Social Informatics Education in I-Schools

This essay focuses on the philosophical and conceptual underpinnings of a program of study in Social Informatics. We examine foundational concepts and analytical tools, ideas worked out by Rob Kling and others about the key components of an ICToriented education (even when the intent of their discussion was not pedagogical). Our intention is to assay Kling’s program of critical inquiry for a Social Informatics education that prepares information professionals to respond appropriately and ethically in their future careers. We do not to recommend the adoption of specific courses for a Social Informatics education. We had also planned to identify those components of a Social Informatics education that I-schools and library and information science schools have incorporated in their program offerings to determine how much progress has been made to adopt a critical perspective on the relationship between technology and people. However, this proved to be nearly impossible; we discuss our limited findings based on our initial exploration. Our concluding remarks address additions to the Kling perspective on a Social Informatics education that we would like to see and offer some thoughts on ways to support a Social Informatics education for information professionals.Indiana Universit

On Rob Kling: The Theoretical, the Methodological, and the Critical

We explore Rob Kling’s conceptual scaffolding for Social Informatics: his integration of theory, method and evidence and philosophical underpinnings and moral basis of his commitment to a critical stance towards computers and social life. He extended his focus on organizational practices and a lifelong meditation on democracy, value conflicts and social choices to the discourses of computerization and social transformation and to the education of the information professional. He came to his project through careful observation of organizational life and a critical reading of research conducted by other scholars and the rhetoric about ICTs, As Kling conceptualized it, the project of Social Informatics was to intervene in the social construction of the meaning, value, use and even design of technologies as shaped by discourse and education.Indiana Universit

Developing an Understanding of Interorganizational Systems: Arguments for Multi Level Analysis and Structuration Theory

Strategies and policies for the adoption and development of interorganizational systems require further understanding of the theoretical background to these systems. An argument is made for development of theory that is multi-level, processual and has an emergent perspective. Such theory is needed to deal with a context where environmental influences are important in addition to complex interactions between organizational activities at the micro-level and industry structure at the macro-level. The use of structuration theory as a vehicle to advance further understanding is explored. An illustration is given of application of this theory in the development of supply chain management in the beef industry

Automated information systems and urban decision making

This paper assesses the value of automated information systems for urban decision making and investigates alternative strategies for enhancing the value of this information. It is based on intensive survey and case study data in 40 U.S. cities with populations greater than 50.000. The findings indicate that although automated information systems are attributed significant usefulness by some types of decision makers for certain arrays of decisions, they are not generally useful to most urban decision makers. However, the findings suggest that they might be made more useful through management strategies which stress sensitive integration of these users with the technology. © 1979

Organizational Aspects of System Failure: A Case Study at the Los Angeles Police Department

The Pattern Recognition and Information Correlation System (PATRIC) was an online support system using a criminal database which promised to fulfill an urgent function for the community of Southern California. Yet PATRIC was phased out at the Los Angeles Police Department without ever having become fully operative. The experience raises questions about the ability of bureaucratic service organizations to implement and manage unconventional technology and large scale projects. The evidence suggests that human and organizational factors, on which a support system\u27s success or fai lure ultimately depends, were overlooked. The paper relates the system failure to the organizational environment, and suggests that consideration of the social factors be integrated into the process of planning for information systems

Management Utilization of Computers in American Local Governments

Traditional concepts of management information systems (MIS) bear little relation to the information systems currently in use by top management in most US local governments. What exists is management-oriented computing, involving the use of relatively unsophisticated applications. Despite the unsophisticated nature of these systems, management use of computing is surprisingly common, but also varied in its extent among local governments. Management computing is most prevalent in those governments with professional management practices where top management is supportive of computing and tends to control computing decisions and where department users have less control over design and implementation activities. Finally, management computing clearly has impacts for top managers, mostly involving improvements in decision information. © 1978, ACM. All rights reserved

Rob Kling In Search of One Good Theory: The Origins of Computerization Movements

Rob Kling’s intellectual contribution is a corpus of work that exemplifies the craft of inquiry and the social enterprise of science. He applied core sociological ideas and grounded them in evidence. His work connected theory, method, and evidence. His observations of the empirical world over more than a quarter-century led to research questions that transcended disciplinary boundaries, invigorated disciplines, transformed our thinking, and helped us develop a working vocabulary about technology and social life. He was decidedly unapologetic about his eclecticism — instead, reveling in the need to employ multiple theoretical frameworks, multiple methodologies, and multiple sources of evidence to make his arguments. This paper examines Rob Kling’s craft of inquiry. It traces the evolution of his theorizing, methodological choices, and gathering of evidence to understand computerization movements, an inquiry that situates his analysis in an unfailingly consistent critical stance towards computers and social life.Indiana Universit