Tami Sutcliffe is an information scientist interested in the ethnography of aesthetic knowledge. She is working on a PhD project considering visual images used in science which are not generally defined as fine art (DNA trees, crystal diagrams, sonar charts) and attempting to decipher what happens when these images begin to acquire aesthetic value outside of their specific scientific community. In particular, this project analyzes the qualitative aspects of the process of online scientific information becoming fine art: when does this redefinition occur? What are the distinctive components of art and information in these cases? What is the history of purely informational images acquiring aesthetic value?

Sutcliffe holds a Masters of Information Science degree, in addition to a Masters of Arts [Art History] degree. She presented her thesis "Gender and Communication Styles on the World Wide Web" at the American Library Association National Conference. As co-author, she presented "Determining Place Regulations on the Internet" during the 2007 Southern States Communication Association Convention.

Currently an instructional web designer with the Lifelong Education @ Desktop program at the University of North Texas, Sutcliffe's professional roles have included knowledge management analyst, Web content author, reference librarian, and research director. Ms. Sutcliffe established InformationArt.org, a consulting firm specializing in online instructional design and maintains an active blog related to the process of researching information art.

Websites:
http://www.informationart.org/
InformationArt.org/home.html
http://bikechic.wordpress.com/
http://homepages.waymark.net/
~bikechic/