Technical Support Assistant

Dr Karen Chessum discovered her interest in computing whilst studying for the AAT accounting technicians qualification; the course contained several units relating to information technology, which gave her a taste for the subject area.

Karen now works for the University of Bedfordshire in the School of Computer Science & Technology within the computer labs.

Karen successfully completed her PhD in March 2021. Her thesis looks at search engine user interface design from a cross cultural perspective and is titled 'A Conceptual Framework to Support Cross-cultural User Experience Design for Web Search'.

Qualifications

• PhD from the University of Bedfordshire 2021
• MSc (Dist) from the University of Bedfordshire 2007
• BSc (Hons) in Computing and IT from the University of Luton 2003
• Member of the Association of Accounting Technicians (MAAT)

Teaching Areas

• Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
• Web Development
• Usability

Research Interests

• User Experience and Cross-cultural User Interface Design
• Usability
• Cross-cultural and Localised Software Development
• Trust
• Information Retrieval

Publications

• Chessum, K., Liu, H., Frommholz, I. (2023) An Extended Study of Search User Interface Design Focused on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions. In: Holzinger, A., da Silva, H.P., Vanderdonckt, J., Constantine, L. (eds) Computer-Human Interaction Research and Applications. CHIRA CHIRA 2021 2022. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1882. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41962-1_7
• Chessum, K., Liu, H., Frommholz, I. (2022) 'A Study of Search User Interface Design based on Hofstede's Six Cultural Dimensions'. CHIRA 2022: pp. 145-154.
• Chessum, K., Liu, H., Frommholz, I. (2014) 'Applying Cross-cultural theory to understand users’ preferences on interactive information retrieval platform design'. 4th European Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval - British Computer Society, London, 13th September 2014. University of Nottingham, School of Computer Science.

External Activities

• Reviewer for Science Publishing Group - American Journal of Computer Science and Technology

Contact Details

E: karen.chessum@beds.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1582 489160