The authors wish to thank Patricia Everaert (Ghent University) and two anonymous reviewers of the 2 nd Int’l Workshop on Conceptual Modeling Quality (IWCMQ’03) for their useful comments and suggestions on previous versions of this paper. D/2004/7012/05

One of the most important qualities related to the use of information systems is arguably the usability achieved in actual use-situations. Three central criteria for usability as reflected in contemporary definitions are the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which users can achieve specified goals. A problem with these criteria is that they are expressed in terms of achieving goals, which, at least tacitly, seem to be restricted to goals related to an instrumental view of information system use. In this paper, we discuss how the concept of usability can be understood and utilized within a social action context. Specifically, we address how communicative goals are related to the criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. We argue that, in order to understand usability, we must consider both instrumental and communicative goals, since their combination constitutes a fundamental part of the social action context in which systems are used. Both instrumental and communicative goals affect the way systems and use-situations are designed and conceived.

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One of the most important qualities related to the use of information systems is arguably the usability achieved in actual use-situations. Three central criteria for usability as reflected in contemporary definitions are the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which users can achieve specified goals. A problem with these criteria is that they are expressed in terms of achieving goals, which, at least tacitly, seem to be restricted to goals related to an instrumental view of information system use. In this paper, we discuss how the concept of usability can be understood and utilized within a social action context. Specifically, we address how communicative goals are related to the criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. We argue that, in order to understand usability, we must consider both instrumental and communicative goals, since their combination constitutes a fundamental part of the social action context in which systems are used. Both instrumental and communicative goals affect the way systems and use-situations are designed and conceived.

As software agents get more sophisticated, it becomes difficult to understand and model such systems. In this paper, we contend that all developers bring to the task of development some implicit or explicit assumptions of the agent communication pattern. This issue is not readily addressed in current literature and represents a gap in knowledge. For this purpose a generic pattern of inter-agent communication is introduced and discussed in this paper. For better understanding and modelling of agent-based e-commerce systems, the semiotic approach and the DEMO transaction concept are briefly introduced. It is shown that the semiotic approach offers a unifying framework for identifying the roles of agents, the responsible human agents and the right/constraints associated with each role. The DEMO transaction concept is applied to model the communicative interaction between agents.

As the investments in IT are still growing and organizations are more dependent on IT than ever before practitioners as well as researchers are still lacking theories or models that help and explain if and when IT has to be adapted, partly exchanged or entirely implemented. In this paper we claim that one major reason for IS change lies in the interaction of human agents while using IT to solve tasks. Human agents cooperate within and simultaneously build a social network that is partly selforganizing, dynamic and uncontrollable from the outside. This dynamic can cause unintended pressure on the use and the usability of IT and therefore may force organizations to change the IS. This article discusses the Structurational Model of IT and concepts of the Social Network Analysis and draws several implications of examining the impact of social interaction on IS change.