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.

Over the last 10 years, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) has identified a base set of findings. These findings are taken almost as assumptions within the field. In summary, they argue that human activity is highly flexible, nuanced, and contextualized and that computational entities such as information transfer, roles, and policies need to be similarly flexible, nuanced, and contextualized. However, current systems cannot fully support the social world uncovered by these findings. This paper argues that there is an inherent gap between the social requirements of CSCW and its technical mechanisms. The social-technical gap is the divide between what we know we must support socially and what we can support technically. Exploring, understanding, and hopefully ameliorating this social-technical gap is the central challenge for CSCW as a field and one of the central problems for HCI. Indeed, merely attesting the continued centrality of this gap could be one of the important intellectual contributions of CSCW. This paper also argues that the challenge of the social-technical gap creates an opportunity to refocus CSCW as a Simonian science of the artificial. To be published in Human-Computer Interaction Preprint- Ackerman- Challenge of CSCW 1 1.

This paper presents another iteration in the ongoing CSCW dialogue between the understanding of work and the design of systems to support work. We overview the Locales Framework (and its five aspects of locale foundations, individual views, civic structures, interaction trajectory, and mutuality) as a shared abstraction for both understanding and designing. We describe the use of the framework in a telehealth case study and discuss the implications of the framework for the design of generic toolkit environments, as interpreted in the prototype system called Orbit. We conclude with a critique of the framework and suggestions for further iterations in the dialogue.

In this paper we focus on studying distributed collaborative learning with the techniques, methods, and analytical perspective of ethnography. Distributed collaborative learning is commonly placed in hybrid settings, where the participants engage in computer-mediated communication as part of some sort of institutionalised education. There are thus some inherent issues, both new and old, that need to be taken into consideration when doing ethnography in distributed learning environments. Addressing these issues, we emphasise the role of technology and information infrastructure and how this might impact the learning situation, but also how it can be used as a resource in the ethnographic research. In addition, we discuss how to observe, participate and immerse oneself in these technologically dense environments. The ideas and methodological issues are illustrated by presenting empirical examples from and experiences made in one of our research projects. In this way we forefront ethnography as a fruitful approach for studying and describing the complexity and contingencies of distributed learning in an informed and structured way.

There are numerous ways to handle knowledge within organizations. Indeed, knowledge management has been a flourishing commercial area for almost ten years, and one can point to many precursors within organizations as well. Knowledge management – regardless of its title or position in history – has always been an important, though not necessarily frequent, aspect of

We report on a care setting where staff looking after ex-psychiatric patients were supported by mobile and stationery communications technology (e.g. mobile phones, a messaging system) and physical artefacts (e.g. whiteboards and Post-It notes). Building on previous ethnographic investigations, we show that the concept of trajectory (or ongoing course of action) was important to understanding staff’s ongoing care work. We argue that sensitivity to this notion was helpful in describing the key transitions, cycles, plans and management issues in staff’s ongoing work and in generating key interactional needs. We present verified trajectory-informed scenarios emerging from fieldwork and show that these snapshots of work were generative of descriptions of staff’s and residents’ current and potential future use of technology in this setting. Finally we describe issues pertinent to situated display design emerging from this trajectory-informed data and discuss the effectiveness of the concept for informing design.

We ask, how does the organization of a technology building project impact collaboration with social scientists? We identify four elements that have structured collaborative engagements of social scientists within information infrastructure design projects. The elements we identify are (i) the state of the project relative to its development timeline; (ii) the time of initiation with social science, (iii) the participation type for social science; and (iv) the details of the involvement. Drawing from ethnographic research and grounded theory methodology, this research is based on comparison of three information infrastructure projects. We argue that the varying configurations of these elements substantially influence the possibilities for social science contributions to each project. In planning future engagements of social science within infrastructure projects careful consideration of such elements will serve to open up engagement options beyond a frequently encountered ‘response mode. ’ Our goal is to enrich and deepen awareness of modes of engagement where social research is participatory. 1.

Abstract. Intelligent agents can play a pivotal role in providing both software systems and their augmented interfaces, to individuals from all walks of life, to productively interact with the Internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week (24x7) and with each other, over both wireless and broadband infrastructures. This paper describes a novel intelligent agent architecture called ShadowBoard with an equally novel agent-oriented user interface named ShadowFaces. Both the architecture and interface draw upon concepts from psychology. The architecture has been instantiated as a software framework also called ShadowBoard. We illustrate how aspects of user cognition were outsourced using the ShadowBoard framework, in developing a prototype lab manager agent- a 'Digital Self '- for booking services and providing advice to potential users of the Interaction Design Lab at the University of Melbourne. We then take the Locales framework from Computer Supported Co-operative Work, using it to both understand the problematic aspects of interaction involved in complex social spaces, and to identify specific needs for technology intervention in such social spaces. Guided by the Locales framework, we are adapting the sophisticated individual agent technology demonstrated in the Digital Self, into a multi-user, agent-augmented system dubbed ShadowPlaces. Our aim with ShadowPlaces is to outsource some of the interaction necessary, for a group of mobile individuals to interact cooperatively and effectively in a Social World supported by wireless networks, and backed by broadband Internet services. An overview of the architecture and methodology (ShadowBoard), the interface (ShadowFaces), the resulting framework (ShadowBoard) and a user implementation (a Digital Self), are all presented, and then progress on ShadowPlaces- the multi-user version- is outlined. 1.

Issues about the relation between information technology (IT), knowledge and organizational learning appear more critical as IT becomes an increasingly integrated part of organizational life. We believe that in order to understand the role of IT in organizational learning, we need to focus on the relation between learning theories and understandings of technology. This relation is often based upon the assumption that organizational learning is a process of knowledge acquisition, storage, application and diffusion in which IT is a primary enabler. We propose organizational learning to derive from participation in social work practices and to involve human existence and development. This brings forward an understanding of the role of technology to be a facilitator of the formation and maintenance of communities of practice within organizations – and not to be reduced to its information processing capacities. 1.

Abstract. The paper provides insights on how wikis support project work and what characteristics of wikis make them adequate for this purpose. The findings are based on a case study of software engineering projects in an educational setting. Project wikis are found to serve an integrative role along several dimensions of project work, enabled by the flexibility and automatic support for capturing history offered by the technology. The findings demonstrate that a project wiki can serve as a knowledge repository, a means for staging the project, a coordination mechanism, and a shared workspace. To many projects in need of project management and collaboration support, project wikis should be seen as an attractive, lightweight, all-purpose alternative.