Research programs are grounded on respect for differing approaches to discovery and centered on collaboration.

Personal, team and organizational work styles and workflows have changed as a result of information technology (IT) in sensor-rich computational environments. This theme highlights insights about productivity in the technology-enabled offices of the future. It focuses on workflow, communication and production in knowledge work and learning environments that are augmented with sensing technologies, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

Technical advances in neuroscience, human and computer intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and predictive algorithms are transforming many aspects of the employee experience. This research theme supports research that can lead to workforce insights about information technologies and human sciences for potential, performance and productivity of knowledge workers.

Emerging uses of digital applications are igniting new cyber-social communities, reorganizing social and economic systems, and altering relationships people have with each other, their employers, their teachers and mentors, and their environments. The ways that people relate to their mobile devices, and through them to one another, are adding digital dimensions to identity to many aspects of life.

Sensor technology continues to increase and improve the quantity and quality of data on human movements and behaviors. Leveraging sensors for research into human machine interaction can generate powerful insights into human psychology, biomechanics, communication, learning and education, collaboration and productivity.

Digital estate is a concept encompassing all aspects of one’s life that are touched by digital technologies. Digital technologies permeate many aspects of our lives, including information access, content creation, insight sharing, life-­‐long and life-­‐wide learning. Imagine a digital estate of content,  data, services, and  tools that supports an individual’s activities & experiences in context.

The world of media and content is experiencing an explosion of innovation that includes how content is created, consumed and curated. In publishing, this innovation has erupted in what some call the “mass amateurization” of media and extends to how traditional content creators and distributors are restructuring around new business models.

The Internet has leveled the playing field for access to information, and the innovation frontier has shifted to knowledge use and creativity. A serious productivity gap exists between available knowledge and how it is used. Like a hole in a bucket, a “knowledge gap” causes significant loss of resources and competitive advantage.

In today’s media environment, creation and consumption are two sides of the same coin. Some have called this the era of “Liquid Media”; others have called it the “Creator Economy.” By entering terms into a search engine, users of all ages contribute the data on which the search engine runs.

Digitized Virtual Worlds have blossomed in recent years, enticing a wide variety of users via games, shared digital media, and participatory social networks. At the same time, computers increasingly support professional work, with digitized documents and media and information exchange. The fusion of virtual and physical worlds for advanced human communications is important to understand.