A Theory of Tailorable Technology Design

Tailorable technologies are a class of information systems designed with the intention that users modify and redesign the technology in the context of use. Tailorable technologies support user goals, intentions, metaphor, and use patterns in the selection and integration of technology functions in the creation of new and unique information systems. We propose a theory of tailorable technology design and identify principles necessary for the initial design. Following a Kantian style of inquiry, we identified four definitional characteristics of tailorable technology: a dual design perspective, user engagement, recognizable environments, and component architectures. From these characteristics, we propose nine design principles that will support the phenomenon of tailoring. Through a year-long case study, we refined and evidenced the principles, finding found that designers of tailorable technologies build environments in which users can both interact and engage with the technology, supporting the proposed design principles. The findings highlight a distinction between a reflective environment, where users recognize and imagine uses for the technology, and an active environment in which users tailor the technology in accordance with the imagined uses. This research contributes to the clarification of the role of theory in design science, expands the concept of possibilities for action to IS design, and proposes a design theory of a class of information systems for testing and refinement

Understanding Tailorable Technology Use through Social Representations Theory

This research utilizes social representations theory to inform the study of tailorable technologies. Specifically, we investigate how social representations theory can be used as a mechanism to understanding technology tailoring-in-use. The work extends earlier tailorable technology design work by looking at the processes by which people tailor technology during use. It also extends social representations theory by applying it in the emerging domain of technologies that are defined in-use by users and not through predetermined goals of a design team. Together these two domains support the notion that technology and interaction constitute an emergent combination that cannot be generalized beyond the local interactions of groups. It is therefore critical for us to have the tools to understand this new order and social representations theory and tailorable technology use proved an excellent platform to consider this challenge

Designing Tailorable Technologies

This paper provides principles for designing tailorable technologies. Tailorable technologies are technologies that are modified by end users in the context of their use and are around us as desktop operating systems, web portals, and mobile telephones. While tailorable technologies provide end users with limitless ways to modify the technology, as designers and researchers we have little understanding of how tailorable technologies are initially designed to support that end-user modification. In this paper, we argue that tailorable technologies are a unique technology type in the same light as group support systems and emergent knowledge support systems. This unique technology type is becoming common and we are forced to reevaluate existing design theory, methods of analysis, and streams of literature. In this paper we present design principles of Gordon Pask, Christopher Alexander, Greg Gargarian, and Kim Madsen to strengthen inquiry into tailorable technologies. We then apply the principles to designing tailorable technologies in order for their design to become more coherent and tractable. We conclude that designers need to build reflective and active design environments and gradients of interactive capabilities in order for technology to be readily modified in the context of its use

A Metadesign Theory for Tailorable Decision Support

Despite years of decision support systems (DSS) research, DSS artifacts are frequently criticized for lacking practitioner relevance and for neglecting configurability and contextual dynamism. Tailoring in end-user contexts can produce relevant emergent DSS artifacts, but design theory for this is lacking. Design science research (DSR) has important implications for improving DSS uptake, but generally this has not been promoted in the form of metadesigns with design principles applicable to other DSS developments. This paper describes a metadesign theory for tailorable DSS, generated through action design research studies in different primary industries. Design knowledge from a DSS developed in an agricultural domain was distilled and generalized into a design theory comprising: (1) a general solution concept (metadesign), and (2) five hypothesized design principles. These were then instantiated via a second development in which the metadesign and design principles were applied in a different domain (forestry) to produce a successful DSS, thus testing the metadesign and validating the design principles. In addition to contributing to DSR and illustrating innovation in tailorable technology, the paper demonstrates the utility of action design research to support theory development in DSS design

Developing living information systems through systems tailorability: Deferred systems design

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.An interpretivist investigation of computer-based business information systems was conducted in two commercial companies and two higher education institutes, by using both quantitative questionnaire survey and qualitative interview research methods. The investigation focused on the social and organisational context of information systems development and usage in these organisations. The utility of structured methodologies is now being questioned by some researchers who are calling for alternative approaches, and this investigation draws on that alternative strand of thinking. The collected data primarily reveals that the development and usage of information systems happens in changing organisations, which suggests that the design and usage of information systems must cater for such a changing or dynamic environment. Therefore the data is interpreted using a philosophical outlook encompassing the notion of "living" information systems and Critical Theory, and this philosophical stance regards information technology as liberating human endeavour in organisations. Five sub-concepts and the concept of deferred system's design are derived from the data, which have been formulated to account and cater for change in information systems environments. The concept of deferred system's design encourages the design of information systems which allow for organisational human behaviour, consisting of organisational change, uncertainty, and learning, to be mediated by information technology. A systems design principle called `deferred system's design decisions' is derived to enable designs of tailorable information systems, which may be regarded as one form of living information systems to facilitate such organisational behaviour. An intersubjective theoretical model called the spiral of change model of tailorable information systems is proposed to explain and understand better the changing organisational environment in which information systems must be developed and in which they must function. To inform practice a computer tool is proposed which enables conceptions of " tailorable information systems that employ the principle of deferred system's design decisions and enables modelling changing or dynamic information systems

The added value of implementing the Planet Game scenario with Collage and Gridcole

This paper discusses the suitability and the added value of Collage and Gridcole when contrasted with other solutions participating in the ICALT 2006 workshop titled “Comparing educational modelling languages on a case study.” In this workshop each proposed solution was challenged to implement a Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning situation (CSCL) posed by the workshop’s organizers. Collage is a pattern-based authoring tool for the creation of CSCL scripts compliant with IMS Learning Design (IMS LD). These IMS LD scripts can be enacted by the Gridcole tailorable CSCL system. The analysis presented in the paper is organized as a case study which considers the data recorded in the workshop discussion as well the information reported in the workshop contributions. The results of this analysis show how Collage and Gridcole succeed in implementing the scenario and also point out some significant advantages in terms of design reusability and generality, user-friendliness, and enactment flexibility

Designing Tailorable Technologies

Tailorable technologies are technologies that are modified by users in the context of their use and are around us as desktop operating systems, web portals, and mobile telephones. While tailorable technologies provide users with limitless ways to modify the technology, as designers and researchers we have little understanding of how this should affect design. In this paper we present principles from four designers to strengthen inquiry into tailorable technologies. We then apply the principles to the case of the design of a web portal. We conclude that designers need to more consciously build reflective and active design environments and gradients of interactive capabilities in order for technology to be readily modified in the context of its use

Tinkering, Tailoring and Bricolage: Implications for Theories of Design

Current structural specifications for design theory and guidelines for Design Science fall short of creating theories that account for user tinkering, secondary design tailoring, and the interactions of supporting kernel theories. This paper offers an expansion of design theory conceptualization by incorporating aspects of design which occur in everyday technology use. Currently, design theory is focused solely on the artifact while obscuring the teleological information processes for which they are designed. We propose the addition of environments which can organize kernel theories and provide insight regarding interaction and influence of kernel theory in different use contexts. In addition, the modification of information artifacts and processes as users tinker with, and tailor systems is a necessary aspect of design theory specifications