CiteULike: rabourn's library [215 articles]

Designing for emergence and innovation: redesigning design

Greg Van Alstyne — 2008-07-02T00:30:45-00:00

Artifact, Vol. 1, No. 2. (2007), pp. 120-129.

This paper reveals the surprising and counterintuitive truth that design is not always at the forefront of innovation; it is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the success of products and services. The authors argue that design must harness emergence, for it is only through this bottom-up and massively iterative, unfolding process that new and improved products and services are successfully refined, introduced and diffused into the marketplace. They articulate the similarities and differences of design and emergence, developing the hypotheses that an innovative design is an emergent design, and that a homeostatic relationship between design and emergence is a required condition for innovation. Examples of how design and emergence have interacted and led to innovation include the tool making of early man; the evolutionary chain of the six languages: speech, writing, mathematics, science, computing and the Internet; Gutenberg's printing press, and the contemporary techniques of collaborative filtering that underlie the meteoric growth of today's largest Web-based services, including Google and Amazon.com. In closing they describe the relationship between artificial and natural systems, noting that a critical trait of every successful design and living organism is its telos or purpose.

Show and tell: accessing and communicating implicit knowledge through artefacts

Yoko Akama — 2008-07-02T00:27:37-00:00

Artifact, Vol. 1, No. 3. (2007), pp. 172-181.

This paper contributes to the current discourse on the role of artefacts in facilitating and triggering interaction among people. The discussion will focus on artefacts used as part of an interview method developed in order to discover knowledge that was observed but absent from both project reports and other documentation within multidisciplinary collaborative research projects, located within the field of Interaction Design. Using artefacts in an interview context enabled participants to reveal insights that were, in turn, participatory and human-centred. Thus the method was effective and appropriate in illuminating knowledge situated in interaction. This ethnomethodological tool enabled participants to reflexively externalize their understanding of the complex interactions that occur within projects, encouraging participation, interaction, visualization, reflection and communication through the use of tools aimed at capturing and illuminating the lived experiences of human engagement. These interviews were conducted with a selection of participants, chosen because they were researchers, working together within a cooperative research centre.

Making sense of design research: the search for a database

Meredith Davis — 2008-07-02T00:24:59-00:00

Artifact, Vol. 1, No. 3. (2007), pp. 142-148.

If you are a design researcher or graduate student who enters the keyword branding into the typical university library catalogue search engine, you will be as likely to yield books on cattle as on corporate identity. Or if you are a practitioner and want to locate one of the doctoral dissertations on design, completed in a handful of research-oriented PhD programs around the world, you will need a pretty good idea of the title or researcher's name to find it. And if you are design faculty and find it necessary to access work in non-design disciplines that might be relevant to your scholarship, you will be on your own to winnow the titles from hundreds of books within a Library of Congress topical category to find something truly useful to design. In other words, there are no current databases on design research and few design-sensitive keywords that drive other disciplinary search engines. This work proposes a solution to that dilemma.

Taking Freenet Seriously: A Response to Picker on Peer-to-Peer

Lior Strahilevitz — 2008-05-08T08:18:41-00:00

The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog (4 October 2005)

Barriers and Bounds to Rationality

Peter Albin — 2008-04-17T16:10:50-00:00

(06 April 1998)

Peter Albin is known for his seminal work in applying the concepts of adaptive dynamical systems, first developed by biologists and physicists, to the study of economic systems. This book is a collection of his pathbreaking articles on the application of cellular automata and complexity theory to economic problems. Duncan Foley provides a thoughtful introduction in which he reviews the disparate analytical sources of Albin's work in the theories of nonlinear dynamical systems, economic dynamics, cellular automata, linguistic and computational complexity, and bounded rationality.Albin has analyzed economic systems as interactions of highly complex components (i.e., intelligent human beings). He uses the theories of generative linguistics and cellular automata to establish that the complexity level of economic systems is, in principle at least, that of a Turing machine or general-purpose computer, establishing that classic economic approaches to the problems of household and firm choice, macroeconomic prediction, and policy evaluation may give rise to undecidable propositions and uncomputable functions. He develops simple models of dynamic economic interaction based on cellular automata which illustrate the inherent complexity of economic interactions and the resulting challenge they pose to traditional theories of rational economic behavior. These models explore the dynamics of the business cycle, decentralized market trading, and the emergence of cooperation in a novel local-interaction version of the repeated prisoners' dilemma game. Albin's work provides a unique and important perspective on economic systems.

Beauty constructs for MP3 players

A Al-Azzawi — 2008-04-05T00:30:20-00:00

CoDesign, Vol. 3, No. 1 supp 1. (2007), pp. 59-74.

This paper contributes to the current debate about the nature of beauty and aesthetics as they apply to interactive products. Current disagreement centres around the question of whether beauty should be viewed as a continuous property of objects or as a rare emotional response to object encounters. Here we develop a new perspective of beauty as a complex psychological construct, subject to competing influences from visible object properties such as shape and colour, and invisible object associations such as perceived ease of use and brand. We introduce a new methodology for examining such constructs based on a card sorting procedure, and use it to show how 36 participants think about the beauty of 35 MP3 players. One implication is that beauty may not correlate directly with preference. We also found that participants tended to evaluate the players holistically, applying similar categorisations to free sorts, beauty sorts and preference sorts. This involved a common polarisation between modern and post-modern forms as they have been found to apply to architectural styles.

Conversation Analysis and Discourse Analysis: A Comparative and Critical Introduction

Robin Wooffitt — 2008-04-02T16:01:49-00:00

(23 April 2005)

On the face of things, the title of this book is somewhat redundant, since conversation is discourse, so it is interesting to learn that the two concepts were developed independently and that discourse analysis (DA) makes little reference to conversation analysis (CA). Specifically, CA arose out of the work of Harvey Sacks in his analysis of recorded telephone calls to the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center in the 1970s. (Interestingly, in this age of performance measures for scholarly activity, Sacks's work was recorded mainly in his lecture notes, which were not published until 1992, seventeen years after his death.) In CA the 'talk' is seen as social action - a means whereby people get things done. DA, on the other hand, emerged out of the sociology of scientific knowledge and work by Gilbert and Mulkay in the 1980s. Gilbert and Mulkay's contribution was to recognize the differences in accounts of the same phenomenon or situation from different actors in that situation, whatever their position. This insight arose out of their study of a scientific dispute over chemiosmosis, the means whereby energy is transferred in cells. Of itself, this is no great insight, it is simply an observation of the variability of accounts that occur in the everyday world. However, Gilbert and Mulkay went further, by rejecting the then received wisdom of sociological method, which, so they claimed, ignored that variability in the search for similarities. However, as the author of this text points out, DA as evolved by Gilbert and Mulkay is only one variant; there are at least two others. One originates in the work of Foucault, the other in sociolinguistics. The consequence of all this for the information researcher in search of method, is that great care must be taken in defining what kind of conversation or discourse analysis one is attempting. Wooffitt is good on these relationships in the first two chapters, which are scene-setting in character; the first explores the origins, while the second outlines two key investigations - one CA, the other DA, that illustrates the differences effectively. Chapters 3 and 4 are about method, chapter 3 outlining the two methods and chapter 4 dealing with similarities and differences. The remainder of the book deals with CA and DA as separate processes, with a final chapter on CA as a tool for the analysis of power and social control. The newcomer to CA and DA will find this an extremely useful work: the information research may find in CA a reason to examine more closely interview evidence that appears to be about seeking information but which may turn out to be about quite other things. Similarly, an approach from the DA perspective, and a focus on the differences in accounts of problems that drive information behaviour may reveal more about the complexities of those problems than other approaches. Professor T.D. Wilson Editor-in-Chief October 2005

"Vygotsky's Neglected Legacy": Cultural-Historical Activity Theory

Wolff-Michael Roth — 2008-03-08T03:57:39-00:00

REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, Vol. 77, No. 2. (1 June 2007), pp. 186-232.

The authors describe an evolving theoretical framework that has been called one of the best kept secrets of academia: cultural-historical activity theory, the result of proposals Lev Vygotsky first articulated but that his students and followers substantially developed to constitute much expanded forms in its second and third generations. Besides showing that activity theory transforms how research should proceed regarding language, language learning, and literacy in particular, the authors demonstrate how it is a theory for praxis, thereby offering the potential to overcome some of the most profound problems that have plagued both educational theorizing and practice. 10.3102/0034654306298273

Implicit Culture as a Tool for Social Navigation

Aliaksandr Enrico — 2008-03-21T18:07:36-00:00

Very often people tend to behave like other people behaved previously. This happens in many situations ranging from when one chooses the path in a forest to when she/he selects a link on the web. Social Navigation aims at providing assistance in such situations, supporting the decision making process. Implicit Culture is a recent approach in which people are encouraged to behave according to the "usual" behavior of the community. This paper shows that Implicit Culture can be applied to...

User interface evaluation of interactive TV: a media studies perspective

Konstantinos Chorianopoulos — 2006-05-30T17:44:18-00:00

Universal Access in the Information Society (January 2006), pp. 1-10.

Epistemological and theoretical challenges for studying power and politics in information systems

Silva — 2007-02-27T13:25:02-00:00

Information Systems Journal, Vol. 17, No. 2. (April 2007), pp. 165-183.

Implications for design

Paul Dourish — 2006-05-03T06:57:09-00:00

(2006), pp. 541-550.

Although ethnography has become a common approach in HCI research and design, considerable confusion still attends both ethnographic practice and the criteria by which it should be evaluated in HCI. Often, ethnography is seen as an approach to field investigation that can generate requirements for systems development; by that token, the major evaluative criterion for an ethnographic study is the implications it can provide for design. Exploring the nature of ethnographic inquiry, this paper suggests that "implications for design" may not be the best metric for evaluation and may, indeed, fail to capture the value of ethnographic investigations.

User Representations: Practices, Methods and Sociology

Madeline Akrich — 2006-05-21T05:03:08-00:00

(20 March 1996), pp. 167-184.

3. Public Policy as Discursive Construct: Social Meaning and Multiple Realities

Fischer — 2007-12-25T18:40:17-00:00

Reframing Public Policy, pp. 48-71.

Writing at the End of the World (Pittsburgh Series in Composition, Literacy, and Culture)

Richard Miller — 2005-11-05T20:19:12-00:00

(23 September 2005)

What do the humanities have to offer in the twenty-first century? Are there compelling reasons to go on teaching the literate arts when the schools themselves have become battlefields? Does it make sense to go on writing when the world itself is overrun with books that no one reads? In these simultaneously personal and erudite reflections on the future of higher education, Richard E. Miller moves from the headlines to the classroom, focusing in on how teachers and students alike confront the existential challenge of making life meaningful. In meditating on the violent events that now dominate our daily lives--school shootings, suicide bombings, terrorist attacks, contemporary warfare--Miller prompts a reconsideration of the role that institutions of higher education play in shaping our daily experiences, and asks us to reimagine the humanities as centrally important to the maintenance of a compassionate, secular society. By concentrating on those moments when individuals and institutions meet and violence results, Writing at the End of the World provides the framework that students and teachers require to engage in the work of building a better future.

The New Work Order

James Gee — 2007-12-29T15:03:06-00:00

(01 May 1997)

Workplace democracy. Empowerment. Team leaders. Knowledge workers. This is the language of "the new work order" promoted by today's management, which promises more meaningful and satisfying work, greater respect for diversity, and more democratic distribution of knowledge.

How Users Matter : The Co-Construction of Users and Technology (Inside Technology)

2006-05-23T20:37:47-00:00

(01 September 2005)

Users have become an integral part of technology studies. The essays in this volume look at the creative capacity of users to shape technology in all phases, from design to implementation. Using a variety of theoretical approaches, including a feminist focus on users and use (in place of the traditional emphasis on men and machines), concepts from semiotics, and the cultural studies view of consumption as a cultural activity, these essays examine what users do with technology and, in turn, what technology does to users. The contributors consider how users consume, modify, domesticate, design, reconfigure, and resist technological development--and how users are defined and transformed by technology. The essays in part I show that resistance to and non-use of a technology can be a crucial factor in the eventual modification and improvement of that technology; examples considered include the introduction of the telephone into rural America and the influence of non-users of the Internet. The essays in part II look at advocacy groups and the many kinds of users they represent, particularly in the context of health care and clinical testing. The essays in part III examine the role of users in different phases of the design, testing, and selling of technology. Included here is an enlightening account of one company's design process for men's and women's shavers, which resulted in a "Ladyshave" for users assumed to be technophobes. Taken together, the essays in How Users Mattershow that any understanding of users must take into consideration the multiplicity of roles they play--and that the conventional distinction between users and producers is largely artificial.

Shaping Technology / Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change (Inside Technology)

WE Bijker — 2007-12-08T20:16:45-00:00

(29 September 1994)

Building on the influential book The Social Construction of Technological Systems, Shaping Technology/Building Society carries forward the project of creating a theory of technological development and implementation that is strongly grounded in both sociology and history. The twelve essays address the central question of how technologies become stabilized, that is, how they attain a final form and use that is generally accepted. The first part of the book examines and criticizes the idea that technologies have common life cycles. The second part looks at broader interactions shaping technology and its social context. The last part offers theoretical studies suggesting alternative approaches to sociotechnologies. Each part contains case studies, examples of which include a successful but never produced British jet fighter, the manipulation of patents by a French R&D company to gain a market foothold, and the managed development of high- intensity fluorescent lighting.

Diverse Communities: The Problem with Social Capital

Barbara Arneil — 2007-12-06T19:08:44-00:00

(02 October 2006)

Diverse Communities is a critique of Robert Putnam's social capital thesis, re-examined from the perspective of women and cultural minorities in America over the last century. Barbara Arneil argues that the idyllic communities of the past were less positive than Putnam envisions and that the current 'collapse' in participation is better understood as change rather than decline. Arneil suggests that the changes in American civil society in the last half century are not so much the result of generational change or television as the unleashing of powerful economic, social and cultural forces that, despite leading to division and distrust within American society, also contributed to greater justice for women and cultural minorities. She concludes by proposing that the lessons learned from this fuller history of American civil society provide the normative foundation to enumerate the principles of justice by which diverse communities might be governed in the twenty-first century.

Information Systems and Global Diversity

Chrisanthi Avgerou — 2007-12-03T09:17:48-00:00

(22 September 2003)

It is often assumed that the impact and implementation of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) will or should be the same in all situations with little regard to the particular social or cultural context. Drawing on experience and research in different societies (Europe, Latin America, etc.), this book explains the nature of organizational diversity in which ICT innovation takes place, and also develops a conceptual approach to account for it. The book draws from institutionalist concepts of organizations, the sociology of technology, current debates on globalization, and critiques of the rationality of modernity. The theoretical perspective is supported empirically by four international case studies. The author shows how the processes of ICT innovation and organizational change reflect local aspirations, concerns, and action, as well as the multiple institutional influences of globalization.

Managing cross-cultural issues in global software outsourcing

S Krishna — 2006-01-03T23:07:24-00:00

Commun. ACM, Vol. 47, No. 4. (April 2004), pp. 62-66.

Convergence Culture

Henry Jenkins — 2005-06-01T23:27:27-00:00

Aramis or the Love of Technology

Bruno Latour — 2006-01-12T17:36:13-00:00

(01 June 1996)

Packet switching works well for moving data -- why not use it for moving humans? In a nutshell, the French Aramis transit project proposed packet switching as a solution to human transport problems (though, so far as I can tell, neither the author nor any reviews I have yet read have made this connection). With all the brouhaha about moving bytes around on the information superhighways, moving people around real cities has become less glamorous -- after all, the current mythology is that telecommuting will render the automobile obsolete, right? With the prevailing American tendency to think in terms of technological manifest destiny, stories about superior technologies failing miserably are usually glossed over in an obsession with teleology (history is an inevitable march toward greater perfection). In contrast, this book describes an extraordinarily well-designed and highly superior semi-personal robotic transit system developed by the French government -- and then squashed by the French government. It is written in a style that only a Gallic scientist could conceive (for example, in a passage about project complexity, Latour writes: ...The monkey is readily identified as a creature of desire...). Because of such stylistic excrescences, I personally I found this book somewhat difficult to read at times, but I recommend it very highly to anyone interested in the history of technology, cross-cultural studies, telecommunications -- or the burgeoning application of packet switching principles to mass transit.

Mobile Social Networks and Social Practice: A Case Study of Dodgeball

Lee Humphreys — 2007-11-14T01:03:33-00:00

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 13, No. 1. (2007)

A mobile social network system (MSNS) allows groups of friends to be accessed and engaged with from one's mobile phone. Dodgeball is a MSNS that seeks to facilitate social connection and coordination among friends in urban public spaces. Based on a year-long qualitative field study, this article reports on the social and behavioral norms of Dodgeball use. A comparison between social network sites and Dodgeball highlights some of the communicative differences of mobile technology and the Internet. The findings of the study suggest that Dodgeball use can influence the way that informants experience public space and social relations therein. At times Dodgeball can facilitate the creation of third spaces, which are dynamic and itinerant forms of "third places." Additionally, exchanging messages through Dodgeball can lead to social molecularization, whereby active Dodgeball members experience and move through the city in a collective manner.

Learning How to Use a Cellular Phone: Comparison Between German and Chinese Users

Pia Honold — 2007-11-08T14:46:38-00:00

Technical Communication, Vol. 46, No. 2. (May 1999), pp. 196-205.

The objective of this study was to investigate whether and how "cultural standards" influence the use of typical daily products, e.g. a cellular phone. The goal was to provide insight for technical communicators who design information products for Chinese or German users. Hypotheses about differences in learning and information gathering strategies were derived from Chinese and German cultural standards. Methods used were focus groups, usability tests and a questionnaire. In focus groups, the question was raised about how cellular phone users had learned to use the phone. Four focus groups were held in each country (number of participants: China: n=26, Germany: n=24). A questionnaire was designed to provide additional information. During usability tests, the actual information searching behavior was recorded. Results indicate that the following cultural differences exist: The main source of information for Chinese is the sales clerk, whereas for Germans it is the conventional user manual. For the Chinese, it is most important to get step-by-step information about basic functions. Germans prefer to get a clear and fast overview over all possible functions. Only the Chinese asked for videos to show procedures.

Physiological measures of presence in stressful virtual environments

Michael Meehan — 2007-03-26T15:42:47-00:00

(2002), pp. 645-652.

Whose Space? Differences Among Users and Non-Users of Social Network Sites

E Hargittai — 2007-11-04T21:06:52-00:00

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 13, No. 1. (2007)

e there systematic differences between people who use social network sites and those who stay away, despite a familiarity with them? Based on data from a survey administered to a diverse group of young adults, this article looks at the predictors of SNS usage, with particular focus on Facebook, MySpace, Xanga, and Friendster. Findings suggest that use of such sites is not randomly distributed across a group of highly wired users. A person's gender, race and ethnicity, and parental educational background are all associated with use, but in most cases only when the aggregate concept of social network sites is disaggregated by service. Additionally, people with more experience and autonomy of use are more likely to be users of such sites. Unequal participation based on user background suggests that differential adoption of such services may be contributing to digital inequality.

Human Values and the Design of Computer Technology (Center for the Study of Language and Information - Lecture Notes)

Friedman — 2007-11-04T03:41:28-00:00

(15 November 2004)

<div>When scientists develop computer technologies, they focus on making the machine work reliably and efficiently, and human moral values are not often part of the equation. Perhaps this is due to the belief that technology has a value-neutral nature, and that issues of value are better left to philosophers. Batya Friedman, however, disputes this assumption with arguments that reveal the links between human values and computer technology. Bringing together leading researchers and system designers, Friedman addresses fascinating and rich questions in Human Values and the Design of Computer Technology: If human values such as freedom of speech and privacy are controversial, then on what basis do some values override others in the design of technology? How can designers bring value-sensitive design into the workplace and still generate revenue? Friedman’s responses to these questions—and more—offer a clarion call for the embrace of value-sensitive design as part of the computer science culture. "Interesting and important . . . The chapter on computer bugs and accountability alone is worth the trip (or click) to the bookstore."—Michael L. Gordon, Computing Reviews </div>

The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media

John Thompson — 2007-02-23T20:57:16-00:00

Being There: Concepts, Effects and Measurements of User Presence in Synthetic Environments (Emerging Communication: Studies in New Technologies and Practices in Communication, Vol. 5)

2006-12-12T13:59:51-00:00

(01 January 2003)

"Presence", the sense of "being there" in a mediated environment, has been applied to describe the user experience when interacting with advanced media interfaces such as virtual environments. Why examine the concept of presence? There are compelling practical and theoretical reasons. The definition of the construct of presence is of particular interest today because it has the potential relevance for the design and evaluation of a broad range of interactive and non-interactive media and applications in several areas such as medicine, entertainment, education and training. An enhanced sense of presence plays an important role in technologies such as the video telephone, high definition television (HDTV), 3G portable phones, home and arcade video games, the World Wide Web, and more. The book examines the different facets of the concept of presence. It begins by noting practical and theoretical reasons for studying this concept. Different theories of presence are identified and a detailed description of the concepts included in these conceptualizations is presented. Existing research and about the factors that encourage or discourage a sense of presence in media users as well as the physiological and psychological effects of presence are then outlined. Finally, suggestions concerning possible evolutions of this concept allowed by the diffusion of ambient intelligence and 3G portable communication are presented.

Does the Internet Increase, Decrease, or Supplement Social Capital?: Social Networks, Participation, and Community Commitment

Barry Wellman — 2006-09-05T09:26:31-00:00

American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 45, No. 3. (1 November 2001), pp. 436-455.

How does the Internet affect social capital? Do the communication possibilities of the Internet increase, decrease, or supplement interpersonal contact, participation, and community commitment? This evidence comes from a 1998 survey of 39,211 visitors to the National Geographic Society Web site, one of the first large-scale Web surveys. The authors find that people's interaction online supplements their face-to-face and telephone communication without increasing or decreasing it. However, heavy Internet use is associated with increased participation in voluntary organizations and politics. Further support for this effect is the positive association between offline and online participation in voluntary organizations and politics. However, the effects of the Internet are not only positive: The heaviest users of the Internet are the least committed to online community. Taken together, this evidence suggests that the Internet is becoming normalized as it is incorporated into the routine practices of everyday life. 10.1177/00027640121957286

The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College Students Use of Online Social Network Sites

Nicole Ellison — 2007-09-03T09:03:00-00:00

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 12, No. 4. (2007), pp. 1143-1168.

This study examines the relationship between use of Facebook, a popular online social network site, and the formation and maintenance of social capital. In addition to assessing bonding and bridging social capital, we explore a dimension of social capital that assesses ones ability to stay connected with members of a previously inhabited community, which we call maintained social capital. Regression analyses conducted on results from a survey of undergraduate students (N = 286) suggest a strong association between use of Facebook and the three types of social capital, with the strongest relationship being to bridging social capital. In addition, Facebook usage was found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.

Keeping in touch with the family: home and away with the ASTRA awareness system

Panos Markopoulos — 2007-03-13T18:08:27-00:00

(2004), pp. 1351-1354.

Mediating intimacy: designing technologies to support strong-tie relationships

Frank Vetere — 2007-01-29T09:46:39-00:00

(2005), pp. 471-480.

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

Robert Putnam — 2007-08-14T14:38:49-00:00

(01 June 2000)

Few people outside certain scholarly circles had heard the name Robert D. Putnam before 1995. But then this self-described "obscure academic" hit a nerve with a journal article called "Bowling Alone." Suddenly he found himself invited to Camp David, his picture in People magazine, and his thesis at the center of a raging debate. In a nutshell, he argued that civil society was breaking down as Americans became more disconnected from their families, neighbors, communities, and the republic itself. The organizations that gave life to democracy were fraying. Bowling became his driving metaphor. Years ago, he wrote, thousands of people belonged to bowling leagues. Today, however, they're more likely to bowl alone: <blockquote>Television, two-career families, suburban sprawl, generational changes in values--these and other changes in American society have meant that fewer and fewer of us find that the League of Women Voters, or the United Way, or the Shriners, or the monthly bridge club, or even a Sunday picnic with friends fits the way we have come to live. Our growing social-capital deficit threatens educational performance, safe neighborhoods, equitable tax collection, democratic responsiveness, everyday honesty, and even our health and happiness.</blockquote> The conclusions reached in the book Bowling Alone rest on a mountain of data gathered by Putnam and a team of researchers since his original essay appeared. Its breadth of information is astounding--yes, he really has statistics showing people are less likely to take Sunday picnics nowadays. Dozens of charts and graphs track everything from trends in PTA participation to the number of times Americans say they give "the finger" to other drivers each year. If nothing else, Bowling Alone is a fascinating collection of factoids. Yet it does seem to provide an explanation for why "we tell pollsters that we wish we lived in a more civil, more trustworthy, more collectively caring community." What's more, writes Putnam, "Americans are right that the bonds of our communities have withered, and we are right to fear that this transformation has very real costs." Putnam takes a stab at suggesting how things might change, but the book's real strength is in its diagnosis rather than its proposed solutions. Bowling Alone won't make Putnam any less controversial, but it may come to be known as a path-breaking work of scholarship, one whose influence has a long reach into the 21st century. --John J. Miller Once we bowled in leagues, usually after work; but no longer. This seemingly small phenomenon symbolizes a significant social change that Robert Putnam has identified and describes in this brilliant volume, Bowling Alone. Drawing on vast new data from the Roper Social and Political Trends and the DDB Needham Life Style -- surveys that report in detail on Americans' changing behavior over the past twenty-five years -- Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and social structures, whether the PTA, church, recreation clubs, political parties, or bowling leagues. Our shrinking access to the "social capital" that is the reward of communal activity and community sharing is a serious threat to our civic and personal health. Putnam's groundbreaking work shows how social bonds are the most powerful predictor of life satisfaction. For example, he reports that getting married is the equivalent of quadrupling your income and attending a club meeting regularly is the equivalent of doubling your income. The loss of social capital is felt in critical ways: Communities with less social capital have lower educational performance and more teen pregnancy, child suicide, low birth weight, and prenatal mortality. Social capital is also a strong predictor of crime rates and other measures of neighborhood quality of life, as it is of our health: In quantitative terms, if you both smoke and belong to no groups, it's a close call as to which is the riskier behavior. A hundred years ago, at the turn of the last century, America's stock of social capital was at an ebb, reduced by urbanization, industrialization, and vast immigration that uprooted Americans from their friends, social institutions, and families, a situation similar to today's. Faced with this challenge, the country righted itself. Within a few decades, a range of organizations was created, from the Red Cross, Boy Scouts, and YWCA to Hadassah and the Knights of Columbus and the Urban League. With these and many more cooperative societies we rebuilt our social capital. We can learn from the experience of those decades, Putnam writes, as we work to rebuild our eroded social capital. It won't happen without the concerted creativity and energy of Americans nationwide. Like defining works from the past that have endured -- such as The Lonely Crowd and The Affluent Society -- and like C. Wright Mills, Richard Hofstadter, Betty Friedan, David Riesman, Jane Jacobs, Rachel Carson, and Theodore Roszak, Putnam has identified a central crisis at the heart of our society and suggests what we can do.

Forget Dewey and His Decimals, Internet Users are Revolutionizing the Way We Classify Information – and Make Sense of It

Lee Rainie — 2007-05-04T17:43:12-00:00

Pew Internet Life Project, Vol. Jan 31 (2007)

A December 2006 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that 28% of internet users have tagged or categorized content online such as photos, news stories or blog posts. On a typical day online, 7% of internet users say they tag or categorize online content.

Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life

2007-10-19T06:36:18-00:00

(01 October 2006)

The Japanese term for mobile phone, keitai (roughly translated as "something you carry with you"), evokes not technical capability or freedom of movement but intimacy and portability, defining a personal accessory that allows constant social connection. Japan's enthusiastic engagement with mobile technology has become--along with anime, manga, and sushi--part of its trendsetting popular culture. Personal, Portable, Pedestrian, the first book-length English-language treatment of mobile communication use in Japan, covers the transformation of keitai from business tool to personal device for communication and play. The essays in this groundbreaking collection document the emergence, incorporation, and domestication of mobile communications in a wide range of social practices and institutions. The book first considers the social, cultural, and historical context of keitai development, including its beginnings in youth pager use in the early 1990s. It then discusses the virtually seamless integration of keitai use into everyday life, contrasting it to the more escapist character of Internet use on the PC. Other essays suggest that the use of mobile communication reinforces ties between close friends and family, producing "tele-cocooning" by tight-knit social groups. The book also discusses mobile phone manners and examines keitai use by copier technicians, multitasking housewives, and school children. Personal, Portable, Pedestrian describes a mobile universe in which networked relations are a pervasive and persistent fixture of everyday life.

Group awareness and self-presentation in computer-supported information exchange

Joachim Kimmerle — 2007-10-18T21:25:14-00:00

International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

Abstract A common challenge in many situations of computer-supported collaborative learning is increasing the willingness of those involved to share their knowledge with other group members. As a prototypical situation of computer-supported information exchange, a shared-database setting was chosen for the current study. This information-exchange situation represented a social dilemma: while the contribution of information to a shared database induced costs and provided no benefit for the individual, the entire group suffered when all members decided to withhold information. In order to alleviate the information-exchange dilemma, a group-awareness tool was employed. It was hypothesized that participants would use group awareness for self-presentational purposes. For the examination of this assumption, the personality variable ‘protective self-presentation’ (PSP) was measured. An interaction effect of group awareness and PSP was found: when an awareness tool provided information concerning the contribution behavior of each individual, this tool was used as a self-presentation opportunity. In order to understand this effect in more detail, single items of the PSP-scale were analyzed.

Self-disclosure in computer-mediated communication: The role of self-awareness and visual anonymity

Adam Joinson — 2006-07-11T07:21:55-00:00

European Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 31, No. 2. (2001), pp. 177-192.

Three studies examined the notion that computer-mediated communication (CMC) can be characterised by high levels of self-disclosure. In Study One, significantly higher levels of spontaneous self-disclosure were found in computer-mediated compared to face-to-face discussions. Study Two examined the role of visual anonymity in encouraging self-disclosure during CMC. Visually anonymous participants disclosed significantly more information about themselves than non-visually anonymous participants. In Study Three, private and public self-awareness were independently manipulated, using video-conferencing cameras and accountability cues, to create a 2 × 2 design public self-awareness (high and low)×private self-awareness (high and low). It was found that heightened private self-awareness, when combined with reduced public self-awareness, was associated with significantly higher levels of spontaneous self-disclosure during computer-mediated communication. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Human Values and the Design of Computer Technology

Batya Friedman — 2005-05-15T18:25:03-00:00

(15 February 2001)

Technology-Shaping Effects of E-Collaboration Technologies: Bugs and Features

Lynne Markus — 2005-10-07T14:35:29-00:00

International Journal of e-Collaboration, Vol. 1, No. 1. (March 2005), pp. 15-37.

Recently, Orlikowski and Iacono (2001) called for increased theorizing of the information technology (IT) artifact. Both authors have made important contributions to what they refer to as the "ensemble" view of technology. By contrast, the "tool" view has remained noticeably underdeveloped. The goal of this essay is to begin articulating such a tool view for research on e-collaboration technologies. Referred to here as "the technology-shaping perspective," this view eschews technological determinism but nevertheless looks for broad patterns of probabilistic effects that can be attributed to technology's material features. In brief, the technology-shaping perspective holds that technologies pose problems for users who want to use them to accomplish particular goals; the solutions users create for those problems during recurrent use may exhibit certain regularities across different contexts. Consequently, small differences in the features of apparently similar tools could be associated with big differences in usage patterns and social outcomes. The claim is that conducting future research on a technology-shaping agenda could yield cumulative results that are less "disappointing" than many scholars find group decision support systems (GSS) research, the largest single body of work on e-collaboration technologies.

Picture Theory : Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation

WJT Mitchell — 2006-05-27T15:46:39-00:00

(01 September 1995)

<div>What precisely, W. J. T. Mitchell asks, are pictures (and theories of pictures) doing now, in the late twentieth century, when the power of the visual is said to be greater than ever before, and the "pictorial turn" supplants the "linguistic turn" in the study of culture? This book by one of America's leading theorists of visual representation offers a rich account of the interplay between the visible and the readable across culture, from literature to visual art to the mass media. </div>

Data Retention and the Panoptic Society: The Social Benefits of Forgetfulness

JF Blanchette — 2007-08-13T20:05:44-00:00

The Information Society, Vol. 18, No. 1. (January 2002), pp. 33-45.

Modern information systems not only capture a seemingly endless amount of transactional data, but also tend to retain it for indefinite periods of time. We argue that privacy policies must address not only collection and access to transactional information, but also its timely disposal. One unintended side effect of data retention is the disappearance of social forgetfulness, which allows individuals a second chance, the opportunity for a fresh start in life. We examine three domains in which social policy has explicitly recognized the importance of such a principle: bankruptcy law, juvenile crime records, and credit reports. In each case, we frame the issue in terms of the social benefits of forgetfulness, rather than in terms of individual privacy protection. We examine how different policy approaches to privacy might handle the retention of data and propose a comprehensive policy that includes a variety of strategies. The broad conclusion of the article is that data retention and disposal should be addressed as a part of a broader and comprehensive policy approach, rather than in a piecemeal fashion or as an afterthought.

Cryptography, data retention, and the panopticon society (abstract)

Jean-Fran\ccois Blanchette — 2007-08-13T20:01:46-00:00

(1998), pp. 1-2.

Behind the Blip: Essays on the Culture of Software

Matthew Fuller — 2005-05-14T21:56:23-00:00

(01 July 2003)

The Social Shaping of Technology

Donald Mackenzie — 2006-01-25T21:29:04-00:00

(01 July 1999)

Do Not Despair: There Is Life after Constructivism

Wiebe Bijker — 2007-05-08T03:17:30-00:00

Science Technology Human Values, Vol. 18, No. 1. (1 January 1993), pp. 113-138.

This article reviews recent work in socio-historical technology studies. Four problems, frequently mentioned in critical debates, are discussed--relativism, reflexivity, theory, and practice. The main body of the article is devoted to a discussion of the latter two problems. Requirements for a theory on socio-technical change are proposed, and one concrete example of a conceptual framework that meets these requirements is discussed. The second point of the article is to argue that present (science and) technology studies are now able to break away from a too academic, internalistic perspective and return to the politically relevant "Science, Technology & Society" issues that informed much of this work more than a decade ago. 10.1177/016224399301800107

Upon Opening the Black Box and Finding It Empty: Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Technology

Langdon Winner — 2006-02-07T07:00:13-00:00

Science, Technology, & Human Values, Vol. 18, No. 3. (1993), pp. 362-378.

Modeling context information in pervasive computing systems

K Henricksen — 2007-05-07T21:37:24-00:00

(2002)

As computing becomes more pervasive, the nature of applications must change accordingly.I n particular, applications must become more flexible in order to respond to highly dynamic computing environments, and more autonomous, to reflect the growing ratio of applications to users and the corresponding decline in the attention a user can devote to each. That is, applications must become more context-aware. To facilitate the programming of such applications, infrastructure is required to gather,...

Beneath the Metadata: Some Philosophical Problems with Folksonomy

2006-11-17T18:08:57-00:00