Contemporary self-reflective practices: A large-scale survey.

Although self-reflection is a topic that appears in Human-Computer Interaction, the empirical data on the subject can often be dated, fragmented and focused on particular use cases. Our work sought to capture data that would help us better understand the current use of technologies to support self-reflection in the broader population. We did this through a large-scale online survey with a representative sample of internet users in the United Kingdom (N = 998) and a smaller series of follow-up interviews (N = 20). We found that, regardless of recent stress, those with high scores on a scale that measured self-reflection maintained a wider variety of self-reflective activities in recent months. Men reported more access and use of technology for self-reflective activity than women, but women's self-reflection scores were usually higher. We noted that high self-reflectors appear more spontaneous and experimental, using heuristics to mitigate common barriers or adapt their practice to stressors. These individuals appear to favour analogue objects to facilitate reflective practice, utilising technology in more strategic and selective ways.

How to share and utilise expertise in a police forensic department through externalisation and mutualisation.

The technique of fire investigation is a forensic domain in which expertise and analogies play a central role. To learn how fire investigators use these analogies to support their work, we conducted an ethnographic study in a Swiss forensic police department. To propose a suitable knowledge-management strategy, we also evaluated the knowledge conservation and sharing within the department. Our results highlighted that actionable knowledge is registered mainly in the investigators' memories of a few, very experienced, individuals. Without experience with fire-incident investigations, an agent generally requires help from a more experienced colleague, who will then use his memory to find a similar case, which can contribute to the solution of the ongoing one. The research also established that knowledge is exchanged orally during on-site investigations and that knowledge receivers are generally those who are present on the scene. Using these findings, we suggest building a case library to support the externalisation and sharing of knowledge.