This study attempts to investigate socio-technical gaps in online collaborative consumption (OCC) in order to improve its user experience, and interaction design requirements. A new combined methodological framework, "predictive ethnography", is proposed to evaluate OCC. Due to its features as a community where OCC takes place, Etsy is the focus of this study. The results from this study, suggest that the sociability issues have more significance in this community compared to the usability problems. The most significant socio-technical gaps concerned Trust creation features such as customers' reviews and rating systems, Relevant rules of behaviour, Clear displayed policies, and Social presence tools.
Abstract. This study attempts to investigate sociotechnical gaps in online collaborative consumption (OCC) to improve user experience and provide better design requirements. A new approach is proposed to evaluate usability and sociability of the OCC communities. The formation of social capital within OCC will also be studied to gain insights into design requirements. Due to its features as a community where OCC takes place, ETSY will be the focus of this study. Keywords: Online Collaborative Consumption (OCC), Computer SupportedCooperative Work (CSCW), sociotechnical gap, social capital, usability, sociability and user experience (UX). IntroductionConstant changes in human's social life lead to a gap between their requirements and the existing technological capabilities. The main challenge for CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) is to identify and ameliorate this sociotechnical gap. The problems of CSCW have been distinguished by Ackerman [1] as:• Generalizability from small groups to a general population (social sciences)• Predictability of affordances (HCI)• Applicability of new technological possibilities (computer science)Online communities that enable collaborative consumption are more than just ordinary websites. They allow users not only to consume information but also to provide and contribute to the content within a wide range of topics. They evolve in accordance with how individuals communicate, with the aid of a website or software within their social interactions. Design principles of online communities are guided by their purpose, policies, selection of technology, designing usability, and supporting sociability [1]. Sociability refers to providing "a state of being sociable" within online community, where users find it satisfying to interact with each other to achieve their goals [2]. Therefore, to approach the sociotechnical gap, it is essential to understand individuals' interaction and collaboration in online communities, the technologies supporting them, and the usability and sociability of these technologies. This could be done by investigating online communities that enable the individuals to consume collaboratively. which serve the need of individuals and at the same time provide a sense of belonging to a community. It enhances the "Crowdsourcing", which is distribution of tasks between a group of networked individuals or community to solve a problem with collective intelligence and action [4]. The collaboration and interaction in the heart of OCC enables individuals to be active citizens of society, enhances their associational activities, accumulates collective actions and trust, helps to make friends, and increases their social capital. Social CapitalSocial capital has been defined by The World Bank [5] as "the norms and social relations embedded in social structures that enable people to coordinate action to achieve desired goals". Putnam [6] defined social capital as trust, network structures, and norms that promote cooperation among actors within a society for their mutual bene...
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An argument is presented for the use of the concepts of Micro-Politics and Semiotic Power by Bijker, and Infrastructural Inversion by Bowker to understand the geopolitical dynamics of career-building, knowledge and value creation in the field of human computer interaction (HCI). This is illustrated with brief references to examples of HCI academic and professional practice and dissemination in local and global contexts. It is shown how local and global micro-politically dominant groups in the HCI field can construct scripts that define quality, impact and relevance. These scripts in turn have a direct effect in career-building and what is considered valid and useful knowledge and practice. The political leverage of these scripts is therefore embedded in artefacts used for different types of transactions in the HCI field. Infrastructural inversion is finally presented as a possible framework to deconstruct and make visible these scripts and the different types of historical and political tensions inscribed in them at disciplinary, local, national, regional and global level.
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