Social Knowledge and Systems Development

Abstract

Information systems contain within them assumptions about how people work and think. Effective use of information technology in work settings requires a full understanding of the specialized knowledge of the work being supported. As the National Information Infrastructure is developed and deployed, there is needed a similar understanding of how its various user communities function in their work and daily lives.The issues I raise here are from the perspective of how social science can contribute to the design, development, and deployment of systems beneficial to society. I write from the vantage point of an anthropologist doing research and development for a public utility.My key focus for the past several years has been on understanding the relationship between advanced information technology and the social organization of work. I direct a multidisciplinary group of anthropologists, computer scientists, telephone company veterans, and organizational development specialists. In this environment, we both develop technology systems and collaborate with workers and managers in the design of work systems. As a result, my views about research needs are related to assumptions about information technology that are made within corporate settings, the nature of work and workplaces, and the nature of expertise, knowledge, and human development. These issues have implications for the training of computer scientists and social scientists as well as for the dissemination of information about the capabilities and weaknesses of technologies.The design of systems refers to the design of both technology systems and work systems. Technology systems tend to contain within them assumptions about how people work and think and frequently seek to automate specific tasks with the goal of reducing the number of jobs and simplifying the work to save money with less skilled workers. This approach, long discussed in academic communities in the upskilling/ desksilling debates, is alive and well within the corporate world. Deep within these debates are issues about human thought and action that tend to be divided up among distinct academic communities (anthropology, psychology, and computer science) with few bridges built between them.What is sorely lacking is airtight evidence and compelling results about the nature of social/situated/distributed cognition. Such understanding would take the form of careful studies about how people in work communities collaboratively solve problems and how various forms of social organization support or constrain their ability to do so. In addition, clear and compelling results need to be made available to people to run, and work in, businesses.

Gendered Bodies, Gendered Knowledges

“…Studies show that the politics and dynamics of the workplace rather than "technological exigencies" shape outcomes of technology use and therefore patterns of work (Fleck, Webster, & Williams, 1990). Similarly, studies of information technologies in farming stress workplace culture, gendered interactions, and communications as keys to understanding gender and technology (e.g., Grace, Lundin, & Daws, 1996;Leeuwis, 1993;Sachs, 1996). For example, Grace et al (1996) found that "rural women interact with communication technologies in ways which are significantly different from men and from urban women" (p. 64).…”

“…Instead, attention is drawn to technological design and its relation to knowledge, problem solving, and culture. Patricia Sachs (1996) argued that technology systems contain assumptions about how people work and think. She recommended that we need more specific empirical information about "how people in work communities collaboratively solve problems and how various forms of social organization support or constrain their ability to do so" (p. 36).…”