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

L'approche du design science au cœur du débat rigueur / pertinence

International audienceL'objectif de cet article est de mettre en lumière l'approche du 'design science' qui connaît aujourd'hui un intérêt grandissant de nombreuses revues et conférences européennes et américaines. Peu utilisé à l'heure actuelle dans les travaux francophones, nous avons choisi d'éclairer cette approche en approfondissant à la fois ces apports mais aussi ces limites dans un débat qui anime la communauté SI, le débat rigueur/pertinence

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

15 Years of Information System Design Science Research: A Bibliographic Analysis

The publication of the seminal work of Hevner et al. [34] generated a noticeable shift on the part of researchers, leading to greater interaction between research and practice, in particular through the development of Information Systems Design Science Research (ISDSR). Fifteen years later, the time appears ripe for a retrospective analysis of this research paradigm in order to understand the logic and dynamics of its development. Recently, a small number of researchers have attempted to provide such an analysis through literature syntheses based on their subjective interpretation of the field. We seek to pursue this effort through a Co-Citation Analysis of ISDSR articles published in the AIS basket of eight journals. As such, we offer an original analysis of the ISDSR literature that sheds light on its intellectual foundations. Our contribution is twofold. First, we show the distribution of ISDSR articles and the composition of the intellectual core. Second, we discuss our quantitative results and identify an integrative framework for ISDSR

Construire des scénarios d'usage : une approche cognitivo-structurationniste - Le cas KMP -

Ce travail s'inscrit dans une problématique de conception et d'implémentation d'innovations technologiques selon une démarche orientée usage. Il vise à proposer un cadre conceptuel pour construire des scénarios d'usage. Ce cadre conceptuel présente la particularité peu usuelle de coupler les théories de la structuration et de la cognition distribuée ; il sera appliqué au cas KMP.Scénarios d'usage ; théorie de la cognition distribuée ; théorie de la structuration.

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

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

Open Innovation in the Public Sector: A Dynamic Capabilities Perspective and the Role of Information Technology

Public sector organizations (PSOs) are facing important structural, financial, environmental, and technological pressures. To adapt and respond to this complex and changing environment, PSOs need to deploy new innovative and collaborative approaches to capture and capitalize on specialized knowledge coming from a wider number of contributors. Open innovation (OI) is one such promising approach. Drawing on a dynamic capabilities perspective and based on an analysis of 100 case study reports of OI initiatives, we identified 16 key organizational actions deployed by PSOs to implement OI initiatives. Data analysis showed that PSOs’ dynamic capabilities of sensing, seizing and transforming are enacted and collectively used to engage in OI initiatives through these 16 organizational actions. In virtually all of these organizational actions, information technology (IT) plays a key role either as a central support tool or as an outcome

Optical diagnostics development and coupling dedicated to heat, mass and aerosol transfers in a spray for severe accident safety analysis in nuclear power plant

Paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 30 June - 2 July, 2008.In order to study the interactions between a spray and an atmosphere representative of a severe accident in a Pressurized Water Reactor, in terms of pressure, temperature and composition (steam and aerosol), the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) developed the TOSQAN facility. This paper presents the development and qualification of the global rainbow refractometry and Interferometric Laser Imaging for Droplets Sizing (ILIDS) that are respectively dedicated to measure the spray droplets temperature and size. In addition we present an extension of these two techniques in order to determine the aerosol concentration inside the droplet and the aerosol removal rate.vk201