Data represent the world on our computers. While the world is very intriguing, data may be quite boring, if one does not know what they mean. I am interested in making data more meaningful to find interesting insights in the world outside.
How does meaning arise?
One can model data and information. Conceptual models and ontologies are the foundations for knowledge networks that enable the computer to treat data in a meaningful way.Using machine learning, text and data mining as well as information extraction one may find meaningful patterns in data as well as connections between data and its use in context. Humans communicate information. In order to understand what data and information means, one has to understand social interactions and interactions with computers.Eventually meaning is nothing that exists in the void. Data and information must be communicated to people who may use insights into data and information. Interaction between humans and computers must happen in a way that matches the meaning of data and information.
The World Wide Web is the largest information construct made by mankind to convey meaningful data. Web Science is the discipline that considers how networks of people and knowledge in the Web arise, how humans deal with it and which consequences this has for all of us. The Web is a meaning machine that I want do understand by my research.
Professor Elliott's research interests have been mainly concerned with the connections between the physical world and digital signal processing.
The research was originally related to the active control of sound and vibration. This work has resulted in the demonstration of active control in cars, helicopters and propeller aircraft and the authorship of the books "Active Control of Sound" with P.A. Nelson, "Active Control of Vibration" with C.R. Fuller and P.A. Nelson and, most recently, "Signal Processing for Active Control".The active control research has traditionally involved the reduction of unwanted noise, most recently on luxury yachts, but has recently developed to the reproduction of sound signals, such as music, in specific regions of space, so that, for example, the driver of a car can listen to Radio 4, while a child in the back of the car can listen to a Disney DVD.He is also involved in working on the growing body of work on modelling the mechanics of the cochlea and the functioning of cochlear implants, as below. This is important not only for communication and speech processing systems, but also in order to help understand the causes of hearing impairment and how they might be overcome.
