International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development
(IJSKD)
Official Publication of the Information Resources Management Association
Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2009
Published: Quarterly in Print and Electronically
ISSN: 1941-6253 EISSN: 1941-6261
Published by IGI Publishing, Hershey-New York, USA
www.igi-global.com/ijskd
Editor-in-Chief: Elayne Coakes, University of Westminster, UK
GUEST EDITORIAL PREFACE
New Socio-Technical Insights in Interaction Design
José Abdelnour-Nocera, Thames Valley University, UK
Ken Eason, Loughborough University, UK
Russell Beale, University of Birmingham, UK
Information and communication technology is increasing the means by
which
people relate to one another and engage in complex social activities. As
a
result the design of the interaction that we have with computers is no
longer just about human-computer interaction. The computer is now the
mediator of many forms of human-human interaction. On May 30th 2008 the
British Computer Society Specialist Groups on interaction and on
sociotechnical systems held a joint meeting in London to discuss
interaction
design in the light of the socio-technical systems the technology is now
supporting. This special edition includes many of the papers presented
at
the meeting.
To read the guest editorial preface, please consult this issue of IJSKD
in
your library.
PAPER ONE
Socially-Aware Design: The 'Slanty' Approach
Russell Beale, University of Birmingham, UK
In this article, the author discusses 'slanty design', which
incorporates
three new principles into a conventional user-centered design process:
designing for non-goals, creating anti-usability, and clean design.
Slanty
design incorporates many of the concepts of socio-technical approaches,
and
is explained using a variety of examples, including an airport baggage
carousel. This article also describes the remaining outstanding
challenges.
To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.
http://www.infosci-on-demand.com/content/details.asp?ID=32052
PAPER TWO
>From Pragmatism to Interaction Design: A Sociotechnical Design Space
Anders I. Mørch, University of Oslo, Norway
This article presents an approach to the interaction design that is
inspired
by sociotechnical systems (STS) and grounded in sociocultural theory.
The
focus is on the early phase of the design process and in particular how
theoretical ideas can stimulate design. The notion of 'externalized
design'
of buildings is adopted as a framework to incorporate conceptual
(non-computational) artifacts in user interfaces. The framework is
applied
to the retrospective analysis of an interactive system developed by the
author (Janus). The system is stimulated by the notion of
reflection-in-action. A three-staged process provides gradual steps for
translating reflection-in-action into a concrete user interface. The
article
also discusses the strengths and limitations of the approach and
identifies
directions for further work.
To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.
http://www.infosci-on-demand.com/content/details.asp?ID=32053
PAPER THREE
Before the Internet: The Relevance of Socio-Technical Systems Theory to
Emerging Forms of Virtual Organisation
Ken Eason, Loughborough University and The Bayswater Institute, UK
The widespread adoption of the Internet means that for many people, the
computer is now a major means of communication with other people far and
wide. As a result, many forms of human organization have an increasingly
virtual character; the people who co-operate in the organizational
endeavor
are not necessarily in face-to-face contact. These developments can be
classified as new forms of socio-technical systems in which emergent and
virtual social systems are dependent upon and mediated by the Internet
and
technical applications it has spawned.
To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.
http://www.infosci-on-demand.com/content/details.asp?ID=32054
PAPER FOUR
Designing for Disaster: Social Software Use in Times of Crisis
Liza Potts, Old Dominion University, USA
Using the London Bombings of 7 July 2005 as a case study, this paper
illustrates the need for sociotechnical interventions in systems design.
By
employing actor network theory the author makes visible the active
participants and technologies within the ecosystems of social software.
Such
visibility provides insight to the designer seeking to optimize
communication systems in the wake of disaster. This article describes
the
guidelines for improving systems and user interfaces based on disaster
scenarios.
To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.
http://www.infosci-on-demand.com/content/details.asp?ID=32055
PAPER FIVE
Extending Sociotechnical Design to Project Conception: Knowledge
Communication Processes for Situating Technology
Constance Kampf, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Project management processes offer specific sites for understanding the
interplay of the social and the technical. This article focuses on the
connection between knowledge and technology through knowledge
communication
processes, cultural and rhetorical contexts in projects, and the
iterative
process of project conception rooted in sense-making by designers. The
data
comes from a project management course, in which the students were asked
to
design and plan projects to situate a mobile phone game in a social
context.
The course was taught simultaneously at the Helsinki School of Economics
in
Finland and the Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus,
Denmark.
The analysis demonstrates the potential of knowledge communication
concepts
for social technical design.
To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.
http://www.infosci-on-demand.com/content/details.asp?ID=32056
PAPER SIX
Online Friction: Studying Sociotechnical Conflicts to Elicit User
Experience
Jörgen Skågeby, Linköping University, Sweden
This article presents conflicts as a central unit of analysis in
investigations of online social media sharing. Social media sharing
services
generate interesting sociotechnical problems as they often make social
structures explicit and present a genre of services where theories of
social
structure become highlighted and, at times, challenged. This article
presents three examples of conflicts, from three different types of
networks. The conflicts were elicited through online,
ethnography-inspired
methods. The author argues that the conceptual conflicts help
researchers
and designers to postulate, find, and examine concerns and intentions of
users who try to resolve the conflict or move from one end of the
conflict
to the other. This article demonstrates three viable ways to communicate
analytical conflict insights.
To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.
http://www.infosci-on-demand.com/content/details.asp?ID=32057
****************************************************
For full copies of the above articles, check for this issue of the
International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development
(IJSKD)
in your institution's library. This journal is also included in the IGI
Global aggregated "InfoSci-Journals" database:
www.infosci-journals.com.
*****************************************************
CALL FOR PAPERS
Mission of IJSKD:
The International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development
will
provide both a practical and comprehensive forum for exchanging research
ideas and down-to-earth practices which bridge the social and technical
gap
within organizations and society at large.
Coverage of IJSKD:
The International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development
will
look for practical sociotechnical approaches that can assist
practitioners,
academics, researchers, and students. It will encourage
interdisciplinary
texts that discuss current practices as well as demonstrating how the
advances of - and changes within - technology affect the growth of
society
(and vice versa). The aim of the journal is to bring together the
expertise
of people who have worked practically in a changing society across the
world
for people in the field of organizational development and technology
studies
including information systems development and implementation.
Appropriate themes might thus include (but are not restricted to), a
sociotechnical perspective on:
Knowledge management systems
Systems failures
Implementation issues of change and technology
Design and technology development issues including requirements and
stakeholder participation
Innovation
Knowledge sharing;
HRM issues for innovation and knowledge sharing
Technology and its role in society and organizations
Culture and trust within organizations and their relevance to
technological
artifacts
Critical success factors (and key performance indicators) for
organizations
and technological implementation
Organizational change
Performance and quality of working life
Information systems development
The influence of human factors on operational efficiency
The relevance of the worker's perspective
Empowerment and team development
Managing organizational knowledge as a strategic asset
Using knowledge management principles to solve organizational
performance
problems
Learning organizations
Humanistic redesign and technological politics in organizations
Quality assessment of computer information systems
Social aspects of automation
Sociotechnical systems
Technological Forecasting and Social Change;
Technology in Society
E-government and democracy as affected by technological change
Applied Ergonomic
Interested authors should consult the journal's manuscript submission
guidelines at www.igi-global.com/ijskd.
All inquiries and submissions should be sent to:
Editor-in-Chief: Elayne Coakes at coakese@westminster.ac.uk
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