studying how different geographic distribution and information distribution affected information processing and decision making in these teams.

Publications in this stream of research:

Bazarova, N.N., Walther, J.B., McLeod, P.L., Shami, N.S. (2007). Minority influence in distributed groups: A comparison of four theories of minority influence. Paper presented at the 2007 annual conference of the International Communication Association, San Francisco, CA.
Walther, J.B., McLeod, P.L., Shami, N.S. (2006). Bogus bits and discussion maneuvers in computer-mediated hidden profile discussions. Paper presented at the 92nd National Communication Association Convention, San Antonio, TX.
McLeod, P.L., Walther, J.W., Shami, N.S. (2005). Distributed Information and Distributed People: The Hidden Profile and Decision Making in Virtual Groups. Paper presented at the 2005 annual conference of the International Communication Association, New York, NY.

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Shapefactory Organizational Simulation

Shapefactory is an organizational simulation that allows us to understand social dynamics of partially distributed teams. Partially distributed teams have some members collocated, while others participate remotely from a distance. We looked at the formation of in-group/out-groups, the effect of collocation, and the impact of relocation.

Publications in this stream of research:

Bos, N.D., Olson, J.S., Nan, N., Shami, N.S., Hoch, S. (2006). Collocation blindness in partially distributed teams: Is there a downside in being collocated? ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2006), ACM Press.
Bos, N.D., Olson, J.S., Cheshin, A., Kim, Y., Nan, N., Shami, N.S. (2005). Traveling Blues: The effect of relocation on partially distributed teams. In Extended Abstracts of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2005), ACM Press.
Shami, N.S., Bos, N.D., Wright, Z., Hoch, S., Kuan, K.Y., Olson, J.S., Olson, G.M. (2004). An experimental simulation of multi-site software development. In Proceedings of CASCON ‘04, IBM Center for Advanced Studies, Toronto, October 2004.
Bos, N.D., Shami, N.S., Olson, J.S., Cheshin, A., Nan, N. (2004). In-group/out-group effects in distributed teams: An experimental simulation. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work 2004, New York: ACM Press.

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Island Telecom Business Simulation

Island Telecom is an online simulation that was developed at the University of Michigan Business School as a teaching aid for a course on globalization and corporate social responsibility. The simulation exposed students to ethical dilemmas in a globalized world. It was adapted from a face-to-face classroom setting to an online setting where MBA students could log in and interact asynchronously.

Publications in this stream of research:

Bos, N.D., Shami, N.S. (2006). Adapting a face-to-face role-playing simulation for online play. Educational Technology Research and Development. Vol. 54, No. 5, 493-521.
Bos, N.D., Shami, N.S., Naab, S.R. (2006) A Globalization simulation to teach corporate social responsibility: Design features and analysis of student reasoning. Simulation & Gaming, Vol. 37, No. 1, 56-72.
Shami, N.S., Bos, N.D, Fort, T., Gordon, M.D. (2004). Designing a globalization simulation to teach corporate social responsibility. Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 31, 2004.
Bos, N.D., Fort, T., Gordon, M.D., Shami, N.S. (2003). Simulation of tradeoffs in socially responsible globalization. World Conference on E-Learning in Corp., Govt., Health, & Higher Ed. 2003(1), 23-26.

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Media Coverage

[M.4] Erica Naone, Computers can't answer everything (includes N. Sadat Shami's remarks on the social network based question answering system aardvark), Technology Review, November 19, 2009.
[M.3] Erica Naone, A smarter way to dig up experts (features comments on N. Sadat Shami’s CHI 2009 paper), Technology Review, April 8, 2009.
[M.2] Hubert Guillaud, Que signifie mesurer nos émotions? (features an interview in French with N. Sadat Shami on his CHI 2008 workshop) internetactu.net, April 21, 2008.
[M.1] Luca Chittaro, Computers that measure our emotions (features an interview with N. Sadat Shami on his CHI 2008 workshop) Il Sole 24 ORE.com, April 5, 2008.

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