Digital Nomads’ Experiences on the Support of Digital Technologies in Relation to Social Isolation
Mohlin, Alice; Chatzipanagiotou, Niki
Abstract
The paper presents digital nomads’ experiences about the support of digital technologies in relation to social isolation. Despite the abundant access to digital technologies for organizational cooperative purposes, the challenge of social isolation constitutes one of the central concerns in nomadicity practices, affecting employees’ choice of working arrangements. To gain further knowledge on the subject, a qualitative interviews with digital nomads in Sweden was conducted, and the data was further interpreted and discussed in relation to concepts of computer-supported cooperative work and the theory of symbolic interactionism. Findings show that digital nomads do not experience the digital technologies they use in their work as supportive in terms of social isolation. They acknowledge the digital technologies as tools for conducting their work, not tools for interacting socially. Collective symbolic meaning is consciously assigned to the different digital technologies. The research contributes theoretically to existing knowledge within the field of computer-supported cooperative work in regard to technology-centered nomadicity as it partly fills the knowledge gap about the support of digital technologies in relation to digital nomads’ social isolation. The research also contributes practically to interested stakeholders in the sense that organizations may not benefit from using digital technologies for social interaction purposes.
Planning for hybrid cooperation – a design driven exploration
Busboom, Juliane; Boulus-Rødje, Nina
Abstract
Hybrid work has become a popular in post-pandemic times, helping organisations in attracting/retaining employees by offering greater flexibility and alternative modes of working. Despite the great interest in hybrid cooperation, recent research reveals prevailing challenges with current technologies and practices. In the search for the “right setup” for hybrid cooperation, some research tend to narrowly focus on developing technical solutions for rather isolated problems. In this paper, we wish to problematize these tendencies found in the literature and shortcomings in current technologies and practices, by shedding light on articulation work- an overlooked aspect related to managing hybrid work. The paper presents Collab.ai, a fictional AI-powered calendar and planning tool that re-imagines the planning for hybrid cooperation, followed by three additional artifacts that are aimed at amplifying various aspects of Collab.ai. Using a discursive design approach, the paper and these artifacts are aimed at provoking reflections about future hybrid cooperation tools and practices.
Modeling for Analysis and Design in Regulated Artifacts Ecologies (MADRAE): a Case for Cooperative Practices in Telemedicine
Cormi, Clement; Abou-Amsha, Khuloud; Tixier, Matthieu; Lewkowicz, Myriam
Abstract
The results of CSCW studies should be more effectively incorporated into software engineering practices. This paper focuses on two concepts supporting software component choice and development in IS architecture: artifact ecologies and data work. Using a case study in telemedicine, we propose MADRAE, an extension of the UML component diagram, for modeling practice-based artifact ecologies that emphasize the necessary data work. In the hospital where we tried MADRAE, it was considered helpful by the head of the IS department to analyze existing artifact ecologies and generate design and architecture proposals.
Configurations of the User in the Trajectory of Wheelchairs in India: Learnings for the Socio-technical Design of Smart Assistive Devices
Tuteja, Kanika; Colombino, Tommaso; Tixier, Matthieu
Abstract
Many features of a wheelchair affect users’ actions in a manual wheelchair, determining the overall mobility performance. Based on an ethnographic study of wheelchair users in India, we develop a trajectory analysis centered on the wheelchair as an artefact and the stages in its lifecycle from design to use. This paper focuses on the decisions made and practices in the production and acquisition phases and the consequences further down the line for the end user. In particular, we focus on how different configurations of the user across production and acquisition can make it difficult for users to find a wheelchair well adapted to their situated needs once they bring the artefact into their home and daily routines.
Redrawing Public School Boundaries: An Intersection of Computer Science, Education Policy, and Geography Research
Sistrunk, Andreea; Subhodip, Biswas; Egenrieder, James; Glenn, William; Luther, Kurt; Ramakrishnan, Naren
Abstract
Platform collaboration is recognized as a staple of efficiency in organizations and community work. The pandemic need for virtual interaction offered a real-life testing opportunity to untapped capabilities of interdisciplinary palatformilization. We propose the intersection of three very different disciplines: education policy, geospatial optimization, and computer science as new grounds for a CSCW emerging field. We present how this intersection furthers the ability for people with no advanced training to manipulate advanced data and concepts for better decision enabled crowd-sourcing and communal collaboration towards a common goal. We describe the traditional state of practice currently utilized channels, emerging methods, and propose ways for advancement towards technology infused community deliberations in the process of redrawing public school boundaries.
Generativity practices in EHR implementation: A case study of the transition from design to usage
Ringdal, Nora O.; Farshchian, Babak A.
Abstract
While generativity has become a central topic in the development and evolution of digital platforms, there are relatively few empirical studies of the implications for the practices involved in platformization. In this paper, we explore the concept of socio-technical generativity in the context of a large-scale platformization project in the healthcare sector. We investigate the transition from design to use, and how the process of generativity changes. Our preliminary findings show that generativity is a continuous process that is not limited to existing affordances in the platform and that the controlled top-down practice in design is split into parallel ad hoc practices in use. We discuss challenges related to scale and interconnections as well as the role of the management in generative processes.
Giving help or information? A human advisor and a chatbot answers requests from citizens
Verne, Guri
Abstract
Building on CSCW research on knowledge and expertise sharing, this exploratory paper presents examples of how a human call advisor answers citizens where the call advisor takes an active role in helping the caller make their request more precise and contrasts with how a chatbot answers to citizens requests. Previous research about expertise sharing is expanded to also involve expertise sharing with citizens. This paper makes a case for including research of expertise sharing between representatives of the public administration and the citizens in CSCW research, and argue for research on if and how a chatbot in the public sector can share expertise when rules need to be applied to a citizen’s life situation.
Are Team Autonomy and Flexibility Enough for Agile Transformation? A Review of Transformed Practices in a Public Sector Organization
Moalagh, Morteza; Mikalsen, Marius; Farshchian, Babak A.
Abstract
Agile transformation is being adopted by the public sector to accelerate digitalization, but it often prioritizes internal efficiency over public values. In this ongoing case study of agile transformation in a large public organization in Norway, we apply a practice-theoretic lens to analyze changes in practices. By looking at papers that has published in recent years on this case, The open coding method was used to identify the components of the practices, including competence, meaning, and material. The study revealed that agile transformation led to a shift in software development practices, improved communication, and increased authority, which enhanced ownership, productivity, and organizational learning. The role of architects changed to advisors, and teams took full decision-making authority for managing data and architecture. The analysis of transformed practices revealed the organization made changes to allow development teams to be more autonomous and flexible in their projects. However, the organization’s inherent bias towards development teams seems to hamper effective collaboration and undermines democratic participation, a fundamental value of the public sector. Also, the study also illustrates the need for boundary work and infrastructures that integrate the users/business side of the organization, beyond the development side, to address complex socio-technical interdependencies.
The workers strike back – A literature survey of digital circumvention tools used by online gig workers
Sæther, Runar; Farshchian, Babak A.
Abstract
Most studies of digital labor platforms –also known as gig platforms –investigate how workers are affected by platforms through algorithmic control and governance models implemented by platform owners. We draw on platform boundary resource model to review an emerging body of literature that looks at how platform workers cope with this platform-enforced governance through an array of digital circumvention tools. We find that workers make use of several types of such tools including social media, chat groups, and various forms of specialized software. We show what this type of digital circumvention tools are used for, and discuss their challenges and potential impact on labor platform ecosystems.
Designing with Awareness* Building an Agenda for Worker- and Patient Well-being
Milbak, Tina W.; Simonsen, Jakob G.; Hansen, Marco B.; Møller, Naja L. H.
Abstract
Awareness technologies are a core interest for CSCW: When people pay attention to each other’s actions, it reduces the need for active communication required to accomplish the complex, cooperative work, for example, characteristic of hospitals. In Denmark, healthcare workers (HCWs) and patients face challenges with the architectural design of super hospitals. Change of workflows – most importantly, the shift to single-patient rooms in the new super hospitals – is restricted by the fact that HCWs’ well-being is at risk when they have to attend to more rooms. Also, the risk of adverse events increases. The patient’s well-being is at risk when they feel lonely or even forgotten in a single-patient room. In this paper, we propose an agenda for awareness technologies designed around both worker- and patient well-being. Our proposal is examined through prototyping an awareness technology, iAware. The solution draws together insights from a long-term ethnographic study (+5y) of how to design sensed environments responsibly [Anon]. Today’s awareness technologies in hospitals are typically designed from HCWs’ perspective. We identified 4 openings for supporting patients’ and HCWs’ mutual awareness of workflows: 1) progress of ‘ward rounds’, 2) patient ‘visits’, 3) patient ‘calls’, and 4) patient ‘mobility.’ We end with concluding remarks on how sensed environments can be designed with an agenda of being relevant to HCWs and patients’ well-being.
Open Forest: Walking-with Feral Stories, Creatures, Data
Dolejsova, Marketa; Botero, Andrea; Choi, Jaz H.
Abstract
Open Forest is an experimental, practice-based inquiry into forests and forest data that facilitates an imaginative co-creation of feral forest datasets. The project involves a series of experimental, hybrid walks with various forests around the world, inviting participants to explore local ecologies and share their experiences in the form of forest stories. To enable sharing of such personally situated stories, we experiment with diverse speculative material practices and devices, including the online Feral Map – a collaborative dataset of diverse, more-than-human forest experiences and knowledge. Through the experimental forest walks and stories, we explore what can constitute a forest dataset, how it can be produced, and by whom to raise questions about power, values, and structural inequalities that shape forests and their futures. We propose that caring for the futures of forests must be collaborative work. Finding ways to do this labour requires imaginative articulations of technologies, practices and data, an agenda to which CSCW is well positioned to contribute.
Matters of Data Care: From data-centric to domain-centric patient-centrism in the Health Tech Sector
Avlona, Natalia; Shklovski, Irina
Abstract
The increasing digitisation of the healthcare services, has transformed the provision of patient-centric care into data-centric healthcare. Researchers studied the effect of the increasing digitisation of healthcare by focusing on how the data workers in the public health care sector have been asymmetrically affected during this process, showing how care is enacted in the often-invisible human labour in algorithmic systems. In this paper we demonstrate how the value of patient-centrism becomes a multidimensional matter of data care for a diversity of domain experts handling health data. Enactments of patient-centrism are informed by the values and backgrounds of each “data-handler” situated within the values and concepts of their domain expertise. In particular, we demonstrate how patient-centrism manifests as care for data quality, care for data privacy and security and care for accessibility, shaped throughout by differentiated concerns for regulatory compliance.