The role of boundary objects in the co-evolution of design and use: the KMP project experimentation

Nowadays, it is widely recognized that an ICT tool cannot be built without knowing who will use it and what they will do with. In this perspective, Human-Computer Interaction community (Carroll, 1990; Jarke, Tung Bui and Carroll, 1998; Young and Barnard, 1987; Young and al., 1989) developed a scenario-based approach contrasting with the traditional information system design. The scenario describes an existing or envisioned system from the perspective of one or more users and includes a narration of their goals, plans and reactions (Rosson and Carroll, 2002). As a result, design is founded on the use of scenarios as a central representation for the analysis and design of use. The scenario-based design appears to be a first step in the integration of users in the design of ICT tool. However, we would like to underline in this paper a more active role of users in the design process. According to Orlikowski (2000) while a technology can be seen to have been constructed with particular materials and inscribed with developers' assumptions and knowledge about the world at a point in time, it is only when this technology is used in recurrent social practices that it can be said to structure user's action. The use of technology in recurrent social practices must be considered because how technological properties will for the moment be used or appropriate is not inherent or predetermined. Finally, this approach leads us to dissociate the designers' world from the users' world. In this perspective, the design project is the result of the co-evolution and the convergence of both worlds: on the one hand, the world of design and a first integration of users by scenarios; on the other hand, the world of users where innovation is the art of interesting an increasing number of allies who will make the world of design stronger and stronger. The objective of this paper is to understand the mechanisms of interaction between the world of design and that of users i.e. between loops of co-design and loops of uses. Indeed, according to Akrich, Callon and Latour (1988) we adopt a whirlwind model of innovation. In this perspective, “innovation continuously transforms itself according to the trials to which it is submitted i.e. of the “interessements” tried out » (Akrich and al., 2002: 7). We will demonstrate that the key success of an innovation depends on the co-evolution and convergence of design and use around boundary objects developed during this process (see Figure 1). More specifically, we will show the role of boundary objects on the integration and on the involvement of users in the design process. In order to do so, we carried out an empirical research – the Knowledge Management Platform project - located in the scientific park of Sophia Antipolis (Alpes-Maritimes, France), focusing on the Telecom Valley® (TV) association which gathers the main actors of the Sophia Antipolis Telecom cluster. Indeed, the KMP project aims to build a semantic web service of competencies in order to enhance exchange and combination dynamics of knowledge within the Telecom cluster thanks to an interactive mapping of competencies. This paper will comprise three parts: Based on the researches of Akrich, Callon and Latour (1988), Hatchuel and Mollet (1986), Orlikowski (2000), Romme and Endenburg (2006) we will identify and analyse in a first part the process of design. The combination of these approaches leads us to distinguish the design' world from the users' world. In this perspective, the success of an innovation may be explained by the co-evolution and the convergence of these two worlds. In this process, we suggest that boundary objects play a key role in the convergence of these two worlds. We will present in a second part the empirical study of the KMP project within the TV network. The KMP project involved researchers from socio-economic sciences (GREDEG Laboratory, UNSA-CNRS, Rodige and Latapses teams), cognitive sciences and artificial intelligence (INRIA, Acacia team), telecommunications (GET) and users (TV) for a total force of 187 men per month for a two-year period (2003-2005). At this present time this project is being set up in a pre-industrialization phase, supported by TV and the PACA region. Here, we will analyse the specific process of design experimented by KMP. Finally, the third part discusses the role of boundary objects in the KMP experimentation. In this part, we will show the evolution of boundary objects during the loops of design. More specifically, the focus will be on the emergence of compromises between designers and users, their materialisation in boundary objects and finally their evolution during the design' process.boundary objects, IS development, actor network theory

A design theory for collaborative interorganizational knowledge management systems

This paper addresses the design problem of providing IT support to organizational knowledge creation within a geographical cluster. This study is based on a design science approach that serves to successfully introduce and implement a new IT artefact as a tool for interorganizational knowledge management. We draw on a case study of developing a portal for mapping competencies in an IT cluster in France. Abstracting from the experience of building this system, we developed an IS design theory for collaborative interorganizational knowledge management systems

Méthodologie de « Design Collaboratif » : une approche intégrative

CommunicationPlusieurs travaux suggèrent que le « design » peut constituer une forme « idéale-type » de recherche, capable de réconcilier et d'articuler les connaissances théoriques et les connaissances pratiques. Dans cette communication nous proposons une méthodologie de design collective et intégrative : collective parce qu'elle se centre sur l'articulation des savoirs théoriques et pratiques ; intégrative parce qu'elle tente de combiner les aspects clés des deux démarches de design identifiées, celle fondée sur la science des organisations et celle privilégiant la participation et l'engagement des praticiens. Cette méthodologie a été développée pour concevoir une solution TIC innovante, un site web de compétences, visant à renforcer les synergies et l'innovation au sein du cluster Télécoms Sophipolitain. Au-delà du contexte dans lequel elle a été développée, cette méthodologie répond au défi de produire à la fois des connaissances théoriques et pratiques

Méthodologie de « Design Collaboratif » : une approche intégrative

Plusieurs travaux suggèrent que le « design » peut constituer une forme « idéale-type » de recherche, capable de réconcilier et d'articuler les connaissances théoriques et les connaissances pratiques. Dans cette communication nous proposons une méthodologie de design collective et intégrative : collective parce qu'elle se centre sur l'articulation des savoirs théoriques et pratiques ; intégrative parce qu'elle tente de combiner les aspects clés des deux démarches de design identifiées, celle fondée sur la science des organisations et celle privilégiant la participation et l'engagement des praticiens. Cette méthodologie a été développée pour concevoir une solution TIC innovante, un site web de compétences, visant à renforcer les synergies et l'innovation au sein du cluster Télécoms Sophipolitain. Au-delà du contexte dans lequel elle a été développée, cette méthodologie répond au défi de produire à la fois des connaissances théoriques et pratiques.Méthodologies de “Design” ; Recherche collaborative ; Règles de Design ; Environnement muti-acteurs ; multi-technologiques ; système organisationnel complexe

On the non-global linear stability and spurious fixed points of MPRK schemes with negative RK parameters

Recently, a stability theory has been developed to study the linear stability of modified Patankar--Runge--Kutta (MPRK) schemes. This stability theory provides sufficient conditions for a fixed point of an MPRK scheme to be stable as well as for the convergence of an MPRK scheme towards the steady state of the corresponding initial value problem, whereas the main assumption is that the initial value is sufficiently close to the steady state. Initially, numerical experiments in several publications indicated that these linear stability properties are not only local, but even global, as is the case for general linear methods. Recently, however, it was discovered that the linear stability of the MPDeC(8) scheme is indeed only local in nature. Our conjecture is that this is a result of negative Runge--Kutta (RK) parameters of MPDeC(8) and that linear stability is indeed global, if the RK parameters are nonnegative. To support this conjecture, we examine the family of MPRK22($\alpha$) methods with negative RK parameters and show that even among these methods there are methods for which the stability properties are only local. However, this local linear stability is not observed for MPRK22($\alpha$) schemes with nonnegative Runge-Kutta parameters.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure

An Integrative Design Methodology to Support an Inter-Organizational Knowledge Management Solution

Design research develops knowledge to respond to real-world challenges and solve authentic problems. In this paper, we adopt a pragmatic and semantic design approach to combine the best of two separate design discourses: the discourse about developing science-based design rules and the discourse on user-centered, participative, and experience-based design. We develop a methodology that combines both discourses and perspectives. Subsequently, this methodology is illustrated by means of a case study of designing and developing a portal for mapping competencies in the multi-stakeholder environment of an IT cluster. This case study suggests design research can become more effective if it adopts a deliberate focus on articulating design rules as well as engaging users in trying out prototypes, to create artifacts that support and drive the dialogue between user-practitioners and design-oriented researchers

Management of patients with low back pain: a survey of French chiropractors

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the level of consensus within the French chiropractic profession regarding management of clinical issues. A previous Swedish study showed that chiropractors agreed relatively well on the management strategy for nine low back pain scenarios. We wished to investigate whether those findings could be reproduced among French chiropractors. OBJECTIVES: 1. To assess the level of consensus among French chiropractors regarding management strategies for nine different scenarios of low back pain. 2. To assess whether the management choices of the French chiropractors appeared reasonable for the low back pain scenarios. 3. To compare French management patterns with those described in the previous survey of Swedish chiropractors. METHOD: A postal questionnaire was sent to a randomly selected sample of 167 French chiropractors in 2009. The questionnaire described a 40-year old man with low back pain, and presented nine hypothetical short-term outcome scenarios and six possible management strategies. For each of the nine scenarios, participants were asked to choose the management strategy that they would recommend. The percentages of respondents choosing the different management strategies were identified for each scenario. Appropriateness of the chosen management strategy was assessed using predetermined “best practice” for each scenario. Consensus was arbitrarily defined as “moderate” when 50- 69% of respondents agreed on the same management choice for a scenario, and “excellent” when 70% or more provided the same answer. RESULTS: Excellent consensus was achieved for only one scenario, and moderate consensus for two scenarios. For five of the nine scenarios, the most common answers were in agreement with the “best practice” management strategies. Consensus between the French and Swedish responses on the most appropriate management was seen in five of the nine scenarios and these were all in agreement with the expected answer. CONCLUSION: There was reasonable consensus among the French chiropractors in their choice of treatment strategy for low back pain and choices were generally in line with “best practice”. The differences in response between the French and Swedish chiropractors suggest that cultural and/or educational differences influence the conceptual framework within which chiropractors practice