About

 

Sara Bly has been an active researcher and practitioner in qualitative user studies for more than 20 years.  These user studies have focused on understanding the context of the activity as well as the specific user task.  Since 1994, she has conducted numerous studies as an independent consultancy.  

Sara has particular expertise in the understanding and technology support of collaborative activity.  She has conducted user studies of collaborative work and play ranging from scientific use of big equipment to long-distance office work to teen-agers and instant messaging.

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Her research contributions focused on the design and use of technology to support collaborative work.  She was an early member of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center Media Space to connect people working apart with video and computing connections.  She worked closely with designers, social scientists and engineers to develop methods for using ethnographic methods for informing the design of technology.