Helena Karsten

Crossing boundaries and conscripting participation: representing and integrating knowledge in a paper machinery project

In large, complex knowledge management tasks, representing and integrating knowledge present major challenges. To understand these, we studied two processes: perspective taking across communities of knowing with boundary objects and perspective making within a community by the use of conscription devices. A mutually modifiable object, with sufficient complexity and manageability, appeared to be of crucial importance within a community. Between communities, the role of representations and negotiation over their meaning were emphasised. Implications for computer support point towards combining free form and structure, open and controlled access and modifiability, and parallel synchronised and unregulated communication.

Collaboration and collaborative information technologies: a review of the evidence

Collaborative information technologies have been claimed to enhance collaboration in organizations, under certain conditions. This claim was found problematic in several respects, also in the light of the results of 18 case studies of Lotus Notes use, taken from the literature. The cases may be split into three groups: (1) exploratory, conservative, or cautious use; (2) planned and expanding use; and (3) extensive and engaged use of Notes. In the first group, no changes in work arrangements due to Notes use could be found. In the second group, the planned Notes applications supported the established work arrangements, both collaborative and hierarchical. Only in the third group were there significant changes towards more collaboration. These changes were due to a conscious and continued effort to bring about new work arrangements and new kinds of Notes support.A number of issues emerged in the review that could help to understand the relationship of collaborative information technologies and changes in work and organization. The issues included the role of the specific capabilities of the technology; the difference between technology as a product and technology-in-use; the kind of care needed in bringing about desired changes; the emergent, drifting nature of the change process; the role of the technology as a constructive tool in improvising and enacting the changes; and the gradual translations of influences from work practices to organizational practices.

Where The Global Needs The Local: Variation in Enablers in the Knowledge Management Process

Abstract Knowledge management (KM) is a focus for knowledge-intensive businesses and organisations, irrespective of the size and geographical location. While it is important to make the local knowledge become global, the efforts to manage the knowledge processes and the specific impact of the enablers require thorough understanding of the local factors to ensure its success and sustainability. Most of the previous models and frameworks of KM do not consider the differences in regions and countries and the specific local organisational factors that could affect KM. We conducted an empirical study of six research organisations in sub-Saharan Africa to understand the particular local context in which the KM occurs. We identified variations in factors such as the local cultures and beliefs, the persistent underfunding, and the operating environment influences in these organisations. Based on these, we argue for the importance of a context specific model of KM.

The long and winding road: collaborative IT and organisational change

The role of collaborative information technology in organisational changes continues to be a source of controversy in the CSCW literature. We report organisational changes in a Ftih computer consukancy accompanying the introduction and use of Lotus Notes over a period of three years. The case shows that collaborative information technologies, such as Lotus Notes, are capable of supporting a variety forms of organisation. The uptake and use of Notes appeared to be more strongly Muenced by aspects of the organisational contex< intemd social structure and the users’ capabihties – in this case economic recessio~ changing foci of cmttrol and the role changes in the company – than by any intilc logic of the technology.

Converging paths to Notes: In search of computer-based information systems in a networked company

The nature of the information systems needed in a networked firm is not well known: nor is the process leading to particular solutions. Describes a small computer‐consulting company which works as a network of independent consultants, and analyses the slow and circuitous path from recognizing its IS/IT needs to its commitment to a particular solution as seven steps; using ideas of structuration theory as a focus. During the selection process, participants formed new interpretations of the firm, of technology, and of the appropriate process towards a feasible solution. New resources – both material and symbolic – were acquired to enable the search. Existing “norms” provided boundaries for the search process, but at times had to yield or be circumvented in order for the organization to reach a solution.

Verbal and visual representations in task redesign: how different viewpoints enter into information systems design discussions

Abstract.  We explore an important phase of information systems design (ISD), namely task redesign, and especially how different viewpoints enter into the discussions. We study how one particular visual representation, a process diagram, is interpreted and how alternative, even competing, representations are produced verbally. To tie the visual and verbal representations and the representational practices to wider social practices, we develop and use the Extended Three‐dimensional Model of discourse. Visual representations emerged as focal in bringing in the different viewpoints and as reference points for discussions. Our model provided a focused and powerful means to unveil for the outside researchers how the planned changes in tasks and authority relationships instigated a social struggle. The IS designer was an outsider to the client organization and therefore considered only the information system, not the social system in which it was intended to operate. Other participants did not recognize this, therefore, seeing the designer as furthering managerial interests. Seeing task redesign in the social context of a client organization can help IS designers and researchers to understand what the users see naturally, that is, the ISD as a dynamic, enabling but socially constrained process where different viewpoints are represented.

Global access to knowledge: Findings from academic research organisations in sub‐Saharan Africa

A major area of global knowledge management is in the practice of academic research. Studies how the Internet was used to support knowledge management in six non‐corporate research organisations in sub‐Saharan Africa. For knowledge acquisition, abstract and article databases and field‐specific Web sites were considered the most important services. For knowledge transfer, e‐mail, and especially e‐mail attachments, were considered crucial in overcoming the slowness of other means of communication. For knowledge application, communication with collaborators and publishers helped bring African research communities more visibility. Despite limited availability and infrastructure problems, some researchers had made headway in using the Internet to improve acquisition and transfer of knowledge, but not knowledge storage. Researchers in other areas of the globe may benefit from a fuller understanding of the issues and challenges facing their sub‐Saharan colleagues as an important step towards improving collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Constructing Interdependencies withCollaborative Information Technology

Interdependencies are constructed when peoplegradually build mutual relationships betweenthemselves. In this study the focus is oninterdependencies at work, in long-termprojects or groups. Viewing interdependencerelationships dynamically, as social practices,it is possible to appreciate the complex andsituated nature of this formation. The maingoal of the study is to develop a theoreticalaccount of the dynamics of the intertwinedprocesses of interdependence construction andcollaborative technology appropriation and use.The main dimensions of this account are: (1)how interdependence is constructed andestablished as a social process, (2) howinformation and communication are involved inthese processes, and (3) in what wayscollaborative information technology cancontribute to or hamper these processes. Thefirst dimension builds upon structurationtheory. Three earlier case studies arere-visited with the approach, with the outcomeof several issues to be explored. Thetheoretical approach opens up an extensiveresearch program of interdependenceconstruction in relation to collaborativeinformation technology appropriation and use.

ITI as enabler of knowledge management: empirical perspective from research organisations in sub-Saharan Africa

The information technology infrastructure (ITI) is said to play a significant role in knowledge management (KM) efforts. Yet, there is little research that focuses on how availability and use of IT infrastructure enable or constrain KM efforts. To explore this, we conducted an empirical study in six research organisations in sub-Saharan Africa. We compared the availability of IT infrastructure and its use in each of these organisations with their knowledge management efforts. Our results show that in four of the research institutes there is a clear relationship between KM efforts and ITI capabilities. However, in one organisation, a high level of IT infrastructure capability was not accompanied by high performance in KM efforts. Another organisation did well in KM at an instance of low IT infrastructure capability. In these two cases, closer inspection confirmed that IT infrastructure needs hot only to be available, but also understood, accepted, and in proper use before it can play its enabling role in KM efforts.

The Sustainability Imperative in Information Systems Research

This paper reports on a panel discussion at the pre-ICIS 2015 Workshop on Green Information Systems on the current state and future perspectives of SIGGreen—the Association of Information Systems’ special interest group on green information systems—and of green information systems (green IS) research in general. Over the past years, IS scholars have made important contributions advancing our knowledge about how information systems can contribute to solving problems associated with the degradation of the natural environment. However, it would appear that many view green IS as just another research topic in the IS field and not a very important one at that. This is questionable because sustainability is too important to be relegated as a footnote in the greater scheme of things. We suggest that the IS community should embrace sustainability as a core research imperative and integrate sustainability-related dimensions to research in theory and method, in rigor and relevance, and in the areas one chooses to research. We provide some actionable recommendations on how we as IS researchers and, indeed, how the IS field could help society and business interests make the transition to a sustainable world.