ABSTRACT
In this paper we discuss configurability as a form of appropriation work. We suggest that making technology work requires an awareness of the multiple dimensions of configurability carried out by numerous actors within and outside of the organizations in which new technologies are introduced in efforts to support cooperative work. Through discussion of the introduction of a wireless call system into a hospital, we provide an overview of these dimensions -- organisational relations, space and technology relations, connectivity, direct engagement, and configurability as part of technology use and work - and we suggest that in increasingly complex technological and organisational contexts, greater attention will need to be focused on these dimensions of configurability in order to make things work.
- Ackerman, M., Halverson, C., Erickson, T., and Kellogg, W.A. (in preparation). Resources, coevolution, and artifacts: Theory in CSCW. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Andriessen, J., Hettinga M. and Wulf V. Evolving Use of Groupware. Special Issue of the Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work 12 (2), 2003. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Balka, E. and Kahnamoui, N. Technology trouble? Talk to us! Findings from an ethnographic field study. Proceedings of the Eighth Conference on Participatory Design: Artful integration: interweaving media, materials and practices -- Volume 1. Toronto, ON, July 27--31, New York, NY: ACM Press, 2004. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Balka, E., Kahnamoui, N. and Nutland, K. (In press). Who's in Charge of Patient Safety? Work Practice, Work Processes and Utopian Views of Automatic Drug Dispensing Systems. International Journal of Medical Informatics.Google Scholar
- Balka, E., Wagner I. and Bruun Jensen. Reconfiguring Critical Computing in an Era of Configurability. The Fourth Decennial Aarhus Conference Critical Computing- Between Sense and Sensibility, Aarhus, DK, ACM, 2005. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Bardram, J.E. and Bossen, C. Mobility Work: The Spatial Dimension of Collaboration at a Hospital. Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (2005) 14, pp. 131--160. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Binder, T., De Michelis, G., Jacucci, G., Matcovic, K., Psik, T.and Wagner, I. Supporting Configurability in a Tangible Augmented Environment for Design Students. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 8, (2004), 310--325. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Bossen C. and Dalsgaard P. Conceptualization and appropriation: the Evolving Use of a Collaborative Knowledge Management System. The Fourth Decennial Aarhus Conference Critical Computing- Between Sense and Sensibility, Aarhus, DK, ACM, 2005. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Bowers, J., Button, G., Sharrock, W. Workflow From Within and Without: Technology and Cooperative Work on the Print Industry Shopfloor. Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, September 10-14, 1995, Stockholm, Sweden, pp. 51--66. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Callon, M. The Dynamics of Techno-Economic Networks. In: R.Coombs, P.Saviotti and V.Walsh (eds.) Technological Change and Company Strategies. London, Hartcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992, 72--102.Google Scholar
- Dourish, P. The appropriation of interactive technologies: Some lessons from placeless documents. Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work 12/4 (2003), 465--490. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Dourish, P. Accounting for system behaviour: Representation, reflection, and resourceful action. In: Kyng, M. and Mathiassen, L. (eds.) Computers and design in context. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, (1997), 145--71. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Eglash, R. Appropriating Technology: An Introduction. In: R. Eglash, J. Crossiant, G. Di Chiro and R. Fouché. Appropriating Technology: Vernacular Science and Social Power. University of Minnesota Press, 2004.Google Scholar
- Henderson, A and Kyng, M. There's no place like home: Continuing Design in Use. In: J. Greenbaum and M. Kyng (eds) Design at work: Cooperative Design of Computer Systems. Hillsdale, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Ass.,1991, p 219--240. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Hornecker, E. Tangible User Interfaces als kooperationsunterstützendes Medium. PhD. Thesis. Published electronically at Elektronische Bibliothek, Staats und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen, July 2004.Google Scholar
- Jones, M. C. and Twidale, M. B. Anchoring appropriation: facilitation by example,. In: Y. Dittrich, P. Dourish, A. Mørch, V. Pipek, G. Stevens, B. Törpel (Eds.). International reports on socio-informatics 2/2 (2005), International Institute for Socio-Informatics: Bonn, 42--46.Google Scholar
- Karasti, H. Increasing sensitivity towards everyday work practice in system design. PhD Thesis, Department of Information Processing, Oulu University, 2001.Google Scholar
- Linde, P. and Wagner, I. (in preparation). Metamorphoses of objects and the place for design. Submitted journal paper.Google Scholar
- Mosco, V. The Political Economy of Communication: Rethinking and Renewal. Thousand Oaks, Sage (1996).Google Scholar
- Nardi, B. A. A small matter of programming: Perspectives on end-user computing. Cambridge, Mass. and London, MIT Press (1993). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Nardi, B.A. & Miller, J.R. Twinkling lights and nested loops: Distributed problem solving and spreadsheet development. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 34/2 (1991), 161--184. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Newman, Mark W., Jana Sedivy, et al. Designing for Serendipity: Supporting End-User Configuration of Ubiquitous Computing Environments. DIS2002, London, ACM, 2002. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Orlikowski, W. Evolving with Notes: Organizational Change around Groupware Technology. Technical Report (IFSRC No. 314-95), MIT, Sloan School of Management, Cambrigde (MA), 1995.Google Scholar
- Pipek, V. From tailoring to appropriation support: Negotiating groupware usage. PhD thesis, Oulu University. Available at http://herkules.oulu.fi/isbn9514276302/ (verified 20 June 2005).Google Scholar
- Robertson, T. The Public Availability of Actions and Artifacts, Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work 11 (2002), 299--316. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Rodden, T., Crabtree, A. et al. Between the Dazzle of a New Building and Its Eventual Corpse: Assembling the Ubiquitous Home. DIS2004, Cambridge, Mass, ACM (2004), 71--80. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Schmidt, K. Cooperative Work and Coordinative Practices. Contributions to the Conceptual Foundations of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Submitted Thesis, IT University of Copenhagen, 2006.Google Scholar
- Tellioglu, H. and Wagner, I. Work practices surrounding PACS: The politics of space in hospitals. Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work 10/ 2 (2001), 163--88. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Trigg, R. and Bødker, S. From Implementation to Design: Tailoring and the Emergence of Systematization, In: Proceedings of CSCW'94, Chapel Hill, NC, ACM (2004), 45--54. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Wagner, I. and Balka, E. Supporting Configuring as Appropriation Work. In: Y. Dittrich, P. Dourish, A. Mørch, V. Pipek, G. Stevens, B. Törpel (Eds.). International reports on socio-informatics 2/2 (2005), International Institute for Socio-Informatics: Bonn, 71--78.Google Scholar
- Wulf V. "Let's see your Search-Tool!" - Collaborative use of Tailored Artifacts in Groupware. Proceedings of GROUP '99, ACM-Press, 50--60. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Wulf, V. and Golombek, B. Direct Activation: A concept to encourage tailoring activities. Behavior and Information Technology 20/4 (2001), 249--63.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Wulf, V. and Mark, G. The Emergence of Conventions within Processes of Integrated Organization and Technology Development, In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction (HCI'97), August 24-29, San Francisco (CA), Elsevier, Amsterdam 1997, 293--296. Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Making things work: dimensions of configurability as appropriation work
Recommendations
Bridging Work Practice and System Design: Integrating Systemic Analysis, Appreciative Intervention and Practitioner Participation
This article discusses the integration of work practice and system design. By scrutinising the unfolding discourse of workshop participants the co-construction of work practice issues as relevant design considerations is described. Through a mutual ...
The Camera as an ActorDesign-in-Use of Telemedicine Infrastructure inSurgery
This paper describes the evolving interrelationship between a pre-established work practice and a new technology, with an emphasis on how the technology itself participates in the process and introduces changes, while at the same time being changed itself. ...
Reflections on 25 Years of Ethnography in CSCW
In this article we focus attention on ethnography's place in CSCW by reflecting on how ethnography in the context of CSCW has contributed to our understanding of the sociality and materiality of work and by exploring how the notion of the `field site' ...
Comments