| Introduction: The State of Play | | BIB | 1-7 | |
| Paul Dourish | |||
| Moving Practice: From Classrooms to MOO Rooms | | BIBAK | 9-45 | |
| Vicki O'Day; Daniel Bobrow; Kimberly Bobrow; Mark Shirley; Billie Hughes; Jim Walters | |||
| We discuss design considerations in moving practice through the boundary
from physical to virtual places. Although the examples are grounded in a
school environment, we believe that the design tradeoffs apply to any networked
collaborative space. The context for discussion is Pueblo, a MOO-based,
cross-generation network learning community centered around a K-6 elementary
school. The development of practice in Pueblo draws upon teachers' and
students' experience with semi-structured classroom participation frameworks --
informal structures of social interaction which foster certain ways of
thinking, doing, and learning through guided activities and conversations. We
have translated several familiar frameworks into the Pueblo setting, using the
classroom versions as models to be adapted and transformed as they are aligned
with the affordances of the MOO. We identify four design dimensions that have
emerged as particularly interesting and important in this process: audience,
asynchrony and synchrony, attention and awareness, and prompts for reflection.
We illustrate design choices in each dimension using several of the
participation frameworks that have been translated into Pueblo. We discuss the
relation between MOO affordances and design choices and provide examples of
successful and unsuccessful alignment between them. Keywords: Classroom practice, Learning community, MUD, MOO, Network community | |||
| Community Support for Constructionist Learning | | BIBAK | 47-86 | |
| Amy Bruckman | |||
| MOOSE Crossing is a text-based virtual reality environment (or "MUD")
designed to be a constructionist learning environment for children ages eight
to thirteen. The constructionist philosophy of education argues that learning
through designing and constructing personally meaningful projects is better
than learning by being told. Children on MOOSE Crossing learn computer
programming and improve their reading and writing by working on self-selected
projects in a self-motivated, peer-supported fashion. In experience with over
180 children and 90 adults using the system since October 1995, we have found
that the community provides essential support for the children's learning
experiences. The community provides role models; situated, ubiquitous project
models; emotional support to overcome technophobia; technical support; and an
appreciative audience for completed work. This paper examines the nature of
that support in detail, and argues that community support for learning is an
essential element in collaborative work and learning on the Internet. Keywords: Collaboration, Learning, CSCL, MUDs, Community, Constructionism | |||
| Computing, Social Activity, and Entertainment: A Field Study of a Game MUD | | BIBAK | 87-122 | |
| Jack Muramatsu; Mark S. Ackerman | |||
| Are game and entertainment systems different than work-oriented systems?
What drives the user's experience in a collaborative game? To answer these
questions, we performed a participant-observation study of a combat MUD, a game
similar to Dungeons and Dragons. Our interest is in how this social world is
arranged and managed (rather than, for example, in how participants form or
display individual identities). The study explores the social arrangements and
activities that give meaning and structure to the participants. We found that
conflict and cooperation were the dominant social activities on this MUD, much
more so than sociability. The game's management played a critical function in
maintaining and promoting these activities. Moreover, novelty and
entertainment were important for the design of both the system features and the
sociality itself. Keywords: Amusement, Combat MUDs, CSCW, Entertainment, Games, MUDs,
Participant-observation, Play, Social worlds, System design | |||
| Network Communities: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed... | | BIBAK | 123-156 | |
| Elizabeth D. Mynatt; Vicki L. O'Day; Annette Adler; Mizuko Ito | |||
| Collaboration has long been of considerable interest to both designers and
researchers in the CHI and CSCW communities. This paper contributes to this
discussion by proposing the concept of network communities as a new genre of
collaboration for this discussion. Network communities are robust and
persistent communities based on a sense of locality that spans both the virtual
and physical worlds of their users. They are a technosocial construct that
requires understanding of both the technology and the sociality embodying them.
We consider several familiar systems as well as historical antecedents to
describe the affordances these systems offer their community of users. Based
on our own experience as designers, users and researchers of a variety of
network communities, we extend this initial design space along three
dimensions: the boundary negotiations between real and virtual worlds, support
for social rhythms and the emergence and development of community. Finally we
offer implications for designers, researchers and community members based on
our findings. Keywords: Affordance, Identity, Media space, MOOs, MUDs, Network community,
Technosociality | |||
| Preface | | BIB | 163-165 | |
| Jeanette Blomberg; Finn Kensing | |||
| Participatory Design: Issues and Concerns | | BIBAK | 167-185 | |
| Finn Kensing; Jeanette Blomberg | |||
| We characterize Participatory Design (PD) as a maturing area of research and
as an evolving practice among design professionals. Although PD has been
applied outside of technology design, here we focus on PD in relation to the
introduction of computer-based systems at work. We discuss three main issues
addressed by PD researchers; the politics of design; the nature of
participation; and method, tools and techniques for participation. We also
report on the conditions for the transfer of "PD results" to workers, user
groups, and design professionals that have characterized PD over time and
across geopolitical terrains. The topic of the sustainability of PD within an
organizational context is also considered. The article concludes with a
discussion of common issues explored within PD and CSCW and frames directions
for a continuing dialogue between researchers and practitioners from the two
fields. The article draws on a review of PD and CSCW literatures as well as on
our own research and practical experiences. Keywords: CSCW, Design professionals, Participatory design, Politics of design,
Sustainability | |||
| When Survival is an Issue: PD in Support of Landscape Architecture | | BIBAK | 187-203 | |
| Preben Holst Mogensen; Dan Shapiro | |||
| This paper reports on an ongoing project involving researchers from
Lancaster University and a branch of a landscape architecture firm. It
explores some of the possibilities pursued in the project as well as the
conditions they encountered. Specifically, it describes the introduction of
support for graphic work and electronic communication in a context
characterised by continuous financial pressure, downsizing, and the need for
short term gains. It seeks to contribute to the accumulation of experience
within the participatory design community by reporting on an ongoing project as
regards its objectives in relationship to its context. Keywords: Design, Possibilities, Conditions, Landscape architecture, Participatory
design | |||
| Shoppers and Tailors: Participative Practices in Small Australian Design Companies | | BIBAK | 205-221 | |
| Toni Robertson | |||
| The focus of this paper is the relations between the work practices and
technology needs of small Australian design companies and the discourses of
Participatory Design. Because these companies use off-the-shelf technology,
these relations are shaped not just by factors specific to company size, but
also by the geographic and cultural separation between the situation of use and
the situation of design. User participation focuses on shopping decisions, and
the fitting of purchased technology to the local work situation. While many
aspects of job design can be extremely flexible within small companies,
participation in the design of computer systems is bounded by the available
products and the options for continuing design-in-use that are embedded within
them. The paper starts from the recognition that participative practices are
important in the design of any job. From this perspective the discourses of
Participatory Design that are relevant to small companies are those that
support the participative design of work, irrespective of the national or
industrial location of the people involved. Keywords: Participative practices, Participatory design, Small companies, Shopping,
Tailoring, Visual designers, Workplace democracy | |||
| CAVEAT Exemplar: Participatory Design in a Non-Profit Volunteer Organisation | | BIBAK | 223-241 | |
| Brenda McPhail; Terry Costantino; David Bruckmann; Ross Barclay; Andrew Clement | |||
| This paper reports a university course-based case study undertaken with a
volunteer organisation. Our goals were to explore the use of participatory
design in a non-profit volunteer setting; to reflect on the experience of
learning and applying participatory methodologies; and to create a prototype,
using off-the-shelf database software, that could become a sustainable
organisational information system. We found system design methodologies that
stress cooperation and consensus especially appropriate when working with
volunteers, who expect control over their work in exchange for their time and
effort. The Future Workshop was particularly valuable in developing group
insight into work and consensus around system priorities. The study resulted
in a prototype which has evolved, through in-house refinement, into a working
system. Keywords: Case study, Volunteer organisation, Off-the-shelf software, PD and education | |||
| Participatory Design at a Radio Station | | BIBAK | 243-271 | |
| Finn Kensing; Jesper Simonsen; Keld Bødker | |||
| We address design of computer support for work and its coordination at the
Danish Broadcasting Corporation. We propose design solutions based upon
participatory design techniques and ethnographically inspired analysis within a
full scale design project. The project exemplifies an ambitious, yet
realistic, design practice, that provides a sound basis for organisational
decision making and for technical and organizational development and
implementation. We focus on cooperative aspects within and among the editorial
units, and between editorial units and the editorial board. We discuss
technical and organisational aspects of the design, seen in light of recent
CSCW concepts, including coordination and computational coordination
mechanisms, technologies of accountability, and workflow from within and
without. Keywords: Participatory design, Ethnography, Coordination, Coordination mechanisms,
Organisational context | |||
| Participatory Design in Consulting | | BIBAK | 273-289 | |
| Johannes Gartner | |||
| This article addresses the use of participatory design (PD) techniques in
non-research projects from the perspective of consulting. The central
categories for analyzing the course of action and the relationship of actors
are risks perceived by consultants, customers, and clients. The basis of this
article is a large number of consulting projects where participatory techniques
were used. Overall it seems feasible to use PD in consulting. Still using PD,
especially as a consultant in systems-design, has to be considered risky for
both consultants and customers. Therefore techniques that reduce risks are
crucial. Several such techniques are well known (steering committee,
milestones, prototyping). Some additional, more PD-specific techniques are
discussed. The analysis further led to the issues of organizing the technical
process and the group process. Both processes are important when using PD in
consulting. The technical process assumes responsibility and thereby requires
involvement in order to secure contracts. At the same time this conflicts with
the group process where neutrality is needed. Therefore, separation of
facilitation from design by working in teams of two is considered. This also
supports the expertise needed for such projects as it is sometimes difficult to
find individuals with both qualifications. Keywords: Participatory design, Consulting, Systems development | |||
| User Advocacy in Participatory Design: Designers' Experiences with a New Communication Channel | | BIBAK | 291-313 | |
| Peter Mambrey; Gloria Mark; Uta Pankoke-Babatz | |||
| We report on participatory design activities within the PoliTeam project, a
large project which introduces groupware into the German government. Working
with a representative small group of users in different worksites, an existing
system was adapted to user and organizational needs, with the plan to improve
and expand the system to a large scale. We integrated new approaches of user
advocacy and osmosis with an evolutionary cycling process. User advocates and
osmosis were techniques used to explore the users' needs during actual system
use. These techniques were incorporated into the system development. In this
paper, we present experiences with this approach and reflect on its impact on
the design process from the designers' point of view. Keywords: System design, Participatory design, User advocacy, Evolutionary system
design | |||
| Network Community Design: A Social-Technical Design Circle | | BIBAK | 315-337 | |
| Vicki L. O'Day; Daniel G. Bobrow; Mark Shirley | |||
| Network communities are especially interesting and useful settings in which
to look closely at the co-evolution of technology and social practice, to begin
to understand how to explore the full space of design options and implications.
In a network community we have a magnified view of the interactions between
social practice and technical mechanisms, since boundaries between designers
and users are blurred and co-evolution here is unusually responsive to user
experience. This paper is a reflection on how we have worked with social and
technical design elements in Pueblo, a school-centered network community
supported by a MOO (an Internet-accessible, text-based virtual world). Four
examples from Pueblo illustrate different ways of exploring the design space.
The examples show how designers can rely on social practice to simplify a
technical implementation, how they can design technical mechanisms to work
toward a desirable social goal, how similar technical implementations can have
different social effects, and how social and technical mechanisms co-evolve.
We point to complexities of the design process and emphasize the contributions
of mediators in addressing communication breakdowns among a diverse group of
designers. Keywords: Network community, MOO, MUD, Learning community, CSCW design, Work practice,
Participatory design, Sociotechnical systems, Computer supported cooperative
learning, CSCL | |||
| Community Participation in Health Informatics in Africa: An Experiment in Tripartite Partnership in Ile-Ife, Nigeria | | BIBAK | 339-358 | |
| Mikko Korpela; H. A. Soriyan; K. C. Olufokunbi; A. A. Onayade; Anita Davies-Adetugbo; Duro Adesanmi | |||
| Participatory Design has mainly been practiced in Europe and North America.
Our seven-year experience in Nigeria suggests that user participation is also a
must in developing countries. However, the scope of participation needs to be
expanded. For instance, in health informatics the communities served by the
health facility in question need to be involved along with computer
professionals and health providers. This paper presents the results of an
experiment in tripartite partnership in systems design for Primary Health Care
by designers, users/providers, and community representatives in Ile-Ife,
Nigeria. The experience was extremely encouraging. Keywords: Africa, Communities, Health information systems, Participation | |||