Collective learning
Conflict between Computerised Collective Memory and the Prescriptive Organisation Organizational Memory as Process not Object Collective decision making and knowledge management in oncology Cooperative work conditions in a satellite control room. READ MY LIPS....BUT ALSO THE REST Collective memory from the everyday work. Visualised co-ordination support in distributed decision making Knowledge Management for Collective Learning and Organisational Memory Knowledge graphs Shifting Perspectives on Organizational Memory General discussion |
Organizational Memory as Process not Object:What we can learn from systems that work now. (From observations of Air Traffic Control)Christine HalversonDepartment of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego halverso@cogsci.ucsd.edu
Summary:Much of the CSCW effort regarding collective or organizational memory has been directed to develop automation or automated aids that will fulfill the role of a collective memory base usable by a particular work force. There are several problems with this notion:
Distributed cognition facilitates applying a cognitive framework to a system. This directs observation and analysis to focus on the system's representational states and processes relevant to a particular task. The use of an object in a particular situation can be seen as the processes of coordinating with a particular representational state and interpreting it. These processes result in a task relevant representation; that is, a representational state that has been given meaning relative to its use and the situation. What does this say for designing automation for a complex dynamic system? One thing it points out is that no matter how well designed much of the usefulness of the "collective memory" must come from the users themselves. This also means that the context of use will change over time, whether that change is anticipated or not."
Presentation and discussionIn her presentation, Christine pointed out how we as researchers often look at the objects at a workplace out of their context. The practitioners' use of the objects are contextualized. With the introduction of IT new use develops, but we shall take note of the resources used in the "old" situation so that the new tools do allow these to work. Explaining use is similar to explaining to your mom (somebody who is totally naive). An important aspect of artifacts is that they perform precomputations for us, so that we do not have to do so much complex reasoning. Memory is always recontextualized, that is adapted to the current situation. The conclusion of this for design is that the appearance of an artifact should support immediate perception and remind persons of what has to be done. Designers of IT-systems often assume that IT is the whole solution and forget the support that already exists. Examples of such support are the slide rule, "cheat sheets", customizing notes. Another aspect of artifacts are learnability, that is design should be conceived in terms of access (visibility for instance), appropriateness, use. |