PUBLICATIONS

Doctoral Thesis

Screen capture of the preface to my dissertation, which includes instructions for using a custom scent kit I created for my thesis defence committee.

 

McBride, Melanie. (2018). Tangible Inquiries: A study of aroma materials and sources in the built and botanical environments of Grasse, France

Scholarly Publications

McBride, M., Thumlert, K., & Nolan, J.(2025). ‘Hands Off’ Learning:
The Artifice Of Educating In An Algorithmic Age. Digital Culture & Education, 16(1), 139-
156. Full article: https://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/volume-161 

Thumlert, K., McBride, M., Tomin, B., Nolan, J., Lotherington, H., Boreland, T. (2023). Algorithmic literacies: Identifying educational models and heuristics for engaging the challenge of algorithmic culture. Digital Culture and Education. 

Kwan, J., Chu, J. H., Harley, D., McBride, M. & Mazalek, A. (2016). Grasping Cultural Context with Multisensory Interactions. In the proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction. ACM. Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Harley, D., McBride, M., Chu, J. H., Kwan, J. & Mazalek, A. (2016). Sensing Context: Reflexive design principles for intersensory museum interactions. In the proceedings of the 20th annual conference of Museums and the Web. Los Angeles, U.S.A. 

Chu, J. H., Harley, D., Kwan, J., McBride, M. & Mazalek, A. (2016). Sensing History: Contextualizing artifacts with sensory interactions and narrative design. In the proceedings of DIS’16, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems. ACM. Brisbane, Australia.

Nolan, J., & McBride, M. (2014). Beyond gamification: reconceptualizing game-based learning in early childhood environments. Information, Communication & Society, 1-15.

Nolan, J., Raynes-Goldie, K., & McBride, M. (2011). Stranger Danger: Exploring Surveillance, privacy and autonomy in children’s use of social media. Canadian Children.

Chapters in books

Thumlert, K., Nolan, J., McBride, M., & Chan, H. (2023). Strange Play: Parametric Design and Modular Learning. In A. Kitzmann, C. Thorén, E. Engström and E. Teboul (Eds.) Patch Up! Exploring synthetic sound and modular thought, New York: Routledge.

Nolan, J., & McBride, M. (2022). First Rack: A multimodal discourse analysis of Eurorack module design affordances. In A. Kitzman, C. Thorén, E. Engström and E. Teboul (Eds.) Patch Up!: Exploring synthetic sound and modular thought, Routledge.

Nolan, J., McBride, M., Bellucci, A. Radical AAC and User-Initiated Design. (2022).  In Design for One: Post Universal Design and the New Normal, E. Guffey (Ed.). Routledge.

McBride, M., & Nolan, J. (2017). Situating olfactory learning: An intersensory pedagogy by design. In Design With Smell. Victoria Henshaw (Ed.). New York: Routledge  https://www.routledge.com/Designing-with-Smell-Practices-Techniques-and-Challenges/Henshaw-McLean-Medway-Perkins-Warnaby/p/book/9781138955547

Nolan, J., McBride, M. (2015). Embodied semiosis: Autistic ‘stimming’ as sensory praxis. International handbook of semiotics, 1069-1078

Associate Editor

Between 2002 and 2004, I contributed editing and transcription services on two editions of the Canadian arts and theory journal, Alphabet City. 

  • Egoyan, A., and Balfour, I. (2004). Subtitles: On the foreignness of film. Alphabet City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Knechtel, J., and Balfour, I. (2002). Lost in the Archive. Alphabet City. Toronto: DAP Press.

Interactive writing

Trapeze Media
In 2001, I was hired to create interactive fiction to Trapeze Media’s companion website for the Canadian television series Paradise Falls. 

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
In 2002, I researched, wrote, and selected audio and visual archival materials for two feature web profiles for the CBC’s Prix Italia Award-winning Digital Archives project: Margaret Laurence: Canada’s Divine Writer and Springhill Mining Disasters [no longer online].

Learning Agents
From 2002 to 2007, I researched, wrote, and edited interactive content for inter-provincial occupational resource websites developed for newcomers and students in partnership with government and non-governmental organisations.

Mystus Exhibits
From 2002 to 2006, I was lead researcher and writer for Toronto-based exhibit production company Mystus Interactus, where I produced original interactive educational content for 40 original exhibitions in museums and science centres in North America, Europe, and the Middle East.