This paper reviews the body of research that addresses `the social shaping of technology ' (SST) (MacKenzie & Wajcman 1985). In contrast to traditional approaches which only addressed the outcomes or 'impacts ' of technological change, this work examines the content of technology and the particular processes involved in innovation. We highlight the growth of socio-economic

This paper reflects on our experiences in supporting communication between fieldworkers and the designers of cooperative systems. We have investigated the nature of this communication by using a tool orginally designed to support the representation of software designs to present emerging results of ethnographic material. In this paper we discuss the tool used (the DNP) and the experiences of using the toolkit in the context of design. Our particular focus is on the use of the tool to represents results from a study of a UK financial institution where a series of prototyping exercises was underway. 2 Ethnography, communication and support for design John Hughes, Jon O Brien, Tom Rodden and Mark Rouncefield.

One of the central concepts in human-computer interaction (HCI) is usability. Interestingly, in spite of its brief history as a scientific and applied discipline, HCI has already produced several different views on usability. These views are, in turn, interrelated with how research and systems development are seen. This paper identifies five different perspectives on usability: general theory, usability engineering, subjectivity, flexibility and sociality. Their interrelations and implications for usability-oriented systems development are discussed.

The aims of this section are: 1. To outline some practical advice in describing ethnography to clients. 2. To outline what ethnography can and cannot do. 3. To present some practical advice on `doing' ethnography - to provide some `things to look out for'. 4. To identify some practical matters in conducting an ethnography: 5. To give some indication of what kind of materials should be collected. 6. To present some general principles for writing the report . SYCOMT SDK1: Ethnography. 2 Ethnography Some Practicalities of Ethnographic Analysis SYCOMT SDK1: Ethnography. 3 Some Practicalities of Ethnographic Analysis. "When I was a young student in London I thought I should get a few tips from experienced fieldworkers before setting out for central Africa. I first sought advice from Westermarck. All I got from him was ' don't converse with an informant for more than twenty minutes because if you aren't bored by that time he will be." Very good advice even somewhat inadequate. I s...

This paper uses the results from an ethnographic study of a groupware system in use to argue against two accepted views on groupware systems. Firstly, this paper argues that groupware is useful in how it supports existing everyday organisational processes, rather than as an agent of radical organisational change. Discussing the use of Lotus Notes in a British oil company shows how groupware supports mundane processes such as tracking repairs to equipment or encouraging good ideas. In this case groupware is a useful, yet unradical, technology. This is contrasted with discussions of groupware as a technology of radical change. Secondly, this paper argues that rigidity -- the inability to change how a system works - can be a positive feature of a groupware system, or indeed, a very requirement of that system. A Notes system is shown being used to support accountability, in that staff used the record kept within the system to make their actions seem orderly and sensible to others. In this case the rigidity of the system was needed to convince others that the record was not being altered or fabricated. This is contrasted with those who have argued that groupware systems should be highly customisable by their users. More generally, this study uncovers the "artful use" of groupware systems, how they are inventively integrated into work processes by those who use them.

This paper presents the results of an ethnography of a small evolutionary software development project in a British oil company, focusing on the relationship between users and software developers. The discussion starts by looking at how activities come to be defined as either "user" or "developer" jobs. At the company studied there was considerable conflict over the user development of Lotus Notes databases. This example illustrates how it is that the taken for granted roles of "software user" and "software developer" are constructed. Leading from this, the role of users in design meetings in discussed, in particular how it is that a notion of "the user" is formed in design discussions, and then used as a resource for making design decisions. This is part of a bigger tension during design of having to reduce the design space, while maintaining agreement between those involved in the design process. These results are used to illustrate a more general discussion of how the ethnography of software development may help software development research and pedagogy.