Paul Mulholland

Paul Mulholland

Research Fellow

Knowledge Media Institute and Centre for Research in Computing

The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1908 654506

Fax: +44 (0) 1908 653169

Email: p.mulholland@open.ac.uk

PI: Personal Inquiry

The PI project is a collaboration between the University of Nottingham and The Open University and within the OU brings together researchers from CREET and KMI. The aim of PI is to support scripted inquiry learning in which students can use personal technologies to guide scientific investigations that span the classroom, home and field locations. Our local partners in the project include Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre (MKCDC), Eco-Park and Oakgrove School. Both OU and Nottingham partners are collaborating with Sciencescope, a company that provides sensing and datalogging for education. PI is a TRLP Technology Enhanced Learning project supported by ESRC and EPSRC.

SILVER: Semantic Interactive Learning Visualisation Environment Research

The SILVER project, a collaboration with the Bridgeman Art Library and Lexara, is supported by the Technology Strategy Board and EPSRC. The aim of SILVER is to develop new visual tools and methods for teaching and learning. These will enable learners and teachers to select multimedia assets, visualise conceptual relationships associated with them and assemble them in different ways reflecting alternative perspectives. The conceptual representations developed will draw on the image archives of the Bridgeman Art Library. Lexara are a technology company with extensive experience in the education and museum sectors.

G-LEARN: Geography Learning Environment for Activities, Resources and Narratives

G-LEARN is the project name for our Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre (MKCDC). MKCDC is an educational organisation that develops urban geography learning materials and activities for schools and universities. Within the KTP we are developing a geography e-learning product for the schools sector.

EuroGene: The first pan-European learning service in the field of genetics

EuroGene is an EU e-ContentPlus project, concerned with providing high quality semantically enriched educational content in genetics. We are a technology partner within the project and one of our roles is to apply tools and methods for authoring and navigating different learning pathways through the content.

REFLEX and SUBTLE

These internally funded projects were done in collaboration with the OU Library and IET. They looked at ways in which mobile and semantic web technologies could be used to support distance education courses. One application was concerned with helping course teams and the library to manage recommended readings around other course materials.

Bletchley Park Text

Within the CIPHER project we developed the Bletchley Park Text application for Bletchley Park museum, which has since been extended further. Bletchley Park Text allows visitors to express their interests by sending keywords via SMS during their visit. Later the visitor can access a set of stories (historical descriptions and first person accounts) related to their interests and a list of suggested follow-on topics.

  • Bletchley Park Museum
  • Bletchley Park Text
  • Mulholland, P., Collins, T. and Zdrahal, Z. (2005). Bletchley Park Text: Using mobile and semantic web technologies to support the post-visit use of online museum resources. Journal of Interactive Media in Education (Portable Learning: Experiences with Mobile Devices. Special Issue, eds. A. Jones, A. Kukulska-Hulme and D. Mwanza), http://jime.open.ac.uk/2005/24.

TINY-IN: True Interactivity for Young Viewers of Virtual Broadcast Content via Intelligent Interfaces

TINY-IN was an EPSRC DTI Link project developing approaches to the re-repurposing of broadcast content within interactive games for children. The Scene Driver architecture was developed to produce a set of demonstrators in which the viewing of animation clips was integrated within the playing of domino-like games. The demonstrators used content from the Tiny Planets TV series provided by our project partner Pepper's Ghost Productions.

  • TINY-IN project
  • Pepper's Ghost Productions
  • Wolff, A., Mulholland, P., Zdrahal , Z. and Joiner, R. (2007). Re-using digital narrative content in interactive games. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 65 (3), 244-272. [pdf]

CIPHER: Communities of Interest Promoting Heritage of European Regions

CIPHER was an EU Framework V heritage project. Within CIPHER, we worked with Bletchley Park museum to develop technologies for use by tour guides and visitors. This included the development of an online story-sharing forum for tour guides and the Bletchley Park Text visitor application.

  • CIPHER project
  • Mulholland, P., Collins T. and Zdrahal, Z. (2005). Spotlight browsing of resource archives. ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia (HT '05), Salzburg, Austria. [pdf]
  • Collins T., Mulholland, P. and Zdrahal, Z. (2005). Semantic browsing of digital collections. International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC '05), Galway, Ireland. [pdf]

Clockwork: Knowledge sharing and reuse in the engineering domain

Clockwork was an EU Framework V project. Within Clockwork we developed tool support for the sharing and reuse of engineering design knowledge. We also looked at knowledge sharing across organisational borders, a process we described as cautious knowledge sharing.

  • Zdrahal, Z., Mulholland, P., Valasek, M. and Bernardi, A. (2007). Worlds and transformations: supporting the sharing and reuse of engineering design knowledge. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 65 (12), 959-982. [pdf]

Selected publications

Collins, T. Mulholland, P. and Zdrahal, Z. (2009). Using mobile phones to map online community resources to a physical space. International Journal of Web Based Communities, 5 (1), 18-32.

Kerawalla, L., Scanlon, E., Twiner, A., Gaved, M., Jones, A, Littleton, K., Conole, G., Mulholland, P., Collins, T., Blake, C. and Clough, G. (2009). Technological mediation of personal inquiry in UK GCSE geography: opportunities and challenges. CAL 2009, Brighton, UK.

Mulholland, P., Collins, T., Gaved, M., Wright, M., Sharples, M., Greenhalgh, C., Kerawalla, C., Scanlon, E. and Littleton, K. (2009). Activity Guide: An Approach to Scripting Inquiry Learning. International Workshop on Intelligent Support for Exploratory Environments at AIED 2009, Brighton, UK. [pdf]

Mulholland, P., Zdrahal, Z., Abrahamcik, J. and Wolff, A. (2009). Intelligent support for inquiry learning from images: a learning scenario and tool. Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2009), Brighton, UK. [pdf]

Smid, M., Truman, S., Mulholland, P., Zdrahal, Z. and Crouch, S. (2009). G-Learn: An Exploratory Learning Environment for School Level Geography. Znalosti 2009, Brno, Czech Republic.

Collins, T, Gaved, M., Mulholland, P., Kerawalla, C., Twiner, A., Scanlon, E., Jones, A., Littleton, K. and Conole, G. (2008). Supporting location-based inquiry learning across school, field and home contexts. Mobile Learning (mLearn 2008). Wolverhampton. [pdf]

Conole, G., Scanlon, E., Kerawalla, C., Mulholland, P., Anastopoulou, S. and Blake, C. (2008). From design to narrative: the development of inquiry-based learning models. ED-MEDIA World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications. Vienna, Austria. [pdf]

Gaved, M. B. and Mulholland, P (2008). Pioneers, subcultures and cooperatives: The grassroots augmentation of urban places. In A, Aurigi and F. de Cindio (Eds.) Augmented Urban Spaces. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Mulholland, P. Wolff, A., Collins T. and Zdrahal, Z. (2008). Blending coherence and control in the construction of interactive narratives from digital resources. Interactive Learning Environments, 16 (3), 283-296.

Mulholland, P., Zdrahal, Z. and Collins T. (2008). Investigating the effects of exploratory semantic search on the use of a museum archive. IEEE 2008 International Conference on Distributed Human-Machine Systems, Athens, Greece. [pdf]

Zdrahal, Z., Mulholland, P. and Collins T. (2008). Exploring pathways across stories. IEEE 2008 International Conference on Distributed Human-Machine Systems, Athens, Greece. [pdf]

Wolff, A., Mulholland, P., Zdrahal , Z. and Joiner, R. (2007). Combining Gameplay and Narrative Techniques to Enhance the User Experience of Viewing Galleries. ACM Computers in Entertainment. 5 (1), Article No. 6. Available from http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1236224.1236234.

Wolff, A., Mulholland, P., Zdrahal , Z. and Joiner, R. (2007). Re-using digital narrative content in interactive games. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 65 (3), 244-272. [pdf]

Zdrahal, Z., Mulholland, P., Valasek, M. and Bernardi, A. (2007). Worlds and transformations: supporting the sharing and reuse of engineering design knowledge. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 65 (12), 959-982. [pdf]

Mulholland, P, Gaved, M. B., Collins T., Zdrahal, Z. and Heath, T. (2006). Using ICT to support public and private community memories: case studies and lessons learned. 3rd International Community Informatics Conference (CIRN 2006), Prato, Italy. [pdf]

Valasek, M., Steinbauer , P., Sika , Z., Zdrahal, Z. and Mulholland, P. (2006). Knowledge support of simulation model development by reuse. International Conference on Mathematical Modelling (MATHMOD 2006), Vienna, Austria.

Collins T., Mulholland, P. and Zdrahal, Z. (2005). Semantic browsing of digital collections. International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC '05), Galway, Ireland. [pdf]

Gaved, M. B. and Mulholland, P. (2005). Grassroots Initiated Networked Communities: A Study of Hybrid Physical / Virtual Communities. Proceedings of the 38th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Big Island, Hawaii. Los Alamitos, IEEE Press. [pdf]

Gaved, M. B. and Mulholland, P. (2005). Ubiquity from the bottom up: Grassroots initiated networked communities. In M. Consalvo and K. O'Riordan (Eds.) AoIR Internet Research Annual, Volume Three. New York, Peter Lang.

Mulholland, P., Collins T. and Zdrahal, Z. (2005). Spotlight browsing of resource archives. ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia (HT '05), Salzburg, Austria. [pdf]

Mulholland, P., Collins, T. and Zdrahal, Z. (2005). Bletchley Park Text: Using mobile and semantic web technologies to support the post-visit use of online museum resources. Journal of Interactive Media in Education (Portable Learning: Experiences with Mobile Devices. Special Issue, eds. A. Jones, A. Kukulska-Hulme and D. Mwanza), http://jime.open.ac.uk/2005/24

Mulholland, P. Ivergard, T. and Kirk, N. S. (2005). Introduction: contemporary perspectives on learning for work. Applied Ergonomics, 36 (2), 125-126. [pdf]

Mulholland, P. and Watt, S. N. K. (2005). Cognitive modelling and cognitive architectures. In N. Braisby and A. Gellatly (Eds.) Cognitive Psychology. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Mulholland, P., Zdrahal, Z. and Domingue, J. (2005). Supporting continuous learning in a large organisation: The role of group and organisational perspectives. Applied Ergonomics, 36 (2), 127-134. [pdf]

Mulholland, P., Collins T. and Zdrahal, Z. (2004). Story Fountain: Intelligent support for Story Research And Exploration. ACM Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI '04), Madeira, Portugal. [pdf]

Wolff, A., Mulholland, P., Zdrahal , Z. and Joiner, R. (2004). Scene-Driver: A Narrative-Driven Game Architecture Reusing Broadcast Animation Content. ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE 2004), Singapore. [pdf]

Wolff, A., Mulholland, P., Zdrahal , Z. and Joiner, R. (2004). Scene-Driver: An Interactive Narrative Environment using Content from an Animated Children's Television Series. 2nd International Conference on Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (TIDSE 2004), Darmstadt, Germany. [pdf]

Valasek, M, Sika, Z., Steinbauer, P., Zdrahal, Z. and Mulholland P. (2004). Knowledge support for cautious sharing of knowledge for simulation model assembly. Proceedings of Advanced Engineering Design Conference (AED '04), Glasgow.

Mulholland, P., Zdrahal, Z., Sainter, P., Valasek, M., Koss, M. and Trejtnar L. (2003). Supporting the sharing and reuse of modelling and simulation engineering knowledge. International Conference on Concurrent Enterprising (ICE2003), Espoo, Finland, 16-18 June.

Steinbauer, P., Valasek, M., Zdrahal, Z., Mulholland, P. and Sika, Z. (2003). Knowledge Support for Virtual Modelling and Simulation, In W. Schiehlen and M. Valasek (Eds.) Virtual Nonlinear Multibody Systems. Kluwer: Dordrecht.

Zdrahal, Z., Mulholland, P., Valasek, M., Sainter, P., Koss, M. and Trejtnar L. (2003). A toolkit and methodology to support the collaborative development and reuse of engineering models. Database and Expert Systems Applications Conference (DEXA 2003), Prague, Czech Republic.

Mulholland, P., Zdrahal, Z. and Collins, T. (2002). CIPHER: Enabling Communities of Interest to Promote Heritage of European Regions. Cultivate Interactive, issue 8, 15 November 2002. URL: http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue8/cipher.

Valasek, M., Zdrahal, Z. and Mulholland P. (2002). Framework for Knowledge Support of Simulation in Engineering. 16th European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research. University of Vienna, Austria.

Collins, T., Mulholland, P. and Watt, S. (2001). Using genre to support active participation in learning communities. European Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (EURO-CSCL 2001), Maastricht, The Netherlands, March 22-24. [doc]

Mulholland, P., Zdrahal, Z., Domingue, J., Hatala, M. and Bernardi, A. (2001). A Methodological Approach to Supporting Organisational Learning. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 55 (3), 337-367. [pdf]

Mulholland, P., Domingue, J., Zdrahal, Z. and Hatala, M. (2000). Supporting organisational learning: an overview of the ENRICH approach. Information Services and Use, 20 (1), 9-23.

Mulholland, P. and Watt, S. N. K. (2000). Learning by building: A visual modelling language for psychology students. Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, 11 (5), 481-504. [pdf]

Mulholland, P., Zdrahal, Z., Domingue, J. and Hatala, M. (2000). Integrating working and learning: a document enrichment approach. Behaviour and Information Technology, 19 (3), 171-180.

Zdrahal, Z., Mulholland, P. Domingue, J. and Hatala, M. (2000). Sharing engineering design knowledge in a distributed environment. Behaviour and Information Technology, 19 (3), 189-200.

Mulholland, P. (1999). Teaching and Learning Prolog: how can Software Visualization help? In P. Brna, B. du Boulay and H. Pain, (Eds.), Learning to Build and Comprehend Complex Information Structures: Prolog as a Case Study. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Domingue, J. and Mulholland, P. (1998). An effective web based Software Visualization learning environment. Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, 9 (5), 485-508.

Domingue, J. and Mulholland, P. (1998). Sharing Programming Knowledge over the web: the Internet Software Visualization Laboratory. In M. Eisenstadt and T. Vincent (Eds.) The Knowledge Web: Innovative Knowledge Media on the World Wide Web. Kogan Page.

Mulholland, P. (1998). A principled approach to the evaluation of Software Visualization: a case-study in Prolog. In M. Brown, J. Domingue, B. Price and J. Stasko (Eds.), Software Visualization: Programming as a mutli-media experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Mulholland, P. and Eisenstadt, M. (1998). Using Software to Teach Computer Programming: Past, Present and Future. In M. Brown, J. Domingue, B. Price and J. Stasko (Eds.), Software Visualization: Programming as a mutli-media experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Mulholland, P. and Watt S. N. K. (1998). Hank: A friendly cognitive modelling language for psychology students. In Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages, VL '98, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Domingue, J. and Mulholland, P. (1997). Fostering debugging communities over the World Wide Web. Communications of the ACM, 40 (4), 65-71.

Domingue, J. and Mulholland, P. (1997). Teaching Programming at a Distance: the Internet Software Visualization Laboratory. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 97 (1). http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/97/1

Domingue, J. and Mulholland, P. (1997). Staging Software Visualizations on the Web. In Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages, VL '97, Capri, Italy.

Mulholland, P. (1997). Using a Fine-Grained Comparative Evaluation Technique to Understand and Design Software Visualization Tools. Empirical Studies of Programmers: Seventh Workshop, Washington DC, USA, ACM Press. [pdf]

Technology enhanced learning

Much of my research is concerned with how web and knowledge technologies can be used to support learning in different contexts, whether that be informal museum settings (CIPHER, Bletchley Park Text), informal game-playing for children (TINY-IN), the workplace (CLOCKWORK), at school (PI, SILVER, G-LEARN) or higher education (REFLEX, EuroGene).

Digital narrative

A number of recent and current projects explore aspects of narrative and in particular how digital resources can be selected, organised and presented to scaffold their use in formal and informal learning contexts. I am also supporting Paul Hazel in his research developing a narrative pedagogy for interactive learning environments.

Visualisation and learning

I have a longstanding interest in how different kinds of external representation support learning and comprehension. This began with my PhD work on software visualisation, was followed by ISVL and Hank and currently continues in the SILVER project in which we are developing knowledge visualisation support for educational contexts.

Knowledge technology

Many of these projects make use of knowledge technologies, ontologies and metadata to describe domains; annotate, select and organise content; and ultimately provide functionality in different work and learning contexts.

PhD supervision

I co-supervise the following OU research students: Mark Gaved (grassroots networked communities), Allan Seago (user interfaces for timbre specification), Annika Wolff (reasoning across mixed media digital resources), Gabriela Pavel (intelligent support for learning from examples), Katie Wilkie (visualisation of compositional content and structure to aid the creative composition process).

Past PhD students

Former students I co-supervised are Sylvia Truman (collaborative and creative musicality in the classroom) and Daisy Mwanza (activity-oriented design method).

PhD Opportunities

Currently, I would be interested in supervising full or part time PhD study around the themes of technology enhanced learning, digital narrative, visualisation and knowledge technology.

KMi PhD programme

I am KMI's Research Degree Coordinator. From the KMI studentship website you can access a list of current vacancies Feel free to get in touch if you are thinking of applying.

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