Workplace knowledge; workplace learning; practical intelligence; situated cognition; socio-technical systems approach and design; work systems design; participatory design; technology design, research, and practice; computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW); computer-mediated work; modeling work; Phone: (704) 615-6845 Address: Charlotte, North Carolina, 28277 USA
ABSTRACT Information systems contain within them assumptions about how people work and think. Eff... more 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.
Patricia Sachs describes the "bushwhacking" nature of her career in becoming a professi... more Patricia Sachs describes the "bushwhacking" nature of her career in becoming a professional anthropologist and operating a business and work anthropology consulting firm. She discusses the influences of her family in the shaping of her decisions, and the challenge of creating anthropological practice and influence among clients who face transformation in what, where, and how they do business.
an intent to do so, which put us in the position of assuming significant corporate authority. Wit... more an intent to do so, which put us in the position of assuming significant corporate authority. With that single act, we won a measure of both immunity from cancellation of the project and anxiety about corporate reaction. In contrast to our peer community was the customer community, where our work and our participation was highly valued. That esteem was expressed in several ways. First, they were committing important, seriously decayed materials to the system early in the project. Their doing so made us nervous because we were less confident than they in what we had so far built. Second, we were recognized and welcomed. Our work was eagerly awaited and continues to prompt a flow of energy and creative ideas from them. The system is enthusiastically represented by the customer to other institutions. The team continues to be invited to the customer's p lanning functions where further deployment of th¢ system is contemplated. Finally, the customer commits time to help us as we spread the word of the available opportunities within our own corporation. This work also has socially redeeming value. If successful, we will have had some small part in preserving the intellectual heritage of the last 150 years. Also, this technology holds the promise of democratizing access to materials the way the printing press democratized literacy. The consequential restructuring of our educational and commercial institutions will offer many new opportunities to society at large. Our good feelings about the customer and our feelings of disenfranchisement from our own community led us to feel closer to the customer than to our parent organization. In the effort to lower our mutual barriers, we unwittingly blurred the boundaries as well. We began to think of those individuals on the customer's staff who used our equipment as part of our engineering group. We even considered rewarding them with performance awards similar to those given within our corporation. Fortunately, we had the foresight to ask whether such an act was appropriate, and we were asT h e B e n e f i t s o f I n t e n t i o n a l T e n s i o n Jim Euchner EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Patricia Sachs VISITING PROFESSOR
ABSTRACT Information systems contain within them assumptions about how people work and think. Eff... more 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.
Patricia Sachs describes the "bushwhacking" nature of her career in becoming a professi... more Patricia Sachs describes the "bushwhacking" nature of her career in becoming a professional anthropologist and operating a business and work anthropology consulting firm. She discusses the influences of her family in the shaping of her decisions, and the challenge of creating anthropological practice and influence among clients who face transformation in what, where, and how they do business.
an intent to do so, which put us in the position of assuming significant corporate authority. Wit... more an intent to do so, which put us in the position of assuming significant corporate authority. With that single act, we won a measure of both immunity from cancellation of the project and anxiety about corporate reaction. In contrast to our peer community was the customer community, where our work and our participation was highly valued. That esteem was expressed in several ways. First, they were committing important, seriously decayed materials to the system early in the project. Their doing so made us nervous because we were less confident than they in what we had so far built. Second, we were recognized and welcomed. Our work was eagerly awaited and continues to prompt a flow of energy and creative ideas from them. The system is enthusiastically represented by the customer to other institutions. The team continues to be invited to the customer's p lanning functions where further deployment of th¢ system is contemplated. Finally, the customer commits time to help us as we spread the word of the available opportunities within our own corporation. This work also has socially redeeming value. If successful, we will have had some small part in preserving the intellectual heritage of the last 150 years. Also, this technology holds the promise of democratizing access to materials the way the printing press democratized literacy. The consequential restructuring of our educational and commercial institutions will offer many new opportunities to society at large. Our good feelings about the customer and our feelings of disenfranchisement from our own community led us to feel closer to the customer than to our parent organization. In the effort to lower our mutual barriers, we unwittingly blurred the boundaries as well. We began to think of those individuals on the customer's staff who used our equipment as part of our engineering group. We even considered rewarding them with performance awards similar to those given within our corporation. Fortunately, we had the foresight to ask whether such an act was appropriate, and we were asT h e B e n e f i t s o f I n t e n t i o n a l T e n s i o n Jim Euchner EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Patricia Sachs VISITING PROFESSOR
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