Proceedings ArticleDOI
Steps towards an ecology of infrastructure: complex problems in design and access for large-scale collaborative systems
Susan Leigh Star,Karen Ruhleder +1 more
- pp 253-264
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This paper analyzes the initial phases of a large-scale custom software effort, the Worm Community System (WCS), a collaborative system designed for a geographically dispersed community of geneticists, and characterize these as levels of infrastructural complexity which challenge both users and developers.Abstract:
This paper analyzes the initial phases of a large-scale custom software effort, the Worm Community System (WCS), a collaborative 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 infrastructural complexity which challenge both users and developers. Usage problems may result from different perceptions of this complexity in different organizational contexts.read more
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Distance matters
Gary M. Olson,Judith S. Olson +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare collocated and non-collocated synchronous group collaborations and comment on the promise of remote work tomorrow, focusing on sociotechnical conditions required for effective distance work and bring together the results with four key concepts: common ground, coupling of work, collaboration readiness, and collaboration technology readiness.
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The intellectual challenge of CSCW: the gap between social requirements and technical feasibility
TL;DR: It is argued that there is an inherent gap between the social requirements of CSCW and its technical mechanisms and that the challenge of the social-technical gap creates an opportunity to refocus CSCw.
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Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software
TL;DR: In Two Bits, Christopher M. Kelty investigates the history and cultural significance of Free Software, revealing the people and practices that have transformed not only software but also music, film, science, and education.
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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation
John Seely Brown,Paul Duguid +1 more
TL;DR: Work, learning, and innovation in the context of actual communities and actual practices are discussed in this paper, where it is argued that the conventional descriptions of jobs mask not only the ways people work, but also significant learning and innovation generated in the informal communities-of-practice in which they work.
Book
Steps to an Ecology of Mind
TL;DR: Gregory Bateson was a philosopher, anthropologist, photographer, naturalist, and poet, as well as the husband and collaborator of Margaret Mead as discussed by the authors, and his major work will continue to delight and inform generations of readers.
Journal ArticleDOI
Groupware: some issues and experiences
TL;DR: C categories and examples of groupware are described and some underlying research and development issues are discussed and GROVE, a novel group editor, is explained in some detail as a salient groupware example.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Social Construction of Technological Systems
TL;DR: The web of human relations which originates, nurtures, and transforms technologies has long deserved attention Computers, bicycles, natural gas pipelines, and condoms live and have their being in the midst of enormously complicated human networks of production, distribution, and evaluation as discussed by the authors.
BookDOI
Design at work: cooperative design of computer systems
Joan Greenbaum,Morten Kyng +1 more
TL;DR: Greenbaum and Kyng as discussed by the authors discuss the role of psychology and Human-Computer Interaction Studies in system design, and discuss the need to take practice seriously and to set the stage for design as action.
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Steps Toward an Ecology of Infrastructure: Design and Access for Large Information Spaces
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