MICHAL LORENZMICHAL LORENZDIVISION OF INFORMATION AND

LIBRARY STUDIES

FACULTY OF ARTS

MASARYK UNIVERSITY

Design of Information System in Context of Social Informatics

Contents

I. Productivity paradoxII. Information Systems failures

III. Social informatics IV. Context in HCI • Situated action models • Activity theory • Distributed cognition • Social informatics

V. Methods of social contextual design • Contextual inquiry • Socio-technical

walkthrough • Ethnographic analysis • Social design of

computing

Productivity paradox

Accelerating development of technologies – is society able to adapt fast enough?

Lag after development of new technologies

examples: - laws is lagging behind development of

technologies - productivity paradox – growth of

productivity is lagging behind investments to innovations of information technologies

productivity paradox - social phenomenon → computerization of societymassive investments to IT to reach higher

performanceoutcome: work productivity descent instead different explanations: → inappropriate measuring of the productivity → the growth come after the capital stock gets

over a limit on the national level

Productivity paradox

Productivity paradox

But: gain is hard to express as raise of throughput productivity

delay effect of society computerization - delay effect known before → implementation new technologies to

complex social environment – typography over 100 years,

dynamo 60 years

establishing systems: aims to change technologies separately rarely

brings transformation benefitsestablishing systems and technologies with

respect to social hierarchies and work procedures improve performance of organizations

society doesn't lag behind development of technologies

development of technologies often follows inadequate description of work

adaptation of design of technologies to needs of society

Productivity paradox

Contents

I. Productivity paradoxII. Information Systems failures

III. Social informatics IV. Context in HCI • Situated action models • Activity theory • Distributed cognition • Social informatics

V. Methods of social contextual design • Contextual inquiry • Socio-technical

walkthrough • Ethnographic analysis • Social design of

computing

Information Systems failures

technological determinism - systems the only thing needed for organization improvement

a lot of problems arisen after implementation in retrogressive assessment reveal they were predictable

systems don't facilitate work in organizations must take into account: → what users actually do → smooth transition between pre-defined set of

tasks and unstructured tasks

Information Systems failures

systems need great deal of skills to cope with"stealth spending" - cost of learning to master

the system → peer support enigmatic behavior of the system → confusion among users → stopped their work social system enabling collaboration - the rapid

solutions and positive adoption of users right balance of social system - does not depend just

on technology, should be analyzed and incorporated into system design

Contents

I. Productivity paradoxII. Information Systems failures

III. Social informatics IV. Context in HCI • Situated action models • Activity theory • Distributed cognition • Social informatics

V. Methods of social contextual design • Contextual inquiry • Socio-technical

walkthrough • Ethnographic analysis • Social design of

computing

Social informatics

1996, workshop Social Aspects of Digital Libraries, Uni of California

multi-disciplinary field studies: → deals with the social aspect of

computerization → ways how to change social practices

together with establishing systems and technologies

→ interdisciplinary study of the design, uses and consequences of information technologies that takes into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts [Kling]

Social informatics

improving control of systems social consequences of the decisionbasic findings based on empirical researchKey findings of social informatics: → configurability of ICT: specific

configuration of ICT components and social use, constitute system as a unique socio-technical network

→ ICT follow trajectories: developmental history of products (configurability) directed social history and technological advances

Social informatics

→ co-evolution of ICT: system design and its use develop jointly - discourse between designers and users is a relevant social factor

→ ethical implications of ICT use : tool shape goals of people who use them, values intended by developers can influence users

→ ICT is not value neutral: technologies are value containing tools, technology are designed to support social and organizational structures, their use creates winners and losers [Sawyer, Rosenbaum]

Social informatics

→ ICT has multiple consequences depending on the context of their use, often paradoxical, unintended→ social and organizational dynamics depends on the context of the use, ICTs are not independent of the situational context

Contents

I. Productivity paradoxII. Information Systems failures

III. Social informatics IV. Context in HCI • Situated action models • Activity theory • Distributed cognition • Social informatics

V. Methods of social contextual design • Contextual inquiry • Socio-technical

walkthrough • Ethnographic analysis • Social design of

computing

Context in HCI

contextual approach - interaction between users and computers in human context

opposition to cognitive approach contextual approach to HCI - several versions

Situated action models → normal activities of users in a specific situation

configuration → opposite to the cognitive and structured social

relations approaches

Context in HCI

→ particular sequence of moments of activities, action growing up of the situation directly

→ environment in which users act constitute the institutional framework

→ permanent structures such as plans are deliberately disregarded - behaviorist approach

→ results - particulate studies can not be assigned to universal framework

→ neglect consideration of intentionality of human activity and broader context

Context in HCI

Activity theory → the role of artifacts in everyday life,

asymmetric relationship between human beings and instruments – consciousness

→ practice - how the activity is carried out → actions and operation - routinized and

unconscious aspects of action → artefacts are persistent structures linking

different activities over time and space, include instruments, characters and signs, language and machines

→ context is the activity itself, includes: activities, subject: human/community,

objectives: intended, unintended, artifacts: allow and limit action, set the whole context

→ internal dimension (the objective of people), external dimension (artifacts, other people)

→ only social factors influencing individual, not activity of social units

Context in HCI

Context in HCI

Distributed cognition → systemic level, opposed to individual cognitive

level → how is knowledge represented in the minds and in

environment, how is distributed among different peoples and artefacts

process of transformation of these structures detailed analysis of specific artifacts and

coordination between human beings real situations, analysis of working techniques connects the context with the role of persistent

structures

Context in HCI

Social informatics → context - social, cultural and technological

dimensions → social context influences use of information and

technologies → consequences for work, organizations and other social relationships

→ underrated aspect of social system: organizational setting, users and their current situation, working practices

→ institutional context (system of incentives) cultural context (groups of practicioners) wider social context (development of institutions) → situation in the context creates the context for the

next situation

Context in HCI

→The whole context is relationship between different social situations

→ context relations between technology and society - ICT in social context – technologies are different

from society, functional and instrumental analysts - ICT as part of social context - technology has a

social nature, interaction of technology and society is seamless, context for socio-technical analysts

- ICT have technological and social context - interwaves technological/social aspects - inseparable from technology

- ICT are primarily social - technology is socially constructed, social reductionism

Contents

I. Productivity paradoxII. Information Systems failures

III. Social informatics IV. Context in HCI • Situated action models • Activity theory • Distributed cognition • Social informatics

V. Methods of social contextual design • Contextual inquiry • Socio-technical

walkthrough • Ethnographic analysis • Social design of

computing

Methods of social contextual design

Contextual inquiryusers engaged in dialogue during common

activities – comments, explanations, opinions, reasons

data on behavior and perceptions in the short time period

qualitative data, quantitative data - perceived and observed task success

use: common tasks which follows the "continued use" situation - use of search engines

Methods of social contextual design

Socio-technical walkthrough factors allowing to affect working process with regard

to social interaction diagrams representing the relationship between the

various roles, activities, documents and artifacts the pre-set questions, questions from other

participants resulting system design is based on multiple variants

of models and shared understanding of users and designers

use: services related to logistics of organizations based on user interaction

Methods of social contextual design

Ethnographic analysis of cooperative interactionhow the order of work is socially produced → sequentiality and temporality: sequences of action ,

context for placing of activities→ working division of labor: monitored in practice,

coordinate and facilitate work of others → plans and procedures – explicit, orient work or limit

current work→ routines, rhytms, patterns - operational level, revealed

in the doing → distributed coordination - related to motivation → awareness of work→ ecology and affordances - activities in relation, an

arangement of configuration of system

Methods of social contextual design

Social design of computing monitored function as livability, sustainability, usabilityusefulness - the ability of the computer system to meet

the needs of the users identifies various social units - organization, teams,

communities and their social processes analysis of ICT policy – who makes decision, how design

decisions related to source of influences in organizations, benefits for the stakeholder, evaluation criteria

design does not finalize by process of delivery of system but continues during its use - education and training of users