Many collaborative and communicative environments use notions of “space ” and spatial organisation to facilitate and structure interaction. We argue that a focus on spatial models is misplaced. Drawing on understandings from architecture and urban design, as well as from our own research findings, we highlight the critical distinction between “space ” and “place”. While designers use spatial models to support interaction, we show how it is actually a notion of “place ” which frames interactive behaviour. This leads us to re-evaluate spatial systems, and discuss how “place”, rather than “space”, can support CSCW design.

The aim of this research essay is to examine the structural nature of theory in information systems. Despite the importance of theory, questions relating to its form and structure are neglected in comparison with questions relating to epistemology. The essay addresses issues of causality, explanation, prediction and generalization that underlie an understanding of theory. A taxonomy is proposed that classifies information systems theories with respect to the manner in which four central goals are addressed: analysis, explanation, prediction and prescription. Five interrelated types of theory are distinguished: (i) theory for analysing; (ii) theory for explaining, (iii) theory for predicting; (iv) theory for explaining and predicting; and (v) theory for design and action. Examples illustrate the nature of each theory type. The applicability of the taxonomy is demonstrated by classifying a sample of journal articles. The paper contributes by showing that multiple views of theory exist and by exposing the assumptions underlying different viewpoints. In addition, it is suggested that the type of theory under development can influence the choice of an epistemological approach. Support is given for the legitimacy and value of each theory type. The building of integrated bodies of theory that encompass all theory types is advocated.

This paper re-examines a number of the approaches, origins and ideals of context--aware systems design, looking particularly at the way that the past influences what we do in our ongoing activity. As a number of sociologists and philosophers have pointed out, past social interaction, as well as past use of the heterogeneous mix of media, tools and artifacts that we use in our everyday activity, influence our ongoing interaction with the people and media at hand. We suggest that the past is thus part of one's current context, and can be seen as combining and interweaving the temporal and subjective patterns of individuals' use of heterogeneous media as well as objectively structured representations of individual media. Based on this theoretical discussion, we present a number of critiques, examples and suggestions for systems designs that reflect this historical aspect of context, and which make good use of the past in supporting ongoing user activity.

this paper, we propose Anselm Strauss' (1993) Theory of Action as a candidate from which to evolve a framework to ground an understanding of work for the following reasons: (1) it already exists as a coherent, related set of abstractions - a big picture - which makes the social more accessible, and provides a background against which other concepts from CSCW can be mapped or be seen to complement; and (2) it provides analytical leverage for systems developers who do not have a social science background nor the services of a social science team member. In the second section, we propose that insights from Strauss' work on the importance of structural conditions for social world (cooperative ensemble) interactions can help us to view support systems in a new role as setting/ locale for cooperative work interaction, thus providing a bridge between the social and the technical. We then provide a brief overview of WORLDS, a locales-based environment we are building concurrent with our theoretical exploration. Action, Social Worlds and CSCW

We believe that virtual simulation of physical environments is an insufficient basis for building collaborative support systems. In response, we present a locales framework which frames collaboration as the interaction of individuals within social worlds regardless of whether that interaction is physical or virtual. The overview describes the five aspects of the framework: locale foundations, where locales are the basic structures providing the affordances for the work of social worlds; mutuality in interaction, including presence and awareness issues; individual views of multiple locales of interest, defined by the individual's participation in multiple social worlds; interaction trajectories, capturing the temporal dimensions of interaction; and civic structures, which embed locales and the collaborative work of groups in the larger public sphere. 1. Introduction Computer scientists in the Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) field are concerned with building systems to suppor...

In this paper, we present a specification language developed for WORLDS, a next generation computer-supported collaborative work system. Our specification language, called Introspect, employs a meta-level architecture to allow run-time modifications to specifications. We believe such an architecture is essential to WORLDS' ability to provide dynamic support for collaborative work in an elegant fashion.

This paper describes research-in-progress that examines the relative influences of internal and external factors on the development and use of intranets, as a particular case of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This threephase qualitative study integrates cross-sectional, comparative and traversal methodologies to identify where it could be effective to combine sociotechnical theory (emphasizing individuals and social groups) with institutional approaches (emphasizing interaction through influence and regulation.) Preliminary results suggest that a balance of pressures are at work, with external factors motivating the use of intranets and other forms of web information systems within the constraints of

In this article I elaborate and codify the extended case method, which deploys participant observation to locate everyday life in its extralocal and historical context. The extended case method emulates a reflexive model of science that takes as its premise the intersubjectivity of scientist and subject of study. Reflexive science valorizes intervention, process, structuration, and theory reconstruction. It is the Siamese twin of positive science that proscribes reactivity, but upholds reliability, replicability, and representativeness. Positive science, exemplified by survey research, works on the principle of the separation between scientists and the subjects they examine. Positive science is limited by “context effects ” (interview, respondent, field, and situational effects) while reflexive science is limited by “power effects ” (domination, silencing, objectification, and normalization). The article concludes by considering the implications of having two models of science rather than one, both of which are necessarily flawed. Throughout I use a study of postcolonialism to illustrate both the virtues and the shortcomings of the extended case method. Methodology can only bring us reflective understanding of the means which have demonstrated their value in practice by raising them to the level of explicit consciousness; it is no more the precondition of fruitful intellectual work than the knowledge of anatomy is the precondition of “correct ” walking. Max Weber—The Methodology of the Social Sciences True, anatomical knowledge is not usually a precondition for “correct ” walking. But when the ground beneath our feet is always shaking, we need a crutch. As social scientists we are thrown off balance by our presence in the world we study, by absorption in the society we observe, by dwelling alongside those we make “other. ” Beyond individual involvement is the broader ethnographic predicament—producing theories, concepts, and facts that destabilize the world we seek to comprehend. So, we desperately need methodology to keep us erect, while we navigate a terrain that moves and shifts even as we attempt to traverse it.

From 1990 through 1998, First American Corporation (FAC) changed its corporate strategy from a traditional banking approach to a customer relationship -oriented strategy that placed FACs customers at the center of all aspects of the company s operations. The transformation made FAC an innovative leader in the financial services industry. This case study describes FACs transformation and the way in which a data warehouse called VISION helped make it happen. FACs experiences suggest lessons for managers who plan to use technology to support changes that are designed to significantly improve organizational performance. In addition, they raise interesting questions about the means by which information technology can be used to gain competitive advantage. Keywords: Data warehousing, corporate stra- tegy, organizational transformation, customer relationship management, IS management ISRL Categories: DA08, DD01, HB19, UF

A nomadic information environment is a heterogeneous assemblage of interconnected technological and organizational elements, which enables physical and social mobility of computing and communication services between organizational actors both within and across organizational borders. We analyze such environments based on their prevalent features of mobility, digital convergence, and mass scale. We describe essential features of each in more detail and characterize their mutual interdependencies. We build a framework, which identifies research issues in nomadic information environments at the individual, the team, the organizational, and inter-organizational levels, comprising both service and infrastructure development. We assess the opportunities and challenges for research into each area at the level of design, use and adoption, and impacts. We conclude by discussing challenges posed by nomadic information environments for information systems field to our research skills and methods. These deal with the need to invent novel research methods and shift research focus, the necessity to question the divide between the technical and the social, and the need to better integrate developmental and behavioral (empirical) research modes.