Pro-active Meeting Assistants : Attention Please!

This paper gives an overview of pro-active meeting assistants, what they are and when they can be useful. We explain how to develop such assistants with respect to requirement definitions and elaborate on a set of Wizard of Oz experiments, aiming to find out in which form a meeting assistant should operate to be accepted by participants and whether the meeting effectiveness and efficiency can be improved by an assistant at all

How Do Project-related Artefacts Qualify for Bridging Boundaries in IS Implementation Projects – An Activity Theoretical Perspective

Boundary objects were found to significantly impact the outcomes of IS implementation projects. Despite emphasizing their flexibility, however, prior research is no very precise on the attributes that qualifies project-related artefacts to become boundary objects. To identify the internal characteristics of artefacts that enable business and IT to synchronize IS and business needs, this research offers an activity theoretical view on boundary objects. The usefulness of the concept is demonstrated by means of an in-depth case study. The findings of this research emphasize that –in order to become boundary objects– project-related artefacts need to be part of the IS implementation and the business activity system. Moreover, they need to capture relevant knowledge of both activity systems and enable recognition of contradictions within and between. As to that, utilization of emerging project deliverables by means of internalization or externalization processes is found to facilitate the alignment between IS and business needs

Understanding the role of objects in cross-disciplinary collaboration

In this paper we make a case for the use of multiple theoretical perspectives – theory on boundary objects, epistemic objects, cultural historical activity theory and objects as infrastructure - to understand the role of objects in cross-disciplinary collaboration. A pluralist approach highlights that objects perform at least three types of work in this context: they motivate collaboration; they allow participants to work across different types of boundaries; and they constitute the fundamental infrastructure of the activity. Building on the results of an empirical study we illustrate the insights that each theoretical lens affords into practices of collaboration and develop a novel analytical framework that organizes objects according to the active work they perform. Our framework can help shed new light on the phenomenon, especially with regards the shifting status of objects and sources of conflict (and change) in collaboration. After discussing these novel insights, we outline directions for future research stemming from a pluralist approach. We conclude by noting the managerial implications of our finding

Justification and Interlaced Knowledge at ATLAS, CERN

We report on a longitudinal study of the emergence of the ATLAS detector, a complex technological system developed at CERN, Geneva. Our data show that the coordination of initial architectural choices was driven by cycles of contestation and justification that resulted in the creation of what we term interlaced knowledge-pockets of shared knowledge interwoven within and across subsystem communities at ATLAS. We also found that these justifications were possible because of the presence of a boundary infrastructure that served as a common substrate of knowledge for all ATLAS participants. Together, the boundary infrastructure and interlaced knowledge enabled participants to make co-oriented technological choices, address latent interdependencies, and minimize the incidence and severity of glitches when integrating the various subsystems

Application of a Virtual Collaborative Environment in a Teaching Case.

This paper demonstrates the use of technology in enabling and facilitating collaborative teaching in an IS project management teaching case in the virtual environment. The motivation and objectives of the Synergizer case (IS project management case), the adopted methodology for the case development and the underlying theory for the teaching process are presented. Based on lessons from the case, this paper provides teaching suggestions and discusses a possible delivery mode of interactive learning in IS field in the virtual environment. Furthermore, the paper presents the implementation of the teaching case in a collaborative environment as demonstration of an emergent re-calibration of a curriculum delivery to meet changing demands of the education landscape. The virtual collaborative teaching approach adopted for delivering the course/case should be suitable for teaching other IS courses – including project management, change management and other related courses

Anti-partisanship in Germany: three essays

Tabel of Contents: S. 1 - 22: Susan Scarrow: 'Anti-Partisanship and political change' S. 23 - 32: Lothar Probst: 'Political myths and symbolic communication: electoral mobilization by the DVU' S. 33 - 47: Ruth Bevan: 'The dilemma of power in Petra Kelly’s antipolitics