research-article

Representing community: knowing users in the face of changing constituencies

Authors:

Thomas A. FinholtAuthors Info & Claims

CSCW '08: Proceedings of the 2008 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work

Pages 107 - 116

https://doi.org/10.1145/1460563.1460581

Published: 08 November 2008 Publication History

Abstract

This paper traces the use of the concept 'community' by drawing attention to the ways in which it serves as an organizing principle within systems development. The data come from an ethnographic study of participants and their activities in the Water and Environmental Research Systems Network (WATERS). WATERS is a US National Science Foundation-funded observatory and cyberinfrastructure project intended to serve the heterogeneous scientific disciplines studying the water environment. We identify four vehicles by which WATERS participants sought to know the needs, conflicts and goals of their diverse communities: engaging in vernacular discussions; organizing community forums; implementing surveys; and requirements gathering. The paper concludes that the use of community in IT development projects is substantially divorced from its traditional meanings which emphasize collective moral orientations or shared affective ties; instead, within systems development, community has a closer meaning to a 'political constituency,' and is used as a short-hand for issues of inquiry, representation, inclusion and mandate.

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Cited By

Sutherland WPaine DLee C(2024)‘The Cloud is Not Not IT’: Ecological Change in Research Computing in the CloudComputer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)10.1007/s10606-024-09490-1Online publication date: 14-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-024-09490-1
Stewart LSpiro E(2021)Nobody Puts Redditor in a BinaryProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34490825:CSCW1(1-31)Online publication date: 22-Apr-2021
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Steger CHirsch SCosgrove CInman SNost EShinbrot XThorn JBrown DGrêt-Regamey AMüller BReid RTucker CWeibel BKlein J(2021)Linking model design and application for transdisciplinary approaches in social-ecological systemsGlobal Environmental Change10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.10220166(102201)Online publication date: Jan-2021
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Representing community: knowing users in the face of changing constituencies

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cover image ACM Conferences

CSCW '08: Proceedings of the 2008 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work

November 2008

752 pages

ISBN:9781605580074

DOI:10.1145/1460563

General Chairs:
Bo Begole
PARC, USA
,
David W. McDonald
University of Washington, USA

Copyright © 2008 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 08 November 2008

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Sutherland WPaine DLee C(2024)‘The Cloud is Not Not IT’: Ecological Change in Research Computing in the CloudComputer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)10.1007/s10606-024-09490-1Online publication date: 14-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-024-09490-1
Stewart LSpiro E(2021)Nobody Puts Redditor in a BinaryProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34490825:CSCW1(1-31)Online publication date: 22-Apr-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3449082
Steger CHirsch SCosgrove CInman SNost EShinbrot XThorn JBrown DGrêt-Regamey AMüller BReid RTucker CWeibel BKlein J(2021)Linking model design and application for transdisciplinary approaches in social-ecological systemsGlobal Environmental Change10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.10220166(102201)Online publication date: Jan-2021
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102201
Kee KSchrock A(2019)Telephone Interviewing as a Qualitative Methodology for Researching Cyberinfrastructure and Virtual OrganizationsSecond International Handbook of Internet Research10.1007/978-94-024-1555-1_52(351-365)Online publication date: 10-Oct-2019
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1555-1_52
Ribes D(2018)STS, Meet Data Science, Once AgainScience, Technology, & Human Values10.1177/016224391879889944:3(514-539)Online publication date: 9-Sep-2018
https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243918798899
Kee KSchrock A(2018)Telephone Interviewing as a Qualitative Methodology for Researching Cyberinfrastructure and Virtual OrganizationsSecond International Handbook of Internet Research10.1007/978-94-024-1202-4_52-1(1-15)Online publication date: 19-Oct-2018
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1202-4_52-1
Hou CMayernik MWorley SHart D(2017)Building Community Informed and Driven Data Services at the National Center for Atmospheric ResearchPractice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing 2017: Sustainability, Success and Impact10.1145/3093338.3093343(1-7)Online publication date: 9-Jul-2017
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Young ALutters WCosley DForte ACiolfi LMcDonald D(2015)(Re)defining Land Change Science through Synthetic Research PracticesProceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing10.1145/2675133.2675183(431-442)Online publication date: 28-Feb-2015
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Jackson SBuyuktur A(2014)Who Killed WATERS? Mess, Method, and Forensic Explanation in the Making and Unmaking of Large-scale Science NetworksScience, Technology, & Human Values10.1177/016224391351601339:2(285-308)Online publication date: 13-Jan-2014
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