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- Journal ArticleHunting for the Treasure at the End of the Rainbow: Standardizing corporate IT Infrastructure(Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 10, No. 3-4, 37135) Hanseth, Ole; Braa, KristinThis paper tells the story of the definitionand implementation of a corporate informationinfrastructure standard within Norsk Hydro.Standards are widely considered as the mostbasic features of information infrastructures –public as well as corporate. This view isexpressed by a high level IT manager in Hydro:``The infrastructure shall be 100% standardized.'' Such standards are considered universalin the sense that there is just one standardfor each area or function, and that separatestandards should fit together – no redundancyand no inconsistency. Each standard is sharedby every actor within its use domain, and it isequal to everybody. Our story illustrates thatreality is different. The idea of the universalstandard is an illusion just like the treasureat the end of the rainbow. Each time one hasdefined a standard which is believed to becomplete and coherent, during implementationone discovers that there are elements lackingor incompletely specified while others have tobe changed to make the standard work, whichmakes various implementations different andincompatible – just like arbitrary non-standardsolutions. This fact is due to essentialaspects of standardization and infrastructurebuilding. The universal aspects disappearduring implementation, just as the rainbowmoves away from us as we try to catch it.
- Journal ArticleShift Changes, Updates, and the On-Call Architecture in Space Shuttle Mission Control(Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 10, No. 3-4, 37135) Patterson, Emily S.; Woods, David D.In domains such as nuclear power, industrialprocess control, and space shuttle missioncontrol, there is increased interest inreducing personnel during nominal operations. An essential element in maintaining safeoperations in high risk environments with this`on-call' organizational architecture is tounderstand how to bring called-in practitionersup to speed quickly during escalatingsituations. Targeted field observations wereconducted to investigate what it means toupdate a supervisory controller on the statusof a continuous, anomaly-driven process in acomplex, distributed environment. Sixteenshift changes, or handovers, at the NASAJohnson Space Center were observed during theSTS-76 Space Shuttle mission. The findingsfrom this observational study highlight theimportance of prior knowledge in the updatesand demonstrate how missing updates can leaveflight controllers vulnerable to beingunprepared. Implications for mitigating riskin the transition to `on-call' architecturesare discussed.
- Journal ArticleGeoffrey Bowker and Susan Leigh Star, Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences(Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 10, No. 1, 36951) Randall, D.W.
- Journal ArticleDistributed High-End Audio-Visual Content Creation: An Experience Report(Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 10, No. 3-4, 2001) Meliones, Apostolos; Karidis, AntonisIn the recent years the world has witnessed an unprecedented expansion in the global audio-visual industry and actions have been initiated to strengthen its actors, especially in filmmaking and video production. Companies seeking ways to improve their performance and productivity and become more competitive are investing in modern digital technologies. High-performance computingsystems are found today even in small production facilities. Yet, little effort has been used to implement activities other than production/post-production and even less tointegrate the whole cycle of contentdevelopment and creation within a networkedcollaborative environment. This paper reportsthe experience of the DAViD project aiming toestablish ways to interact and collaborate during pre-production phases. Several benefitshave been demonstrated, such as reduction ofthe overall production time and cost, increasedproductivity and increased ability to executecomplex, multi-company productions in shortertimes and lower budgets.
- Journal ArticleUnpacking a Timesheet: Formalisation and Representation(Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 10, No. 3-4, 37135) Brown, Barry A.T.While the use of formal systems has been animportant topic within CSCW, their use as representations has been relatively neglected.This paper, using ethnographic data from aBritish oil company, investigates howrepresentations are used. In the companystudied an electronic timesheet system wasimplemented to be used by staff to account fortheir work. Looking at this system in useprovides insights on what changes whenprocesses are computerised. In particular, thecomputerised system used inflexiblecomputerised rules to enforce a division oflabour between the accountants who ran thesystem, and those who filled in theirtimesheets. However, this rigidity was not apurely negative feature; it helped theaccountants who ran the system to do``representational work'', and establish theaccuracy of the timesheet system. Looking intothe politics of this system in use illustratesthe danger of generalising the relationshipbetween formalisation and power.
- Journal ArticleAlan J. Munro, Kristina Höök and David Benyon (eds.), Social Navigation of Information Space(Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 10, No. 1, 2001) Fraser, Mike
- Journal ArticleWork Practices Surrounding PACS: The Politics of Space in Hospitals(Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 10, No. 2, 37043) Tellioğlu, Hilda; Wagner, InaThis paper uses a case study of collaborative work practices within the radiology department of a hospital, for examining the usefulness of spatial approaches to collaboration. It takes a socio-political perspective on understanding the shaping effects of spatial arrangements on work practices, and seeks to identify some of the key CSCW issues that can be addressed in spatial terms. We analyse the spatial settings or layers (physical, digital and auditory) within which work takes place, and the qualities of connections between them, examining in how far they support (professional) boundaries or help maintain a sense of context. Guiding themes are the relationships between space and the visibility of work, and how to accommodate social world needs through spatial arrangements.
- Journal ArticleReviewing Practices in Collaborative Writing(Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 10, No. 2, 37043) Kim, Hee-Cheol (Ezra); Eklundh, Kerstin SeverinsonThis paper presents an interview study in which 11 academics as interviewees participated for the purpose of revealing common collaborative writing practices, with particular focus on reviewing documents. First, we present the findings obtained concerning the issues of co-operating strategies underlying the reviewing process, how people revise their documents and comment on them, what they use the previous revision history for, and to what extent current technology is used in the reviewing process. Second, we also discuss aspects of the design of collaborative writing tools.
- Journal ArticleDesigning Work Oriented Infrastructures(Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 10, No. 3-4, 37135) Hanseth, Ole; Lundberg, NinaHealthcare is making huge investmentsin information systems like Picture Archivingand Communication Systems (PACS) andRadiological Information Systems (RIS).Implementing such systems in the hospitals hasbeen problematic, the number of systems inregular use is low, and where the systems arein use the benefits gained are far below whathas been expected. This paper analyzes andidentifies a number of challenges one will beconfronted with when implementing PACS and RIS.To deal with these problems it is suggested toconsider them as `` work orientedinfrastructures ''. This term is supposed to drawour attention to the fact that these systemshave the same general characteristics astraditional infrastructures at the same time asthey are developed to support specific worktasks. These are, and should be, designed andimplemented primarily by their users based ontheir actual use of the technology. Standardsare equally important for both work orientedand other kinds of infrastructures. But in thefirst case, the standardization process is moreof a ``cleaning up'' type which follows a periodwhere the infrastructures have been changed indifferent ways in different regions or communities.
- Journal ArticleComputer Supported Social Networking For Augmenting Cooperation(Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 10, No. 2, 37043) Ogata, H.; Yano, Y.; Furugori, N.; Jin, Q.The exploration of social networks is essential for finding capable cooperators who can help problem-solving and for augmenting cooperation between workers in an organization. This paper describes PeCo-Mediator-II to seek capable cooperators through a chain of personal connections (PeCo) in a networked organization. Moreover, this system helps to gather, explore, and visualize social networks in an organization. The experimental results show that the system facilitates users' encounters with cooperators and develops new helpful connections with the cooperators.