Although the use of hypertext systems for learning complex knowledge has been attracting recent attention, there have been few discussions in the hypertext literature on issues related to the cognitive prerequisites for learning conceptually demanding material. A study was conducted to investigate a theory-based hypertext learning environment that provided instruction in a complex and ill-structured domain. The experimental treatment incorporated several features derived from recent cognitive learning theory, in particular a hypertext procedure that presented the instructional material in multiple contexts to highlight different facets of the knowledge. The main results of the study revealed that although the control treatment led to higher performance on the measures of memory for factual knowledge, the more hypertext-like treatment promoted superior knowledge transfer. Overall, these

This paper discusses findings from case studies of six organizations using or attempting to use the Answer Garden, a type of organizational memory system. Two major issues in the implementation of such systems are examined: (1) the gap between the idealized definition of organizational memory and the constrained realities of organizational life, and (2) the effects of reducing contextual information in computer-based memory. 1. Introduction Organizational memory is an evocative metaphor, suggesting the promise of infinitely retrievable knowledge and experience. Organizational memory systems (OMS) offer the possibility that computer systems can better serve the information storage and retrieval needs of an organization's memory than can present technical and social methods. But in order to augment organizational memory with computer systems, we need to better understand the critical organizational issues facing such augmentation efforts. Many of these critical issues will be standard information technology issues: the nature of performance improvement with new types of systems, the political nature of information systems, and so on. Some of these issues, however, have a unique "spin" resulting from the organizational and technical questions inherent in organizational memory systems. This paper examines two major issues that have an additional emphasis in organizational memory systems. Author's address: ackerman@ics.uci.edu. The discussion is based on case studies of organizations using a specific OMS, Answer Garden. Following a brief discussion of the Answer Garden and the study sites, I examine the first organizational issue, the tension between an idealized conception of organizational memory in most study sites and the constraints that exist within organizations. Sinc...

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Rose, Jones, and Truex (RJT) start out by making the statement that a “longstanding debate in the IS literature concerns the relationships between technology and organization. ” I think they could make a stronger statement. This relationship is indeed the very core issue of IS. At the same time—and in spite

been embedded in the notion of technological impacts on society. References to the impacts of technology on society are pervasive in the literature of technology education. The notion of technological impacts is simple to comprehend and has permitted the field to interpret technology in the context of society and culture, but it has also contributed to a simplistic and inflexible view of the relationship between technology and society. The expression “technological impacts ” is a metaphor that implies that technology is a discrete force with a discernible direction and influence. Metaphors are figures of speech widely used in all disciplines and essentially involve the transfer of descriptive terms from primary usage to different, but

In this article, we advance a methodology for capturing and tracing the emergence, evolution, and diffusion of a practice, conceptual understanding, resource, or student-constructed artifact. The Constructing Networks of Action-Relevant Episodes (CN–ARE) methodology allows researchers to identify relevant data from a complex, evolving environment, and then to organize it into a web of action that can illuminate the historical development (evolving trajectory) of the phenomenon of interest (e.g., conception of an eclipse, applications of a mathematical formula, an evolving student-constructed Website). To accomplish this end, experiences are (a) sectioned into action-relevant episodes (AREs), (b) parsed down to codes in a database, and (c) then represented as nodes in a network so that the historical development of the particular phenomenon of interest can be traced. The CN–ARE methodology is especially useful for researchers interested in carrying out design experiments in which research findings with respect to one iteration of a course are cycled into the design of future course instantiations. In addition to setting the context and providing a theoretical rationale for the CN–ARE methodology, this discussion includes an in-depth description of the methodology along with its application to data sets. Following these examples, we close with a discussion of the scope and limitations of this methodology, touching on issues of trustworthiness, credibility, and usefulness. Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Sasha A. Barab, School of Education,

Social psychology offers a perspective on the acceptance and adoption of technology that is not often considered in technical circles. In this paper, we discuss several adoption-of-technology models with respect to the acceptance of domestic robots: we examine socialpsychology literature and apply it directly to humanrobot interaction. We raise key points that we feel will be pivotal to how domestic users respond to robots, and provide a set of guidelines that roboticists and designers of robotic interfaces can use to consider and analyze their designs. Ultimately, understanding how users respond to robots and the reasons behind their responses will enable designers to creating domestic robots that are accepted into homes.

Introduction: The Problem of Electronic Community q I live on the net. q The Internet is a new nation. q The laboratory of the 21 st century has no walls and no boundaries, but is a virtual community. q We are all Netizens now. q Electronic communication has revolutionized the way science is done. Those of us studying the use of electronic media are often faced with statements such as these. The popular media often confound daily life and routine work and practice, electronic communication such as email, and that which transpires "over the net," with the concept of "community." There is a substantial elision of experience, material conditions, structural positions in particular social networks, communication, and location in discussions of "the net," and "the web." As social scientists, this worries and intrigues us. We have been involved in the development and evaluation of several softwa

Abstract To rationalize and restrict health care spending, policy makers in many jurisdictions have withdrawn insurance or funding for selected health care technologies. Numerous analytic frameworks and applied exercises have emerged to guide decisions about “which ” services to cut. But in their focus on choice-making processes, these efforts have paid little attention to the problem of defining and dividing the set of technologies to choose among. If technology assessment refers to methods for weighing services for their relative value, the term technology assembly might be used to refer to methods for framing the technological trade-offs to enroll in such contests. This article examines technology assemblies found in several types of theoretical and applied rationing exercises (including Oregon’s Medicaid rationing process, economic evaluation literature, citizen “values ” surveys, and Canadian provincial deinsurance policies). Based on this review, some key conceptual conventions and problems in technology assembly can be identified. The boundaries between health technologies are fuzzy, interlocked, layered, and continuously moving. Consequently, the defining features of technological trade-offs are inevitably socially constructed and negotiated. Trade-offs can be arranged along numerous dimensions, and the divisions typically correspond to broader political, administrative, and ethical dilemmas in health policy. Examples include equity among demographic classes, concepts of need, legitimacy of therapeutic goals, and so forth. Insights into the process of constructing technological trade-offs may help policy makers better question what technologies they are looking at and why, before moving on to the task of determining which ones to cover.

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