Dr. Bilal’s research sits at the intersection of human information behavior, human-computer interaction, information retrieval, and human-AI interaction. She has numerous publications and made ample presentations at the national and international levels. Her research with children charts new cognitive and affective patterns in using web search engines and brings forward issues and challenges in traversing web search engines. Dr. Bilal conducted the first study that compared children’s and adults’ cognitive and affective information-seeking behaviors and performance in using web search engines, which sparked a major shift in understanding children as unique information seekers with unique information needs and information behaviors. Dr. Bilal has published a minimum of four “classic” journal articles with high citation counts that became required readings in many information school programs worldwide. Her influential work in the field of information science and technology introduces innovative concepts, methods, and applications to the scholarly discourse, and has attracted national and international media attention.
Dr. Bilal’s research in Artificial Intelligence examines user voice-switching behavior and perception of embodied voice interfaces (EVIs), where images of people with diverse characteristics and cultural backgrounds unveil users’ biases toward virtual agents based on age, race, ethnicity, religion, and culture. She has coined the new concepts of user voice-switching behavior, interface mirroring, and embodied voice interfaces. Her research leverages the use of social robots to facilitate the delivery of reminiscence therapy (RT) to older adults with dementia; examines children’s perceptions of and preferences for different types of AI technologies; explores the implementation of AI in Library and Information Science programs curricula; and AI for teaching and learning in K-12 (AI4TL). In her 2022 keynote speech at the 2022 ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL) conference, Dr. Bilal shared her vision of a paradigm shift in human-information behavior and interaction in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).
Expertise and Interests
- Children and Youth Information Behavior and Interaction
- Human Information Behavior and Interaction
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Human-AI Interaction
- Information Retrieval
- User-Centered Design
- Usability and User Experience (UX)
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)