Indiana University School of Informatics
Research
Faculty Research Profiles

Martin Siegel

Faculty Title

Professor of Informatics

Research Statement

As a strategy, the Human-Computer Interaction Design Program hopes to develop curricula and research that are based in a confluence of design and informatics, where

  • Informatics is understanding the impact technology has on people, the development of new uses for technology, and the application of information technology in the context of another field, and
  • Design is the study and practice of creating coherent improvements for the human condition.

Indeed, we refer to the program alternatively as “human-centered design”.

Design helps us identify the right problems to solve. Rather than commencing with technical solutions, design helps us understand people’s lives in a holistic way. For example, instead of focusing on the Internet, designers observe community; instead of exploring educational software, designers examine learning; instead of building databases, designers identify information needs; and instead of developing collaborative tools for scientific exchange, designers explore the ways scientists do their work. Design begins with predispositions rather than propositions, with assumptions and observations rather than solutions. Design ends with concepts and prototypes within a set of constraints.

Informatics is the designer’s crossroad. It affords the ideal environment for a multidisciplinary program of scholarship and teaching. Rather than working solely within each discipline, we propose a structure that combines disciplinary perspectives to pursue “grand challenges” to improve the human condition, in large and small ways. These collaborations, we predict, will lead to unusual and lucrative funding opportunities among federal, state, and private agencies and foundations, in forms not typically realized by individual disciplines. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

The teaching charge is equally important. The goal would be to design a new kind program, in both substance and form. Master students should be able to “do” design as well as “talk about” design. They should know how to lead teams as well as to collaborate with others. They should feel at ease in both academic and business environments. Over time, we would expect such a program to be the envy of other universities.

Select Publications

  • Siegel, M. A. (2003). Falling asleep at your keyboard: The case for computer imagination. Training Today, The Magazine of the American Society for Training and Development, March/April, pp. 13–15.
  • Siegel, M. A. (2003). The future of education. In Zolli, A. (Ed.), Catalog of Tomorrow: Trends Shaping Your Future. Indianapolis, IN, Que.
  • Siegel, M. A., & Kirkley, S. (1998). Adventure learning as a vision of the digital learning environment. In Bonk, C. J., & King, K. (Eds.), Electronic Collaborators: Researching the Discourse of Learner-Centered Technologies. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Siegel, M. A., & Kirkley, S. (1997). Moving toward the digital learning environment: The future of Web-based instruction. In B. H. Khan (Ed.), Web-Based Instruction. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
  • Siegel, M. A. (1995). From content-centered to problem-centered design: The need for information processing and critical thinking skills. In B. Seels (Ed.), Instructional Design Fundamentals: A Reconsideration. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
  • Siegel, M. A., & Sousa, G. (September, 1994). Inventing the virtual textbook. Educational Technology.
  • Siegel, M. A., & Davis, D. M. (1986). Understanding computer-based education. NY: Random House.

Honors, Grants & Contracts

  • First Microsoft Corporation faculty fellow, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, 1988
  • Between 1978 and 2001, Siegel was the principal investigator on grants and contracts totaling over $10 million
  • Founder, chairman, and chief learning officer, WisdomTools, Inc., Indiana University’s first spin-out business

More Information

Martin Siegel

Our faculty research profiles highlight the research interests and accomplishments of a select faculty member from the IU School of Informatics. View all