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346
Steps Toward an Ecology of Infrastructure: Design and Access for Large Information Spaces
- Information Systems Research
, 1996
"... We analyze a large-scale custom software effort, the Worm Community system (WCS), a collaborative system designed for a geographically dispersed community of geneticists. There were complex challenges in creating this infrastructural tool, ranging from simple lack of resources to complex organizatio ..."
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Cited by 310 (2 self)
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We analyze a large-scale custom software effort, the Worm Community system (WCS), a collaborative system designed for a geographically dispersed community of geneticists. There were complex challenges in creating this infrastructural tool, ranging from simple lack of resources to complex organizational and intellectual communication failures and tradeoffs. Despite high user satisfaction with the system and interface, and extensive user needs assessment, feedback and analysis, many users experienced difficulties in signing on and use. The study was conducted during a time of unprecedented growth in the Internet and its utilities (1991-1994), and many respondents turned to the World Wide Web for their information exchange. Using Bateson’s model of levels of learning, we analyze the levels of infrastructural complexity involved in system access and designeruser communication. We analyze the connection between systems development aimed at supporting specific forms of collaborative knowledge work, local organizational transformation, and large-scale infrastructural change.
Coordination Mechanisms: Towards a Conceptual Foundation of CSCW Systems Design
- Journal of Collaborative Computing
, 1996
"... The paper outlines an approach to CSCW systems design based on the concept of `coordination mechanisms.' The concept of coordination mechanisms has been developed as a generalization of phenomena described in empirical investigations of the use of artifacts for the purpose of coordinating coope ..."
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Cited by 271 (27 self)
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The paper outlines an approach to CSCW systems design based on the concept of `coordination mechanisms.' The concept of coordination mechanisms has been developed as a generalization of phenomena described in empirical investigations of the use of artifacts for the purpose of coordinating cooperative activities in different work domains. On the basis of the evidence of this corpus of empirical studies, the paper outlines a theory of the use of artifacts for coordination purposes in cooperative work settings, derives a set of general requirements for computational coordination mechanisms, and sketches the architecture of Ariadne, a CSCW infrastructure for constructing and running such malleable and linkable computational coordination mechanisms.
Exploratory sequential data analysis: I~Traditions, techniques and tools
- Report of the CHI '92 workshop. SIGCHI ;;~_,Bulletin
, 1993
"... Human-computer interaction (HCI) investigators must consider the sequential nature of interaction and must often weigh behavioral, cognitive, and social factors when studying and designing today's increasingly complex systems. In many cases, laboratory experimentation is inappropriate and forma ..."
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Cited by 133 (0 self)
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Human-computer interaction (HCI) investigators must consider the sequential nature of interaction and must often weigh behavioral, cognitive, and social factors when studying and designing today's increasingly complex systems. In many cases, laboratory experimentation is inappropriate and formal modeling intractable; instead, observational data analysis is frequently the only appropriate empirical approach. Diverse approaches to observational data analysis already exist, which we synthesize as instances of exploratory sequential data analysis (ESDA). In this article, we outline fundamental ESDA characteristics that might help HCI investigators using sequential data make better conceptual and methodological choices. ESDA owes a philosophical debt to exploratory data analysis but focuses on exploring sequential data. Important issues for ESDA are finding an appropriate temporal band for analysis, finding an effective semantics for encoding, and completing an analysis in an acceptable time frame. We survey temporal factors Penelope M. Sanderson is an engineering psychologist who, in her investigations
Constructing Common Information Spaces
, 1997
"... This paper investigates an important, yet under-researched topic in CSCW, namely shared, or common, information spaces. We provide some background to work in the area, and then proceed to examine features of such spaces. The work involved in both putting information in common, and in interpreting it ..."
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Cited by 106 (4 self)
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This paper investigates an important, yet under-researched topic in CSCW, namely shared, or common, information spaces. We provide some background to work in the area, and then proceed to examine features of such spaces. The work involved in both putting information in common, and in interpreting it, has often not been sufficiently recognized. Through a number of situations we discuss the influence of particular conditions, and the translations required. We show how, in various ways, it requires added work to place items in common, and open up the question of how this might affect use of the WWW, often seen as the ultimate common information space. 1. Introduction One of the distinguishing features of the CSCW field is its persistent attempts to come to terms with the sociality of work, with a view to better understanding the nature of cooperative work as a basis for designing genuinely "supportive" computer-based information systems. In its attempts to achieve this goa
Shifting Perspectives on Organizational Memory: From Storage to Active Remembering
, 1996
"... Thispaperprovides a critique of current conceptions of “organizational memory ” as presented in a number of recent studies. It briefly reviews some of the rich and varied contributions from both administrative studies and information systems concerning this topic, while aC the same time noting the v ..."
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Cited by 92 (0 self)
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Thispaperprovides a critique of current conceptions of “organizational memory ” as presented in a number of recent studies. It briefly reviews some of the rich and varied contributions from both administrative studies and information systems concerning this topic, while aC the same time noting the vagueness of the term as it is commonly used. What is of interest is the pervasiveness and perseverance of this nebulous concept across a wide range of disciplinary endeavors. The paper provides an important re-formulation of one aspect of “memory “ thal is implicit if twt explicit in most current views, i.e. the notion of memory as a passive store, arguing instead for an active, constructive view of “remembering ” that has a long, if forgotten history within psychology and other fields. In the final section, some implications of such an approach are discussed, paying particular attention to the need for empirical studies of “memories in use ” and the need to focus on the active construction of common information spaces,from information repositories, and expanding the domain qf discourse to include sociological as well as psychological perspectives on concepts such as memory, learning, remembering, talking, etc. in rhe context of organizations. This re-formulation of the issues surrounding organizational memory has significant implications for the kinds of computer “support ” for this phenomenon which might be possible or feasible, which can only be touched on in this paper, but will be extended in.fiture work.
Information quality work organization in Wikipedia
- Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
, 2008
"... The classic problem within the information quality (IQ) research and practice community has been the problem of defining IQ. It has been found repeatedly that IQ is context sensitive and cannot be described, measured, and assured with a single model. There is a need for empirical case studies of IQ ..."
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Cited by 68 (7 self)
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The classic problem within the information quality (IQ) research and practice community has been the problem of defining IQ. It has been found repeatedly that IQ is context sensitive and cannot be described, measured, and assured with a single model. There is a need for empirical case studies of IQ work in different systems to develop a systematic knowledge that can then inform and guide the construction of context-specific IQ models. This article analyzes the organization of IQ assurance work in a large-scale, open, collaborative encyclopedia— Wikipedia. What is special about Wikipedia as a resource is that the quality discussions and processes are strongly connected to the data itself and are accessible to the general public. This openness makes it particularly easy for researchers to study a particular kind of collaborative work that is highly distributed and that has a particularly substantial focus, not just on error detection but also on error correction. We believe that the study of those evolving debates and processes and of the IQ assurance model as a whole has useful implications for the improvement of quality in other more conventional databases.
Coordinating Heterogeneous Work: Information and Representation in Medical Care
- In Prinz et al
, 2001
"... Medical care involves intense collaboration amongst a number of practitioners including physicians, nurses, and pharmacists Their work is concentrated on a single patient, and yet their activities, motivations, and concerns are very different We explore the use of a shared information system in help ..."
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Cited by 66 (9 self)
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Medical care involves intense collaboration amongst a number of practitioners including physicians, nurses, and pharmacists Their work is concentrated on a single patient, and yet their activities, motivations, and concerns are very different We explore the use of a shared information system in helping these individuals coordinate their work In particular, we use the idea of a common information space to explore how the shared information is incorporated into the diverse work practices of an intensive care unit In addition to physical co-location, we found that providing information in many specialised representations is critical to managing their coordination. Unlike paper records, computer systems offer the ability to decouple information from its representations. This decoupling opens up a rich design space for systems that allow people with different interests, concerns and work practices to work together effectively.
Steps toward an ecology of infrastructure: Complex problems in design and access for large-scale collaborative systems
- In R. K. Furuta & C. Neuwirth (Eds.), Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
, 1994
"... This paper analyzes the initial phases of a large-scale custom software effort, the Worm Community System (WCS), a coll-aborative system designed for a geographically dispersed community of geneticists. Despite high user satisfaction with the system and interface, and extensive user feedback and ana ..."
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Cited by 62 (0 self)
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This paper analyzes the initial phases of a large-scale custom software effort, the Worm Community System (WCS), a coll-aborative system designed for a geographically dispersed community of geneticists. Despite high user satisfaction with the system and interface, and extensive user feedback and analysis, many users experienced difficulties in signing on and use, ranging from simple lack of resources to complex organizational and intellectual trade-offs. Using Bateson’s levels of learning, we characterize these as levels of infra-structural complexity which challenge both users and devel-opers. Usage problems may result from different perceptions of this complexity in different organizational contexts.
Supporting articulation work using software configuration management systems. CSCW,
, 1996
"... ..."
18 Reasons Why IT-Reliant Work Systems Should Replace ‘The
- IT Artifact’ as the Core Subject Matter of the IS Field,” Communications of the AIS
, 2003
"... In an important ISR research commentary, Orlikowski and Iacono [2001] argue that the IS field does not deeply engage in its core subject matter, “the IT artifact. ” Although agreeing with their analysis and their conclusions concerning the unfortunate lack of engagement with the IT artifact, this ar ..."
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Cited by 50 (13 self)
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In an important ISR research commentary, Orlikowski and Iacono [2001] argue that the IS field does not deeply engage in its core subject matter, “the IT artifact. ” Although agreeing with their analysis and their conclusions concerning the unfortunate lack of engagement with the IT artifact, this article questions their premise that the IT artifact should be viewed as the core of the IS field. After defining the term “work system ” and summarizing previously published frameworks for understanding a work system in operation and a work system life cycle, this article presents 18 reasons why IT-reliant work systems should replace “the IT artifact ” as the core of the IS field. Taken in combination, the 18 reasons express a belief that today’s IS field is inherently work system-centric, rather than IT-centric even though IT artifacts are present wherever the IS discipline is genuinely relevant. The specific reasons involve important topics including IS success, IS costs, IS risks, IS life cycles, methods for analyzing systems, communication with business professionals, organizing and codifying knowledge about systems in organizations, and maximizing the value of IS research.
