Michele H Jackson | Michigan State University (original) (raw)

Papers in Comm Tech for Teaching & Learning by Michele H Jackson

Communicating for social impact: engaging communication theory, research, and pedagogy, Apr 30, 2009

Information, Communicatin, and Society, 2002

Universities face challenges in creating and nurturing re ective discourse about ICTs within hig... more Universities face challenges in creating and nurturing re ective discourse about ICTs within higher education. Constraints to this discourse include time-space compression caused by ICTs, and changing perceptions of the university’s role in an information society. In answering these challenges, a call is made for elevating the role of higher education in public knowledge formation. Such a move reduces the constraints of time pressures by valuing discussion and debate and the time required for these activities, and questions authority and credibility gained solely due to practical and discursive technological competency. Thus, the question is not just to explore how communications technologies are shaping our experience of time and space, but to debate how we wish to use technologies and other means to shape and create the time and space in which meaningful human social and political life is possible. Institutions of higher education should both serve as sites for public knowledge formation, and as contributors to such initiatives in civic society.

To explore what social and educational infrastructure is needed to support classroom use of stude... more To explore what social and educational infrastructure is needed to support classroom use of student response systems (Roschelle et al., 2004), this study investigated the ways in which student characteristics and course design choices were related to students' assessments of the contribution of clicker use to their learning and involvement in the classroom. Survey responses of over 1500 undergraduates enrolled in seven large enrollment 'clicker courses' offered by three university departments are analyzed.

In this paper we report the results of our ongoing activities regarding the use of smart phones a... more In this paper we report the results of our ongoing activities regarding the use of smart phones and mobile services in university classrooms at VaÈxjoÈ University. The purpose of these trials was to explore and identify which content and services could be delivered to the smart phones in order to support learning and communication in the context of university studies. The activities were conducted within the MUSIS (MUlticasting Services and Information in Sweden) project where 41 students from two different courses at Vexjo University participated during a period of three months. Generally, the services integrated transparently into students’ previous experience with mobile phones. Students generally perceived the services as useful to learning; interestingly, attitudes were more positive if the instructor adapted pedagogical style and instructional material to take advantage of the distinctive capabilities of multicasting. To illustrate, we describe a number of educational mobile services we have designed and implemented at Vaxjo University. We conclude with recommendations for increasing the potential for successful implementation of multicasting mobile services in higher education, including the importance of usability, institutional support and tailored educational content.

In this paper we describe our efforts to foster intercultural communication and collaboration in ... more In this paper we describe our efforts to foster intercultural communication and collaboration in educational scenarios using advanced learning technologies to support hands on experimentation and science learning. A special focus is given to the idea that innovative uses of these technologies will enhance the scientific experience of learners if intercultural exchange is involved in this process. Specific contributions include the creation of a number of applications to support collaboration between different learning communities, thus to provide ‘cultural glue’ between different learning activities. These efforts are conducted within the framework of our European Union funded COLDEX project (Collaborative Learning and Distributed Experimentation, see http://www.coldex.info).

IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education, Nov 28, 2005

Abstract This paper presents initial results of our on-going activities regarding the use of smar... more Abstract This paper presents initial results of our on-going activities regarding the use of smart phones and mobile services in university classrooms at Vaxjo University. The purpose of these trials was to explore and identify which content and services could be delivered to the smart phones in order to support learning and communication in the context of university studies.

Papers in CompScience & Eng Educ by Michele H Jackson

Group work is receiving increasing attention and support as a valuable component of computer scie... more Group work is receiving increasing attention and support as a valuable component of computer science construction. Yet such work is at odds with the culture of programming, which emphasizes the importance of solo work and individual skills. This study interviewed 37 students enrolled in 3 mid-level programming classes to investigate more closely the patterns students adopt when completing group assignments. Responses illustrate tactics that allow students to complete group tasks but often maintain a reliance on individual accomplishment. Five patterns of communication behavior in student groups are identified for future empirical research.

Translating educational objectives of collaboration and team work into specific classroom environ... more Translating educational objectives of collaboration and team work into specific classroom environments is a serious challenge. First, limitations of available design tools tends to constrain instructors to the use of relatively well-defined, simple problems that bear little resemblance to the problems that are faced by practicing engineers. Second, engineering curricula typically do not include courses specifically intended to develop skills needed for group work. Given that group projects are typically only one of the
many components of existing courses, these projects generally are inadequate in teaching students the necessary collaborative skills. The approach we have taken in our project is to involve students in realistic projects beginning with the introductory
courses but to use an infrastructure, or scaffolding, to selectively hide the complexity from the students. As students progress to more advanced courses, more of the scaffolding falls away, revealing more complexity until, finally, students engage in
realistic projects involving significant collaborative work.

Engaging communication theory, research, and pedagogy to communicate for social impact, 2009

In the 21st century global information economy, science and engineering professionals carry enorm... more In the 21st century global information economy, science and engineering professionals carry enormous influence in shaping knowledge, communities, and society. In developing and post-industrial nations, there are tremendous demands for science and engineering workers, as well as those representative of a global society. Yet there is a growing concern that women are underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions, particularly in Western cultures. U.S. employment statistics indicate the proportion of women in certain STEM careers (e.g., Engineering and Computer Science) has grown little or declined in twenty years despite recruitment and retention efforts. Reports from international commissions, governments, professional accreditation committees, and funding agencies (e.g., U.N., IEEE, National Academy of Engineering, NSF) confirm that this is a critical and global social issue.
Communication can provide multiple perspectives on issues underlying underrepresentation, as well as a context for developing new theory, research, and practice. This chapter presents cross-disciplinary, cross-national, and intergenerational research on women in STEM careers. The authors discuss: messages and stories from children in the U.S., China, and Belgium about science and engineering careers; mass media discourses that influence teenage girls’ career paths; the use of game studies in universities to attract women to computer science; perceptions of collaboration, identification, and communication apprehension of female scientists in nanotechnology; and transnational and cultural tensions of Chinese-American mothers in STEM professions. Following an overview of research findings, the authors engage in discussion around four questions:
1. What assumptions do you bring to your research on women in STEM?
2. What are some surprising findings, given your assumptions and prior research?
3. What key challenges exist for communication research on women in STEM?
4. What implications does communication research have in terms of public discourse and social change?
The chapter concludes with a summary of issues, research implications, and practical recommendations.

Academy of Management Journal, 2009

This paper explores why engineering students become and remain committed to counter-productive pr... more This paper explores why engineering students become and remain committed to counter-productive practices. Our findings suggest that during their tenure in engineering school, informants performed work practices that coincided with lay-stereotypes about what “good engineers” do. As informants performed these practices and teachers attempted to change them, they sought justifications that made those practices seem rational. This externalization process encouraged informants to perform these practices more frequently. We characterize the relationship between the enactment of norms and the externalization of work practices as a dialectical process that helps explain why engineering students could not conceive of changing their work. We draw on these findings to suggest implications for theory on occupational socialization and for the management of engineering work.

Communications of The ACM, 2010

Key insights: The attitudes of beginning CS students are more varied than final-year students, su... more Key insights: The attitudes of beginning CS students are more varied than final-year students, suggesting the curriculum plays an important role in shaping them. Final-year CS students generally show little appreciation for skills involving creativity and reasoning, emphasizing instead CS as outcomes. Understanding how student attitudes are formed and strengthened helps faculty develop more effective CS curricula.

Our industrial advisory boards tell us that our students are well prepared technically, but they ... more Our industrial advisory boards tell us that our students are well prepared technically, but they lack important group work skills. Simply adding project courses and requiring that assignments be done in groups has not improved the situation. A careful study of student culture in Computer Science has uncovered barriers to collaboration, which can be overcome only by pervasive changes in the way we approach our curriculum.

ACM Sigcse Bulletin, 2002

As part of an NSF-funded IT Workforce grant, the authors conducted ethnographic research to provi... more As part of an NSF-funded IT Workforce grant, the authors conducted ethnographic research to provide deep understanding of the learning environment of computer science classrooms. Categories emerging from data analysis included 1) impersonal environment and guarded behavior; and 2) the creation and maintenance of informal hierarchy resulting in competitive behaviors. These communication patterns lead to a defensive climate, characterized by competitiveness rather cooperation, judgments about others, superiority, and neutrality rather than empathy. The authors identify particular and
recognizable types of discourse, which, when prevalent in a classroom, can preclude the development of a collaborative and supportive learning environment

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Feb 19, 2003

Concepts taught in large, lower-division computer science courses are carefully explained in stan... more Concepts taught in large, lower-division computer science courses are carefully explained in standard textbooks. Thus we hypothesized that the classroom experience should not consist primarily of a restatement of those explanations by the professor. Instead, it should provide an opportunity for the students to learn through a process of conversation among themselves and with the professor. We were able to establish such a process in a sophomore-level course with an enrollment of 116 students.

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Feb 27, 2002

Abstract In industry, programmers work in groups to design and implement substantial pieces of so... more Abstract In industry, programmers work in groups to design and implement substantial pieces of software. In contrast, most programs that students write in classes are toy programs involving little or no group work. To address this discrepancy, we have developed a software infrastructure that aims to teach group work skills to students in computer science courses and also enables students to tackle larger and more significant projects.

ABSTRACT Conventional wisdom states that the large lecture class is an efficient way to teach a c... more ABSTRACT Conventional wisdom states that the large lecture class is an efficient way to teach a common core of material to large numbers of introductory students. We questioned that model, and chose a required second-year course with enrollments in the 60-120 range to test a classroom strategy that dispenses with the lecture entirely. Instead, each class session consists of a conversation among the students and professor.

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Jun 26, 2006

Abstract Current literature states that the undergraduate curriculum can no longer afford the lux... more Abstract Current literature states that the undergraduate curriculum can no longer afford the luxury of a traditional compiler construction course. Nevertheless, there is an increasing need for an understanding of how to design and implement domain-specific languages. This paper presents a modern course in compiler construction, designed to provide a student with the capability of quickly constructin robust processors for a variety of language-related applications.

The educational literature recognizes that people go through a number of stages in their intel-le... more The educational literature recognizes that people go through a number of stages in their intel-lectual development. During the ﬁrst stage, called received knowledge or dualism, people expect knowledge to be handed to them by authority ﬁgures (thus "received”) and think in terms of blackand white (thus “dualism”). Our experience indicates that many computer science students are atthis ﬁrst stage of learning. To help students move beyond this stage, we describe a system andstrategy, the PL-Detective, to be used in a Concepts of Programming Languages course. Assignments using this system directly confront students with the notion that they can create knowledge via interactions with the PL-Detective and that discussion with students (rather than asking theinstructor) is an effective way of learning how to reason. We present experimental results thatshow that the PL-Detective is effective in helping students move beyond the stage of received knowledge

Communicating for social impact: engaging communication theory, research, and pedagogy, Apr 30, 2009

Information, Communicatin, and Society, 2002

IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education, Nov 28, 2005

Engaging communication theory, research, and pedagogy to communicate for social impact, 2009

Academy of Management Journal, 2009

Communications of The ACM, 2010

ACM Sigcse Bulletin, 2002

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Feb 19, 2003

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Feb 27, 2002

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Jun 26, 2006

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Feb 23, 2005

Abstract Last year we described the PL-Detective, a system for building exercises and demonstrati... more Abstract Last year we described the PL-Detective, a system for building exercises and demonstrations in a programming languages course. One of the main goals of the PL-Detective was to provide an experimental environment with which students could interact in order to discover the information that they needed to complete the exercise. In this paper we evaluate the PL-Detective with respect to this goal. We present data from a class of 29 groups of two or three students that used the PL-Detective for 11 exercises.

... There are many different ways to test software by black-box testing, although one cannot make... more ... There are many different ways to test software by black-box testing, although one cannot make any requirements ... these exercises in the KDF, the instructor provides the software to test which was instrumented to track ... Class Data Structures and Algorithms: Sorting Algorithms ...

Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 2009

Communication Monographs, 2007

Communication Currents, Jun 2009

Abstract The scope, scale, and substance of business communication are undergoing a sea change as... more Abstract The scope, scale, and substance of business communication are undergoing a sea change as the result of recent developments and emerging uses of communication technologies. This article adopts Sproull and Kiesler's model of first-level and second-level effects to explore how business communication research might respond to these changes and to introduce the articles in this issue by Herrmann and by Turner and Reinsch.

Women's Studies in Communication, 2007

Across disciplines, studies of technology offer fertile ground for understanding women's experien... more Across disciplines, studies of technology offer fertile ground for understanding women's experience and for engaging the world through feminist critique. Women's studies research, in turn, contributes distinctly to understanding issues central to living in an increasingly technological world. The goal of this special issue is to emphasize the contribution of communication research in exploring the relationship between gender, feminism, and technology. The collection of articles presented here reminds us of how technology is simultaneously both rapidly changing and yet stubbornly intractable. Consider, we live in a time when technological artifacts are highly mutable (think of how quickly cell phones change, or of the frequency of software updates), but yet 25 years of research into the study of culture in dozens of technological contexts consistently reveals the dominance of masculinist ideologies of mastery and control (cf.Wajcman, 1991). The always-connected communication reality of 2007 is almost inconceivably different from that of the land-line world of 1987, yet our research finds that identity, interaction, and communication consistently exhibit clearly gendered characteristics and present familiar concerns of women's access, voice, and empowerment.

Communication Yearbook 19, 1996

We focus on development efforts that use information and communication technologies for education... more We focus on development efforts that use information and communication technologies for educational purposes in developing nations. The oppositional nature of the approaches to development makes constructive dialogue among theoretical perspectives difficult. Using Jackson’s (1996) metatheoretical classification scheme, we sort development research based on 4 possible logical relationships between technology as an artifact and the social context. Derivation of the scheme is principled rather than historical and independent of any particular theory. Focusing on assumptions about technology and context brings new understanding of each perspective and can foster a dialogue across the perspectives. Further, we offer that self-organizing systems theory possesses the potential of representing an integrationist perspective in development research.

ABSTRACT We approach synchronous collaboration via an objectoriented multi-user programming envir... more ABSTRACT We approach synchronous collaboration via an objectoriented multi-user programming environment where objects are open, relational, and require attention in order to persist. We propose an immersive interaction environment that accommodates both natural language and object scripting to enable end-user co-development of object and relationship representations across time and space into 'situations' that are both the structure for, and outcome of, an ongoing open-ended collaborative process.

Abstract This paper examines closely the nature of the hypertext link as a communication tool for... more Abstract This paper examines closely the nature of the hypertext link as a communication tool for Web designers and authors. The strategic nature of the link raises important questions for the representation and interpretation of Web structure. Network analysis is suggested as a methodology that can be used by researchers investigating the World Wide Web from a communication perspective.

Media-richness theory is applied to World Wide Web sites to demonstrate how Web-page designers ar... more Media-richness theory is applied to World Wide Web sites to demonstrate how Web-page designers are using hypertext markup language to shape conceptions of place and to provide competing visions of the events that have transpired in the former Yugoslavia. We argue that Web sites vary in their interactivity, strategically, to reduce equivocality surrounding conceptions of space and territory. Media-richness theory as applied here allows the development of a heuristic to understand how Web pages communicate information about geographical entities and help to shape perceptions of place.

Media-Richness theory is applied to World Wide Web sites to demonstrate how Web-page designers ar... more Media-Richness theory is applied to World Wide Web sites to demonstrate how Web-page designers are using hypertext markup language to shape conceptions of place and to provide competing visions of the events that have transpired in the former Yugoslavia. We argue that Web sites vary in their interactivity, strategically, to reduce equivocality surrounding conceptions of space and territory. Media-richness theory as applied here allows the development of a heuristic to understand how Web pages communicate information about geographical entities and to help shape perceptions of place.
Keywords: media-richness theory, place representation, Serbian Krajina, World Wide Web, Yugoslavia

Handbook of New Media, 2002

Our interest in this chapter is to explore the intersection between social constructionism and th... more Our interest in this chapter is to explore the intersection between social constructionism and the study of ICTs in the workplace. We begin by identifying a set of assumptions that underlie a constructionist perspective and indicate some ways in which these assumptions appear in studies of the workplace. Fundamental to constructionism is the active effort to privilege neither social nor technical factors in constructing accounts of technology design, development, implementation, or use. In the next section we reflect on the impact constructionism has had on studies of the workplace. We observe that within these studies, scholars employ constructionism for different purposes. The first is to provide a framework for understanding ICTs in the workplace and the second is to provide guidance for designing and implementing ICTs in organizations. Our interest here is an assessment of the extent to which constructionist views are successful in each of these. Our argument will be that social constructionist views have in principle developed an understanding that privileges neither technology nor the workplace, but that their use in design and implementation have tended to tilt so as to privilege either the technology or the workplace. Using the terminology of Argyris and Schon (1978), this tilt may be seen in a contrast between the espoused theory of social constructionism (its theoretical understanding) and its theory-in-practice (its actual employment in research and in organizations). We conclude the chapter with some reflections on how scholars might address the this tendency to tilt, and maintain a constructionist perspective in practical contexts.

Management Communication Quarterly, 2008

This article proposes a shift in how researchers study knowledge and knowing in organizations. Re... more This article proposes a shift in how researchers study knowledge and knowing in organizations. Responding to a pronounced lack of methodological guidance from existing research, this work develops a framework for analyzing situated organizational problem solving. This framework, rooted in social practice theory, focuses on communicative knowledge-accomplishing activities, which frame and respond to various problematic situations. Vignettes drawn from a call center demonstrate the value of the framework, which can advance practice-oriented research on knowledge and knowing by helping it break with dubious assumptions about knowledge homogeneity within groups, examine knowing as instrumental action and involvement in a struggle over meaning, and display how patterns of knowledge-accomplishing activities can generate unintended organizational consequences.

Human Communication Research, 2003

This study examined naturally occurring idea-generation in organizational groups completing an ex... more This study examined naturally occurring idea-generation in organizational groups completing an extended problem-solving task. Meetings held by 11 groups engaged in a quality improvement process in a governmental agency were analyzed to identify 37 idea-generation episodes. All groups had available a group decision support system (GDSS), although some opted not to use it. Across all groups, idea productivity was low though fairly efficient, but GDSS-supported idea-generation produced significantly fewer ideas. In general, idea-generation as a process appears to be more complex than has been thought; observed deviations from idealized idea-generation norms were not necessarily dysfunctional. The findings encourage reassessment of the assumptions underlying existing normative models of idea-generation.

Journal of Applied Communication Research, 2010

Distributed work arrangements are gaining in popularity. Such arrangements are enabled through In... more Distributed work arrangements are gaining in popularity. Such arrangements are enabled through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Problematically, the same ICTs that are implemented to overcome distance felt in these settings can also create the expectation of constant connectivity for individuals, constructing a paradox for teleworkers who find the potential benefits of distributed work negated by the very technologies that made the arrangement possible. To combat this problem, teleworkers sometimes use their ICTs strategically to decrease, rather than increase, the distance they feel from colleagues. Findings indicate this strategic use of ICTs to increase distance are often covert, such that teleworkers can appear to colleagues as if they are working in a manner similar to how they would at an office while, at the same time, reaping the benefits of not being in a central location.

Virtual and collaborative teams, 2004

Several theories of innovation emphasize alignment of organizational structure, task and technolo... more Several theories of innovation emphasize alignment of organizational structure, task and technology as a critical factor in innovation success. This study explores the structuration of alignment of a group decision support system (GDSS), group procedures, tasks, and the internal group system. We posit that this structuration process influences (a) the effectiveness of technology implementation and the impact of the technology on the overall effectiveness of work groups.

Journal of Organizational Change Management, 2004

In times of organizational change leaders often tell stories that justify publicly the directions... more In times of organizational change leaders often tell stories that justify publicly the directions in which organizations move. Such stories are always political in nature and often reflect the motives of the storyteller. We observe how leaders in high-tech organizations use the story of technological determinism in organizational settings as a discursive practice through which they invoke the “inevitability” of technology to justify managerial decisions to the public. Rather than taking ownership of certain actions, managers are able to use this story to claim that certain organizational changes are inevitable, and to eliminate alternative stories. We examine this strategy as it appears in the public discourse produced during two mergers in the high-tech and telecommunications industries occurring from 1998 to 2002: US West and Qwest, and AOL and TimeWarner. Finally, we demonstrate that the story of technological determinism performs discursive closure around each merger.

In technologically grounded organizations, culture is bound tightly to the material characteristi... more In technologically grounded organizations, culture is bound tightly to the material characteristics of the technology that the organization manufactures, distributes, or services. Technological grounding helps explain why hightechnology organizations often experience cultural integration problems following a merger. Examining the recent merger of US West and Qwest, this article analyzes how powerful actors strategically used the process of technological grounding to enroll a core technology to situate postmerger integration in technological terms, creating a discourse of inevitability that then justified publicly Qwest’s cultural domination of US West.

Games and Culture, 2008

The theory of dialectical contradictions (L. A. Baxter & B. M. Montgomery, 1996) is used to exami... more The theory of dialectical contradictions (L. A. Baxter & B. M. Montgomery, 1996) is used to examine relationships developed in a Chinese online role-playing game, Legend of Mir. Analysis of discourse on a Web-based Legend-theme bulletin board system and a series of online articles identified oppositional tensions in discussion about relationships. Seven contradictions representing three basic thematic families—integration–separation, expression–nonexpression, and stability–change—were identified. Four contradictions signified internal tensions between relational partners, and the rest addressed a relationship’s connection with others. Players coped with these contradictions in various ways, drawing on game infrastructure and elements of offline life.

Abstract Data obtained from a nationwide survey of US residences during 2002 are used to investig... more Abstract Data obtained from a nationwide survey of US residences during 2002 are used to investigate household awareness of high-speed Internet access, profile Internet access and use, and gain insight into how important “always on”, cost, speed, installation and reliability attributes are in choice of service. Preliminary analysis suggests relatively high awareness of cable modem and DSL availability.

Broadband penetration exceeds 10% of the US population and continues to grow. But the rate of gro... more Broadband penetration exceeds 10% of the US population and continues to grow. But the rate of growth is itself particularly important to several constituencies. A general debate continues over the status of broadband adoption, the criticality of intervention, and which intervention policies would be effective. While much attention has historically been paid to the supply side of broadband, understanding and influencing the demand side of broadband is a key to understanding both status and appropriate policy.

ABSTRACT Last year we described the PL-Detective, a system for building exercises and demonstrati... more ABSTRACT Last year we described the PL-Detective, a system for building exercises and demonstrations in a programming languages course. One of the main goals of the PL-Detective was to provide an experimental environment with which students could interact in order to discover the information that they needed to complete the exercise. In this paper we evaluate the PL-Detective with respect to this goal. We present data from a class of 29 groups of two or three students that used the PL-Detective for 11 exercises. Our data shows that students are both effective and efficient at getting information from the PL-Detective.

Argumentation and Advocacy, 2022

Management Communication Quarterly, 2008

Handbook of New Media: Social Shaping and Consequences of ICTs

The environment of the modern organization has always been technological, but this has been under... more The environment of the modern organization has always been technological, but this has been understood in a number of distinct ways. For example, seen as collections of rationalized and instrumental practices, organizations themselves have been regarded as technologies in which effective information and communication processes are critical (Taylor, 1911; Thompson 1967). Of more interest to this volume are the perspectives that have looked at information and communication technologies within organizations. Technologies have had profound effects on the way certain information work is done, such as actuarial work (Yates, 1993). With the expanding capabilities of digital computing, fields of study such as office automation (Johnson & Rice, 1984), operations research (Arnoff, 1957) and management information systems (Dickson, 1982) emerged to focus on the question of how computer-based information and communication technologies might be integrated into organizational processes to make organizations and organizational processes more efficient and effective or otherwise to fulfill unmet organizational needs. Even as organizational scholars turn increasingly to considering issues of information and communication technologies (ICTs), a complementary turn is made by technology scholars who look to social and organizational issues implicated in technology design and development. Located in fields such as the sociology of technology, computer science, and the anthropology of work, and typically organized under the general category of social construction, this research holds that technologies are and have always been social. Our interest in this chapter is to explore the intersection between social constructionism and the study of ICTs in the workplace. We begin by identifying a set of assumptions that underlie a constructionist perspective and indicate some ways in which these assumptions appear in studies of the workplace. Fundamental to constructionism is the active effort to privilege 1 neither social nor technical factors in constructing accounts of technology design, development, implementation, or use. In the next section we reflect on the impact constructionism has had on studies of the workplace. We observe that within these studies, scholars employ constructionism for different purposes. The first is to provide a framework for understanding ICTs in the workplace and the second is to provide guidance for designing and implementing ICTs in organizations. Our interest here is an assessment of the extent to which constructionist views are successful in each of these. Our argument will be that social constructionist views have in principle developed an understanding that privileges neither technology nor the workplace, but that their use in design and implementation have tended to tilt so as to privilege either the technology or the workplace. Using the terminology of Argyris and Schon (1978), this tilt may be seen in a contrast between the espoused theory of social constructionism (its theoretical understanding) and its theory-in-practice (its actual employment in research and in organizations). We conclude the chapter with some reflections on how scholars might address the this tendency to tilt, and maintain a constructionist perspective in practical contexts. ASSUMPTIONS OF CONSTRUCTIONIST VIEWS Constructionist sensibilities tend to arise as a consequence of a move away from technological determinism. Because this move has occurred across a number of disciplines, constructionist principles come from a variety of traditions, including history, engineering and design, information studies, communication, and organization studies. The perspectives historically identified with the social construction of technology typically examine periods of technology development (Jackson, 1996; Leivrouw, in this volume). Yet we find constructionism increasingly influential in studies of the use and implementation of technologies within organizations. The variety of constructionist positions makes it difficult to catalog perspectives, but they tend to hold a number of assumptions in common. Constructionism Denies Technological Determinism 2 Determinism has had a steady presence in technology studies (Marx and Smith, 1994). Generally, determinism is the position that, given a set of initial conditions, outcomes can be predicted with a some amount of certainty. Underlying determinism is a logic of rationality, often referred to as technical rationality, or an assumption that the technical and social world operate according to rules that are prior to any particular situation and that predetermine the set of possible outcomes. Stronger variants of determinism hold that there exists a technological imperative, that artifacts move inexorably and in a linear fashion toward a certain end state (Edge, 1995). Within studies of technology across disciplines, determinism may be applied either to explaining the development of technologies, or to predicting the consequences of their use. All constructionist perspectives reject determinism, though at different levels. And, as a consequence, they embrace some level of indeterminacy. For example, sociologists of technology Williams and Edge (1996) point out that social shaping of technology (SST) perspectives reject the notion that technology emerges from 'a single social determinant, or through the unfolding of a predetermined technical logic' (p. 54). In their study of technology use in organizations, Sproull and Keisler (1991) hold that the more consequential impacts of technology use cannot be anticipated. Constructionism Recognizes The Interplay And Interdependence Of Social And Technical Elements Constructionist perspectives recognize that reference to technological elements alone can adequately explain neither technology development nor use (Pinch & Bijker, 1984). Instead, technical and social factors are intimately interconnected (Woolgar, 1996). It is through the interplay of these elements that technologies develop. Hughes (1986) describes this as an interactive perspective, one that provides all elements present in technological development with equal status. From an interactive perspective, technology itself is understood as a collection of dynamically related elements rather than as a static and stable entity. As Hughes (1986) makes clear, the key to the approach is the metaphor of the 'seamless web,' which discourages an isolation of individual elements and encourages a recognition of the multiple determinations of technologies. Within organizational studies, the socio-technical systems (STS) perspective was one of the first to argue for paying attention to the interrelationship of social and technical factors. Classic STS emphasizes the importance of fit or the match between the social and the technical, in order to optimize organizational processes (Emory & Trist, 1961; Mumford, 1983). In another example, it was this commitment to both social and technical factors that helped to launch the field of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW), which seeks to combine an understanding of the way people work with an expertise in computing technologies (Greif, 1988; Mantovani, 1996; Wilson, 1991). Constructionism Denies That Technologies Are Ever Complete The physical nature of most technologies, including the devices that accompany information and communication technologies, means that we tend to view artifacts as able to exist apart from any context of use (Jackson, 1996). Particularly in organizational contexts, technological artifacts are easily taken for granted, with a fixed and stable nature and a predetermined boundaries. Constructionism rejects this assumption and problematizes the constitution of technology, as in Bucciarelli's (1994) criticism of 'object-world' accounts of technological design. Rather than being complete or at rest, technologies continuously change and reconstitute through their engagement in communities. As a consequence, describing technologies becomes more complicated. Woolgar notes: The social researcher has no 'neutral' (that is, free of the social milieu) description of the technology around which to build a picture of 'social influences'. Instead, the 'technical character' of the technology-like what it can do and how it does it-becomes part of the phenomenon to be explained by reference to social and political factors. (1996:88) An important example with organizational studies is the use of structuration theory (Giddens, 1979; Orlikowski & Robey, 1991). Structuration posits a duality of structure, which is the notion that human action simultaneously creates structures of social systems and is shaped by such structures. Structuration emphasizes the interaction of technology and organization in creating these systems. For example, adaptive structuration theory (AST) (Poole & DeSanctis, 1990; DeSanctis & Poole, 1994), outlines a set of appropriation processes through which a technology comes to constituted differently by different groups of people. Similarly, the emergence perspective (Barley, 1986; Markus & Robey, 1988) demonstrates the ways in which technologies continue to be defined throughout a changing context.

Annals of the International Communication Association, 1996

This chapter examines communication technology as a construct for theory building in communicatio... more This chapter examines communication technology as a construct for theory building in communication. The simple identification of technology as the material artifact is rejected in favor of a two-dimensional framework centering on the relationship between technology and context. The implications of this framework are discussed for both current and future theory building. Special attention is given to implications for more recent constructionist theories, and an alternate definition of communication technology is presented. F UNDAMENTAL to the study of computer-based communication technology is the question, Do computers make a difference? This is not simply a question for empirical investigation; it is also a test to determine if computers are worthy of the attention of communication scholars. The expectation is that the use of computer technology will create some new communication phenomenon, something that sets computer-assisted communication apart from other modes of interaction. The study of computer-based communication technology has become both the search for this difference and the search for ways to explain and predict this difference. No claims are made in this chapter one way or the other on this question of difference. The comparison of computer-assisted communication with non-computer-assisted communication is not at issue. Rather, the aim in this work is to critique the nature of the search itself. I argue for a new starting place for theory building. Communication scholars have directed increasing attention AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wish to thank Marshall Scott Poole for his comments and guidance on previous drafts of this chapter. Research for this chapter was supported by the Adelle and Erwin Tomash Fellowship, awarded by the Charles Babbage Institute for the History of Information Processing.

Science, Technology, & Human Values, 2008

In technologically grounded organizations, culture is bound tightly to the material characteristi... more In technologically grounded organizations, culture is bound tightly to the material characteristics of the technology that the organization manufactures, distributes, or services. Technological grounding helps explain why high-technology organizations often experience cultural integration problems following a merger. Examining the recent merger of US West and Qwest, this article analyzes how powerful actors strategically used the process of technological grounding to enroll a core technology to situate postmerger integration in technological terms, creating a discourse of inevitability that then justified publicly Qwest's cultural domination of US West.

Geographical Review, 1997

ABSTRACT. Media-richness theory is applied to World Wide Web sites to demonstrate how Web-page de... more ABSTRACT. Media-richness theory is applied to World Wide Web sites to demonstrate how Web-page designers are using hypertext markup language to shape conceptions of place and to provide competing visions of the events that have transpired in the former Yugoslavia. We argue that Web sites vary in their interactivity, strategically, to reduce equivocality surrounding conceptions of space and territory. Media-richness theory as applied here allows the development of a heuristic to understand how Web pages communicate ...

International Journal of Engineering Education, 2008

Academy of Management Conference, Honolulu, HI, Aug 1, 2005

Virtual and Collaborative Teams

Distance, in the context of virtual teams, has traditionally been treated as an unproblematic, in... more Distance, in the context of virtual teams, has traditionally been treated as an unproblematic, in fact positive, by-product of work practices mediated by information and communication technologies. Research has largely overlooked the notion of distance and its relationship to virtual team work practices and digital telecommunications technologies. Explored in this chapter is the nature of distance by investigating perceptions of "distance" among teleworkers and addressing how virtual team members strategically use the distance enabled by telecommunications technologies to manage a variety of organizational practices. Interviews with 46 distance workers across 10 industries, making up 17 virtual teams, found that members conceptualize distance across three important dimensions: distance and

In technologically grounded organizations, culture is bound tightly to the material characteristi... more In technologically grounded organizations, culture is bound tightly to the material characteristics of the technology that the organization manufactures, distributes, or services. Technological grounding helps explain why high-technology organizations often experience cultural integration problems follow-ing a merger. Examining the recent merger of US West and Qwest, this article analyzes how powerful actors strategically used the process of technological grounding to enroll a core technology to situate postmerger integration in tech-nological terms, creating a discourse of inevitability that then justified publicly Qwest’s cultural domination of US West.

ALIGNMENT OF SYSTEM AND STRUCTURE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GROUP DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS Several... more ALIGNMENT OF SYSTEM AND STRUCTURE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GROUP DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS Several theories of innovation emphasize alignment of organizational structure, task and technology as a critical factor in innovation success. This study explores the structuration of alignment of a group decision support system (GDSS), group procedures, tasks, and the internal group system. We posit that this structuration process influences (a) the effectiveness of technology implementation and the impact of the technology on the overall effectiveness of work groups. Eight teams implementing a GDSS in field settings were observed for periods of six months to two years. The teams exhibited variation in degree of acceptance of the GDSS and overall effectiveness. Case studies of the eight groups are used to develop, evaluate and extend an alignment model. The model advances a typology of five general appropriation types and links these to various types of alignments. These type/alignment combin...

The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy, 2016

Dis/Organization as Communication

In this study, we investigate how and why paradoxes persist in digital civic participation. Our c... more In this study, we investigate how and why paradoxes persist in digital civic participation. Our communicational lens of disorganization builds on the Communication as Constitutive of Organization, or “CCO�? approaches, and literature on multiplicity of objects and practices in order to conceptualize digital civic participation as multiple. We use our communicational approach to disorganization to analyze qualitative data of a digital civic participation project called Mesa Vision 2030. Combining iterative and situational analysis, our findings show how a controversial voting incident at Mesa was enacted in the interference of meanings across three interconnected communication episodes: real-time digital civic participation, its planning and its design. The push-pull for control over which configuration of meaning is in focus contributes a new analytic dimension for the empirical study of disorganization. Our study also makes a methodological contribution to CCO research by providing tools to analyze empirical situations for differences and heterogeneities. As a practical implication, we discuss how civic technology organizations should place greater emphasis on flexible designs of participatory tools that preserve the voices of diverse participants.

We approach synchronous collaboration via an objectoriented multi-user programming environment wh... more We approach synchronous collaboration via an objectoriented multi-user programming environment where objects are open, relational, and require attention in order to persist. We propose an immersive interaction environment that accommodates both natural language and object scripting to enable end-user co-development of object and relationship representations across time and space into 'situations' that are both the structure for, and outcome of, an ongoing open-ended collaborative process.