computer science

Haiyan Zhang

Haiyan Zhang is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Haiyan Zhang rather than just read about it. In short: Haiyan Zhang is an Australian designer and engineer. She is Director of Innovation at Microsoft Research and Technical Advisor to Lab Director, Christopher Bishop.

Key takeaways

Haiyan Zhang belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Haiyan Zhang to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Haiyan Zhang from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Haiyan Zhang is an Australian designer and engineer. She is Director of Innovation at Microsoft Research and Technical Advisor to Lab Director, Christopher Bishop. She appeared on the BBC show "Big Life Fix".

Education Zhang was born in China, and migrated to Australia with her parents aged eight. She attended Monash University, where she earned first-class honours for a bachelor's degree in computer science in 1998. Zhang worked for Space-Time Research until 2000, when she left Australia to further her studies in design. Zhang moved to Canada to complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Interactive Multimedia at Sheridan College, which she completed in 2003. Whilst there she helped develop a tool for visualising electroencephalography for intra-operative monitoring. She moved to Italy to study at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, where she completed a Masters in Interaction Design.

Career Zhang worked as an Interaction Designer for the British Design Council and Stanford University. Zhang joined IDEO as Principal Interaction Designer in 2006. Here she "created new technology experiences for community building, entertainment, financial services". with Mattel, Electronic Arts, HBO, France Telecom, Alcatel, Cisco, and AT&T. She was a founder of the innovation platform OpenIDEO, which brings together makers around the world to solve challenges for social good. The site has over 150,000 users worldwide. She joined Microsoft in 2013, working in the Lift London studio on games and wearables. In 2015 she became Innovation Director at Microsoft Research. She is interested in technology for "Connected Play" and wellness. In 2011, Zhang developed an interactive map of radiation levels around Japan, widely used in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. She was a mapping consultant for Safecast, a volunteer organisation developing geiger counters that can be built simply by non-experts, which are distributed around Fukushima.

Big Life Fix The BBC Two show "Big Life Fix" paired technology experts with members of the public who were facing real life challenges. Zhang was one of seven makers. Zhang developed two products, the Emma Watch and Fizzyo. Fizzyo is a toy to encourage children with cystic fibrosis to do their breathing exercises to clear their lungs. It comprises a wireless electronic sensor in the mouthpiece, which sends an electronic signal to control a computer game on a tablet. The Emma Watch is a device for sufferers Parkinson's disease, which looks to reduce limb tremors by disrupting the "feedback loop between the brain and hand". Microsoft unveiled the device at their annual developer's conference. It was named after Emma Lawton, a graphic designer who Zhang met on the show. The invention received significant media coverage. Zhang regularly delivers public talks and appears on podcasts, where she discusses design and engineering. She is an advocate for increasing the representation of women in technology. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA) and British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Haiyan Zhang

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Haiyan Zhang claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Haiyan Zhang before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Haiyan Zhang ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Haiyan Zhang

In research: Haiyan Zhang appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Haiyan Zhang in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Haiyan Zhang is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Australian computer scientists, Australian designers, Australian women computer scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Haiyan Zhang outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Haiyan Zhang in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Haiyan Zhang means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Haiyan Zhang out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Haiyan Zhang in simple terms?

Haiyan Zhang is an Australian designer and engineer. She is Director of Innovation at Microsoft Research and Technical Advisor to Lab Director, Christopher Bishop.

Why does Haiyan Zhang matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Haiyan Zhang?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Haiyan Zhang.