Sociotechnical Systems

Dealing with the Human Side

by Marcel Simonette

Co-authored with Edison Spinam, PUBLISHED IN THE BOOK: “Software Engineering: Methods, Modeling, and Teaching.”, ISBN: 978-958-8692-32-6. Universidade de Medellín, Medellín, Colombia. 2011. Pg 69-81,

This chapter introduces an approach for reduce the discrepancy between the expected Software System features and the... more This chapter introduces an approach for reduce the discrepancy between the expected Software System features and the ones that will be perceived by the System stakeholders. The human presence, from conception to discard of a Software System, makes the development of these Sociotechnical Systems a complex process. Although humans are the main actors of a Sociotechnical System life cycle, several Requirement Engineering methods do not include the human dimension in the System requirements, treating only the Human Factors. Given the cost involved in System changes after the Requirement Engineering process, it is necessary to include the elicitation of the human dimension in this process, which is a System inside the Software System to be developed, a System where the components are human activities

Dealing with the Human Side

by Marcel Simonette

Co-authored with Edison Spinam, PUBLISHED IN THE BOOK: “Software Engineering: Methods, Modeling, and Teaching.”, ISBN: 978-958-8692-32-6. Universidade de Medellín, Medellín, Colombia. 2011. Pg 69-81,

This chapter introduces an approach for reduce the discrepancy between the expected Software System features and the... more This chapter introduces an approach for reduce the discrepancy between the expected Software System features and the ones that will be perceived by the System stakeholders. The human presence, from conception to discard of a Software System, makes the development of these Sociotechnical Systems a complex process. Although humans are the main actors of a Sociotechnical System life cycle, several Requirement Engineering methods do not include the human dimension in the System requirements, treating only the Human Factors. Given the cost involved in System changes after the Requirement Engineering process, it is necessary to include the elicitation of the human dimension in this process, which is a System inside the Software System to be developed, a System where the components are human activities

A System Engineering Approach to e-Infrastructure

by Marcel Simonette

Co-authored with Edison Spina, Published in Systems Engineering - Practice and Theory,  ISBN: 978-953-51-0322-6. 2012.

e-Infrastructure are present in several areas of knowledge, and they are helping the competitiveness of economies and... more e-Infrastructure are present in several areas of knowledge, and they are helping the competitiveness of economies and societies. However, in order to continue with this paradigm, e-Infrastructures must be used in a sustainable and continuous way, respecting the humans and the social institutions that ultimately use them, demand their development and fund their paradigm. This work presents an approach to deal with the interactions between e-Infrastructure technologies, humans and social institutions, ensuring that the emergent properties of this system may be synthesized, engaging the right system parts in the right way to create a unified whole, greater than the sum of its parts.

Indian culture and the culture for TQM: a comparison

by madhu ranjan kumar

The Wikimedia Public Policy Initiative: Classroom Exercises as Introductions to Peer Production

by Elif Ozkaya

Co-authored with Cliff Lampe, Jonathan Obar, Paul Zube and Alcides Velazquez

Sistemas sociotécnicos, innovación y desarrollo.

by Leandro Lepratte

Medication safety in community pharmacy: a qualitative study of the sociotechnical context

by Denham Phipps

Phipps, D.L., Noyce, P.R., Parker, D., & Ashcroft, D.M. (2009). Medication safety in community pharmacy: a qualitative study of the sociotechnical context. BMC Health Services Research, 9, 158.

Background
While much research has been conducted on medication safety, few of these studies have addressed... more Background
While much research has been conducted on medication safety, few of these studies have addressed primary care, despite the high volume of prescribing and dispensing of medicines that occurs in this setting. Those studies that have examined primary care dispensing emphasised the need to understand the role of sociotechnical factors (that is, the interactions between people, tasks, equipment and organisational structures) in promoting or preventing medication incidents. The aim of this study was to identify sociotechnical factors that community pharmacy staff encounter in practice, and suggest how these factors might impact on medication safety.

Methods
Sixty-seven practitioners, working in the North West of England, took part in ten focus groups on risk management in community pharmacy. The data obtained from these groups was subjected to a qualitative analysis to identify recurrent themes pertaining to sociotechnical aspects of medication safety.

Results
The findings indicated several characteristics of participants' work settings that were potentially related to medication safety. These were broadly classified as relationships involving the pharmacist, demands on the pharmacist and management and governance of pharmacists.

Conclusion
It is recommended that the issues raised in this study be considered in future work examining medication safety in primary care.

Argumentation Support: From technologies to tools

by Mark Aakhus

Moor, A. de, & Aakhus, M. (2006). Argumentation Support: From technologies to tools. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 93-98.

A plethora of technologies exist that are not necessarily tools. For technologies to become a tool, we contend,... more A plethora of technologies exist that are not necessarily tools. For technologies to become a tool, we contend, argumentation routines and design must coevolve. Argumentation is a crucial communicative activity in society. Many technologies exist that support argumentation, such as mailing lists, group decision-support systems, co- authoring, and negotiation support systems. However, many of these technologies do not work very well in practice; they often support discussions that do not sufficiently contribute to the purposes of their users. An important question therefore is: How to select or design information technologies that better support the argumentative practices of their community of use? In other words, how do technologies that support argumentation become real argumentation tools?

Argumentation support: from technologies to tools

by Mark Aakhus

Moor, A. D., & Aakhus, M. (2003). Argumentation support: from technologies to tools. In H. Weigand, G. Goldkuhl, & A. de Moor (Eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Working Conference on the Language-Action Perspective on Communication Modelling (Vol. 49, pp. 93-98). Tilburg, The Netherlands: Working Conference on the Language Action Perspective.

A revised and updated version was published as:

Moor, A. de, & Aakhus, M. (2006). Argumentation Support: From technologies to tools. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 93-98.

Electronic argumentation support is increasingly important in today’s networked society. Virtual research... more Electronic argumentation support is increasingly important in today’s networked society. Virtual research collaboration, e-business, and many other domains of professional life critically depend on adequate support of tools for productive argumentative interactions. However, a plethora of technologies exist that are not necessarily tools. A technology only is a tool if it serves the purposes of the community in which it is used. In this paper, we outline an approach to diagnose to what extent a particular argumentation technology is a tool. We do this by combining a socio- technical view on technologies with a pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation analysis. We argue that for technologies to become a tool, argumentation routines and design need to co-evolve. We illustrate our approach by applying it to a case on group report authoring.

Schumpeters tvillingar: Utvecklingsblock och sociotekniska system i studiet av industriell förändring

by Mats Fridlund

”Schumpeters tvillingar: Utvecklingsblock och sociotekniska system i studiet av industriell förändring” [Schumpeter’s twins: Development blocks and sociotechnical systems in  the study of industrial change], Polhem: Tidskrift för teknikhistoria 16 (1998), 27–47.

Managing Community Knowledge to Build a Better World

by William P. Hall

2011; Hall, William P. and Kilpatrick, Bill. Managing Community Knowledge to Build a Better World. 22nd Australasian Conference on Information Systems Managing Community Knowledge 29th November to 2nd December 2011, Sydney

Our planet faces many impending crises as a consequence of growing populations and rising affluence. Governmental... more Our planet faces many impending crises as a consequence of growing populations and rising affluence. Governmental bodies at any level seem unable to provide the leadership to mitigate these. It seems to be up to those in the community who are most directly affected to take the leadership. Yet, without access to knowledge and understanding, individuals and communities are powerless against administrative juggernauts that are all too often beholden to a few powerful individuals rather than the communities they are supposed to represent and support. However, the Internet and newly invented social and cloud computing technologies provide individuals with fingertip access to humanity’s knowledge base; tools for extracting, evaluating, and sharing knowledge that is relevant to local needs; as well as tools for socially coordinating that action to promote and guide action. This paper reviews some of these tools and discusses how they can be applied for good or ill.

Enriching the Cinderella Sector: Exploring the Potential Role of Technology in Supporting Practitioner Research in the Further Education Classroom

by STEVEN ALBURY

Death and Data

by Wendy Moncur

2011 Intel European Research and Innovation Conference

ICT systems are seldom designed to cater for dying and death. Yet users will inevitably die. Death raises important... more ICT systems are seldom designed to cater for dying and death. Yet users will inevitably die. Death raises important questions of data access, ownership, awareness and repurposing, particularly when a user’s personal data is stored online. My research investigates how users can bequeath their personal online data, how ICT systems can facilitate the inheritance of this data, and what the boundaries are for acceptable repurposing.

Using Google’s apps for the collaborative construction, refinement and formalization of knowledge

by William P. Hall

2010: Hall, W.P., Nousala, S., Vines, R. Using Google’s apps for the collaborative construction, refinement and formalization of knowledge. ICOMP'10 - The 2010 International Conference on Internet Computing July 12-15, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

The utility of knowledge depends on how it is developed, refined and tested. Where knowledge concerns more than one... more The utility of knowledge depends on how it is developed, refined and tested. Where knowledge concerns more than one individual, its value is increased through social processes involving cycles of tacit and explicit sharing for intersubjective criticism. Sciences and many organizations have well developed processes for managing the tacit-explicit cycling to produce what Vines and Hall call "formal knowledge". Nousala and Hall have studied the emergence of informal communities concerned to develop and refine bodies of knowledge relating to particular issues. The present paper describes one such emergent community’s use of ICT to facilitate knowledge formalization. Their most effective solution uses free Internet applications in the Google "cloud" made possible by changes to Google Docs only released in January 2010. Although involving several poorly documented "apps" and their "gadgets" the resulting architecture is surprisingly coherent, user friendly and apparently robust.

Tacit Knowledge Network Development: The comparative analysis of knowledge threads in complex systems

by William P. Hall

2010: Nousala, S. Jamsai-Whyte. S., Hall, W.P. Tacit knowledge network development: the comparative analysis of knowledge threads in complex systems. Knowledge Cities World Summit, 16-19, November 2010, Melbourne, Australia.

Knowledge-based groups or communities are complex systems that emerge, evolve and mature through stages that display... more Knowledge-based groups or communities are complex systems that emerge, evolve and mature through stages that display specific features and capabilities of the community or group. Understanding these capabilities and features are fundamental to building sustainable economic, social and learning networks systems. Understanding emergent behaviour within and beyond organizational communities requires understanding the social or sociological aspects in relation to the explicit formal/physical structures in the organization. Looking deeper into the development of informal networks across boundaries highlights the geographic structures and scales of knowledge flows and their influence on urban communities.

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to examine the theory of knowledge networks through applied research

Design/methodology/approach – This is a case study approach, incorporating action research through embedded practice, utilizing interdisciplinary (or rather non-disciplinary) techniques and is thus a novel approach and application.

Originality/value –This methodology translation of knowledge networks from theory into practice to yield little known or understood technical issues when working in social complex adaptive systems.

Practical implications – The outcomes of the application contributes to the understanding of how, what and why sustainable social networks develop, offering the possibility of application in the field.

Keywords – tacit knowledge networks, small medium enterprise, company structure, formal and informal knowledge networks

Template for Knowledge Based Community Organizations

by William P. Hall

2010: Hall, W.P., Best, R.Template for Knowledge Based Community Organizations. Google Sites.

This site is presented both as a "working example" of how different forms of knowledge that may be useful to... more This site is presented both as a "working example" of how different forms of knowledge that may be useful to knowledge-based community groups can be assembled and shared to support action, and as a template that can be readily modified by a community with little prior experience using web-based tools.

The specific scenario provided by this site is built around real activities involved in assembling a series of papers relating to the development of support functions community organizations who need to assemble, share, validate and present various forms of knowledge to support actions. These papers are being prepared for a special session of a conference that takes place in November 2010 in Melbourne Australia. Several of the pages here were taken with little change from the actual special session site. However, the type of activities involved in preparing for this special session would be comparable to those many community organizations would carry out to produce a tangible knowledge-based product.

Free technology for the support of community action groups: theory, technology and practice

by William P. Hall

2010: Hall, W.P., Nousala, S., Best, R.. Free technology for the support of community action groups: theory, technology and practice. Knowledge Cities World Summit, 16-19, November 2010, Melbourne, Australia

  Purpose – Urban areas are administratively complex, and bureaucrats are often overburdened, which means they... more   Purpose – Urban areas are administratively complex, and bureaucrats are often overburdened, which means they are often working at what Herbert Simon called the bounds of their rationality. Thus, responsible bureaucrats may have little genuine knowledge of issues within their briefs that impact community members. Groups concerned with such issues may emerge in the community. Given their focus, members of such groups will have issue-related local knowledge; and probably also the time and effort to share and assemble such personal knowledge into practical and informative group proposals. This paper reviews this situation and demonstrates how simple to use and freely available socio-technical tools can be applied to support knowledge based community action.
  Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a theoretical framework for community action, discusses some of the revolutionary cognitive technologies that provide tools for implementing the framework, and presents a template based on two of Google’s cloud computing applications: Google Sites and Google Docs to demonstrate how the technology can be used (see “Template for Knowledge-Based Community Organizations” - https://sites.google.com/site/organizingcommunityaction/)
  Originality/value – The theoretical framework is new, and we are unaware that such an approach towards the support of community action groups has been previously documented.
Practical implications – The generic tools demonstrated are free and may be used by anyone with an internet connection and a Web browser. They provide action and other social groups with simple yet sophisticated tools to collect, and assemble personal knowledge; and to transform it into community knowledge. Properly used, the tools can provide bureaucrats with the necessary background knowledge to make rational decisions about allocation of resources, etc. to deal with various kinds of situations. The template developed for this project demonstrates capabilities of the cloud computing tools.

Keywords – Social technology; Community knowledge management, Cloud computing; Organization theory; Bounded rationality

Olhares e mediações sociotécnicas: Videovigilâncias e videovoyeurismos

by Bruno Cardoso

In: Dilemas: Revista de Estudos de Conflito e Controle Social, v. 3, p. 33-50, 2010.

Structural Metadata and the Social Limitation of Interoperability: A Sociotechnical View of XML and Digital Library Standards Development

by Jerome McDonough

Presented at Balisage: The Markup Conference 2008, Montréal, Canada, August 12 - 15, 2008. In Proceedings of Balisage: The Markup Conference 2008. Balisage Series on Markup Technologies, vol. 1 (2008). doi:10.4242/BalisageVol1.McDonough01.

Construction research: a field of application

by Will Hughes

Hughes, W.P. (1999) Construction research: a field of application.  Australian Institute of Building Papers, 9, 51-58.

Research in construction management is diverse in content and in quality.  There is much to be learned from more... more Research in construction management is diverse in content and in quality.  There is much to be learned from more fundamental disciplines.  Construction is a sub-set of human experience rather than a completely separate phenomenon.  Therefore, it is likely that there are few problems in construction requiring the invention of a completely new theory.  If construction researchers base their work only on that of other construction researchers, our academic community will become less relevant to the world at large.  The theories that we develop or test must be of wider applicability to be of any real interest.  In undertaking research, researchers learn a lot about themselves.  Perhaps the only difference between research and education is that if we are learning about something which no-one else knows, then it is research, otherwise it is education.  Self-awareness of this will help to reduce the chances of publishing work which only reveals a researcher’s own learning curve.  Scientific method is not as simplistic as non-scientists claim and is the only real way of overcoming methodological weaknesses in our work.  The reporting of research may convey the false impression that it is undertaken in the sequence in which it is written.  Construction is not so unique and special as to require a completely different set of methods from other fields of enquiry.  Until our research is reported in mainstream journals and conferences, there is little chance that we will influence the wider academic community and a concomitant danger that it will become irrelevant.  The most useful insights will come from research which challenges the current orthodoxy rather than research which merely reports it.