Acknowledgements for Data-Driven Personas, a Morgan-Claypool Publication

We are almost finished with our book, Data-Driven Personas by Bernard J. Jansen, Joni O. Salminen, Soon-Gyo Jung, and Kathleen Guan, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and University College London. Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

Sending out some acknowledgements early

Taking a multi-year research project and research passion, with all the complexities and energies involved, and transforming all of that into a fairly concise book is difficult — really difficult!

However, challenging experiences are often rewarding, and the writing of this book is one of those situations – both challenging and rewarding! Challenges are seldom faced alone, and this book is only possible via the support of many individuals. So, we here thank the many individuals that helped make this lecture book happen. Could NOT have done it without you!

Thanks to the executive leadership team at the fabulous Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), a national research institute within Hamad bin Khalifa University and a member of the Qatar Foundation. Such a great place to work! Dr. Ahmed Elmagarmid is the founding Executive Director of QCRI and is a leading computer scientist researcher, academic supporter, and business executive. Dr. Ahmed has been a consistent and enthusiastic supporter of our research. This book could not have been accomplished without the high-quality research environment he provides. We also thank Dr. Ingmar Weber, the leader of the Social Computing Group at QCRI. His steady hand at the wheel has provided the consistency needed for this book to come together. We also thank the other QCRI executives, Drs. Ashraf Aboulnaga and Mohamed F. Mokbel, for their positive support for the Team’s research efforts. Good to have key leaders supporting what you do! It makes great things possible! We also thank our colleagues at QCRI, both past and present, for the wonderful work environment that only great people can provide!

Much of the research presented in the book could not, would not, have happened without the support of enthusiastic collaborators from industry and non-profits in Qatar, especially Haris Alisic (Head of Audience Development and Engagement at AJ+), Dianne Robillos (CRM Analysis Manager / Consumer Research and Insights Manager at Qatar Airways), and Ali Sikandar, Manager (Digital and Social Media, Qatar Foundation). They believe in what the Team is doing and the value of research-industry collaboration! We sincerely thank them for ‘going out on a limb’ in this collaboration. Here is to many more crazy .. and productive! … ideas to come!

Some of the research in this book builds off of and reports research conducted with others in academia. We thank all of our collaborators, including Yisela Alvarez Trentini (independent researcher), Motahhare Eslami (Computer Science Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA), Willemien Froneman (Africa Open Institute, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa), Rohan Gurunandan Rao (Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Tamil Nadu, India), Ahmed Mohamed Sayed Kamel (Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt), Ilkka Kaate (University of Turku, Turku, Finland), Aki Koponen (University of Turku, Turku, Finland), Ying-Hsang Liu (Department of Design, University of Southern Denmark), Lene Nielsen (IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark), João M. Santos (Centre for Psychological Research and Social Intervention (CIS), ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal), Sercan Şengün (Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA), and Jukka Vahlo (University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland). We enjoyed working with you, and we look forward to more opportunities to work together in the future!

We also thank Chris Chapman (Principal Quantitative UX Researcher, Google). Although we have never directly worked with Chris, we have found his disdain of personas especially motivating for our research! Thanks, Chris! Keep up the pressure!

Of course, we thank the publishing team, especially the ever professional but loads of fun, Diane Cerra (Executive Editor at Morgan & Claypool Publishers)! Diane has been great throughout this process! Thanks to Jack Carroll (Distinguished Professor of Information Sciences and Technology at Pennsylvania State University and Editor, Synthesis Lectures on Human-Centered Informatics at Morgan & Claypool). Jack was supportive of this book from the word ‘go’, and we thank him for his immediate and on-going support!

Finally, the world is a better place thanks to people who want to and actually do help and support others. It has certainly been our good fortune to be the beneficiaries of so much help from the people mentioned here. We thank them, and we thank everyone who strives to help and support others. We will pass it on.

Chapters for Data-Driven Personas, a Morgan-Claypool Publication https://persona.qcri.org/blog/chapters-for-data-driven-personas-a-morgan-claypool-publication/
Update – Data-Driven Personas Book for Sam, the system designer https://persona.qcri.org/blog/update-data-driven-personas-book-for-sam-the-system-designer/
Update Data-Driven Personas Book for Ting, the researcher https://persona.qcri.org/blog/update-data-driven-personas-books-for-ting/
Update – Data-Driven Personas book for Kristi, the professor https://persona.qcri.org/blog/update-data-driven-personas-book/
Personas for Book on Data-Driven Personas https://persona.qcri.org/blog/personas-for-book-on-data-driven-personas/