Sociotechnical systems theory (STS), a theory that originated in studies of mechanization in British coal mines, holds that work processes consist of two separate dimensions, one social, the other technical. The main tenant of STS is the principle of joint optimization – that is, the dimensions are reciprocally interdependent and must be designed conjointly. Although it has been intuitively appealing to conceptualize work processes along two dimensions, equivocal outcomes in STS research suggests there may be additional dimensions. In the context of IT-intensive reengineering projects, we examine the extent to which the technical dimension, the social dimension, and their reciprocal interdependence explain variance in project performance. Project performance is captured with an objective measure of IT-related project delay (IT-delay) and a subjective measure of client satisfaction. We find that neither the main effects nor the interaction effect significantly explains IT-delay or client satisfaction. Allowing for additional dimensions in our empirical analysis, however, we find that elements of functional-knowledge that were embedded in the initial technical dimension emerge as a separate dimension. Although the main effects of the technical, social and functional-knowledge dimensions do not

Abstract. Our research explores meta-design as an innovative framework in the design of an emerging type of software-intensive systems called participative software systems. The fundamental challenge facing this approach is achieving the best fit between the software system and its ever-changing context of use, problems, domains, users, and communities of users. Our objective is to define the scientific foundation for designing participative software systems: socio-technical environments that are capable of coping with emergent needs in the context of personally meaningful activities and that empower users, as owners of problems, to engage actively and collaboratively in continual development.

Abstract. We explore transformative theoretically-based research agendas for education in IT (specifically in HCI and Informatics) from a lifelong learning perspective by instantiating and assessing the following assumption: “If the world of working and living relies on collaboration, creativity, definition and framing of problems and if it requires dealing with uncertainty, change, and intelligence that is distributed across cultures, disciplines, and tools—then education should foster transdisciplinary competencies that prepare students for having meaningful and productive lives in such a world.” Our theoretical framework will be assessed with the experience gained at analyzing research and