Human-Computer Interaction Series

Transcription

1 Human-Computer Interaction Series Editors-in-chief John Karat IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center (USA) Jean Vanderdonckt Université cathoique de Louvain (Begium) Editoria Board Gregory Abowd, Georgia Institute of Technoogy (USA) Gaëe Cavary, LIG-University of Grenobe 1 (France) John Carro, Coege of Information Sciences & Technoogy, Penn State University (USA) Gibert Cockton, University of Sunderand (UK) Mary Czerwinski, Microsoft Research (USA) Steven Feiner, Coumbia University (USA) Eizabeth Furtado, University of Fortaeza (Brazi) Kristina Höök, SICS (Sweden) Robert Jacob, Tufts University (USA) Robin Jeffries, Googe (USA) Peter Johnson, University of Bath (UK) Kumiyo Nakakoji, University of Tokyo (Japan) Phiippe Paanque, Université Pau Sabatier (France) Oscar Pastor, University of Vaencia (Spain) Fabio Paternò, ISTI-CNR (Itay) Costin Pribeanu, Nationa Institute for Research & Deveopment in Informatics (Romania) Mariyn Sazman, Sazman Consuting (USA) Chris Schmandt, Massachusetts Institute of Technoogy (USA) Markus Stoze, IBM Zürich (Switzerand) Gerd Szwius, Universität Paderborn (Germany) Manfred Tscheigi, University of Sazburg (Austria) Gerrit van der Veer, University of Twente (The Netherands) Shumin Zhai, IBM Amaden Research Center (USA)

2 ii Human-Computer Interaction is a mutidiscipinary fied focused on human aspects of the deveopment of computer technoogy. As computer-based technoogy becomes increasingy pervasive - not just in deveoped countries, but wordwide - the need to take a human-centered approach in the design and deveopment of this technoogy becomes ever more important. For roughy 30 years now, researchers and practitioners in computationa and behaviora sciences have worked to identify theory and practice that infuences the direction of these technoogies, and this diverse work makes up the fied of humancomputer interaction. Broady speaking it incudes the study of what technoogy might be abe to do for peope and how peope might interact with the technoogy. In this series, we present work which advances the science and technoogy of deveoping systems which are both effective and satisfying for peope in a wide variety of contexts. The human-computer interaction series wi focus on theoretica perspectives (such as forma approaches drawn from a variety of behaviora sciences), practica approaches (such as the techniques for effectivey integrating user needs in system deveopment), and socia issues (such as the determinants of utiity, usabiity and acceptabiity). Author guideines: > Author Guideines For other tites pubished in this series, go to

3 John M. Carro Editor Learning in Communities Interdiscipinary Perspectives on Human Centered Information Technoogy

4 Editor John M. Carro The Pennsyvania State University Coege of Information Sciences and Technoogy 307H IST Buiding University Park, PA , USA Human-Computer Interaction Series ISSN: ISBN: e-isbn: DOI / British Library Cataoguing in Pubication Data A cataogue record for this book is avaiabe from the British Library Library of Congress Contro Number: Springer-Verag London Limited 2009 Apart from any fair deaing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this pubication may ony be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the pubishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of icences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms shoud be sent to the pubishers. The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this pubication does not impy, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the reevant aws and reguations and therefore free for genera use. The pubisher makes no representation, express or impied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any ega responsibiity or iabiity for any errors or omissions that may be made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer Science+Business Media springer.com

5 Preface Most earning takes pace in communities. Peope continuay earn through their participation with others in everyday activities. Such earning is important in contemporary society because forma education cannot prepare peope for a word that changes rapidy and continuay. We need to ive in earning communities. A discourse on earning in communities encompasses (at east) communities of practice, earning communities, community networks, communities of interest, earning organizations, earning-by-doing, cognitive apprenticeship, subjugated earning, coaborative/cooperative earning, situated cognition, design as inquiry, knowedge management, ifeong earning, informa earning, casebased earning, and earning cutures. Athough it is difficut to find any contemporary technica work in the mutidiscipinary space of informa earning and coaborative activity that does not appea to at east one of these touchstone concepts, it is aso difficut to find work that tries to confront or to systematize the fu range of these concepts. Existing conferences tend to stovepipe such discussions: Thus, meetings of the Cognitive Science Society and the Journa of the Learning Sciences focus much attention on the concepts of cognitive apprenticeship, situated cognition, coaborative/cooperative earning, and even cassroom-based earning communities, but ignore informa and coective earning, such as earning organizations, community networks, and earning cutures. Information systems conference and journas focus much attention on knowedge management and earning organizations, but do not focus on community networks and informa earning. The Computer-Support Cooperative Work Conference and Journa address knowedge management, communities of practice, and to a imited extent on community networks, but do not consider case-based earning, earning cutures, ifeong earning, or subjugated earning. The Communities and Technoogy Conferences and journas ike Community Informatics focus on communities of practice, community networks, and subjugated earning, but do not address issues such as cognitive apprenticeship, situated cognition, and earning communities. v

6 vi Preface The Meeting On August 14 17, 2005, a mutidiscipinary group of schoars met at Penn State s Coege of Information Sciences and Technoogy to discuss earning in communities. The goas of this workshop were to bring together a wide range of perspectives and approaches to earning in communities, to articuate the state of the art, and to define agendas for research and technoogy infrastructures and initiatives. The group incuded the foowing: Ann Bishop, Graduate Schoo of Library and Information Science, University of Iinois, Champaign: Bishop is interested in community information systems for traditionay marginaized groups; she was a founder of the PrairieNet community network. John M. Carro, Coege of Information Sciences and Technoogy and Center for Human-Computer Interaction, Penn State, University Park: Carro investigates socia and computationa infrastructures for community-based earning, and is Principa Investigator for the Nationa Science Foundation s Civic Nexus project in sustainabe information technoogy earning. Andrew Cement, Facuty of Information Studies, University of Toronto: Cement has worked in community informatics for 30 years, and is currenty Principa Investigator for the Canadian Research Aiance for Community Innovation and Networking. Nancy Kranich, Library Consutant and Past President of the American Library Association: Kranich is interested in the roe of ibraries in providing an information commons, faciitating community-buiding and democracy, and in enhancing civic iteracy. Gerhard Fischer, Department of Computer Science and Institute for Cognitive Science, University of Coorado, Bouder: Fischer investigates refective communities, toos, and environments to support ifeong earning, and in faciitating creativity. Christopher Hoadey, Department of Instructiona Systems and Schoo of Information Sciences and Technoogy, Penn State, University Park: Hoadey is interested in knowedge-buiding communities, and in techniques for measuring community achievements. Andrea Kavanaugh, Center for Human-Computer Interaction, Virginia Tech, Backsburg, VA: Kavanaugh investigates communication behavior and effects in the context of community networks; she made a decade-ong study of the Backsburg Eectronic Viage, and is now evauating Internet services in oca government. Lynette Kvasney, Schoo of Information Sciences and Technoogy and Center for the Information Society, Penn State, University Park: Kvasney is interested in how inner-city and third-word women understand and recruit information technoogy to buid socia, cutura, and economic capita. Jenny Preece, University of Maryand, Coege Park, MD: Preece has studied behavior in heath-reated communities, contrasting face-to-face and onine interactions; she is currenty investigating community deveopment in the context of the Internationa Chidren s Digita Library.

7 Preface vii Pau Resnick, Schoo of Information, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: Resnick is interested in the roe universities coud pay in information technoogy cooperative extension, and in how to cutivate information technoogy careers in the civic sector. Mary Beth Rosson, Schoo of Information Sciences and Technoogy and Center for Human-Computer Interaction, Penn State, University Park: Rosson investigates end-user programming and design, particuary in community computing contexts. Jorge Schement, Department of Teecommunications and Institute for Information Poicy, Penn State, University Park: Schement investigates teecommunication poicy impications for Hispanic-American communities, rura areas, and evoving conceptions of democracy. Mark Schager, Center for Technoogy in Learning, SRI, Meno Park, CA: Schager is interested in community infrastructures, and has investigated community-based approaches to teacher professiona deveopment in TappedIn through the past decade. Murai Venkatesh, Schoo of Information Studies, Syracuse University, NY: Venkatesh investigates power and progressive socia action in the context of broadband civic network panning. Voker Wuf, University of Siegen and Fraunhofer Institute of Appied Information Technoogy, Germany: Wuf is interested in supporting knowedge management in communities and socia networks, especiay in the context of muticutura communities. Aso participating were Umer Farooq, Roderick Lee, Ceceia Merke, and Lu Xiao who were then doctora and postdoctora students at Penn State. Orienting Themes and Questions We deveoped a set of orienting questions, as part of the panning process for the workshop and successivey eaborated through the course of the workshop itsef. Design: What are effective strategies and methods for initiating (designing) and sustaining communities of various types? How do and how can communities evove over time? Learning: Is earning, in the sense of human deveopment, constitutive of heathy communities? How can communities faciitate various educationa objectives, such as ifeong earning, cross-generationa earning, knowedge buiding, and universa technoogy iteracy? What is the roe of the university in faciitating communities, with respect to service earning, better integration of community action and research, and support for careers in civic information technoogy? Context: How can communities cutivate and everage indigenous/subjugated knowedge? How do communities cope with power structures of the cutures and institutions in which they are embedded? Agency: How can communities faciitate innovation and coective action?

8 viii Preface Measurement and evauation: How can we know when a community project or a community succeeds/fais? What are effective strategies and methods for assessing the impacts (e.g., earning, knowedge sharing) of communities on their participants individuay and coectivey? What are current success stories? Infrastructure: What are usefu information technoogy toos and techniques for promoting community objectives (end-user programming, participatory design)? How can information technoogy support community buiding (e.g., by increasing opportunities for civic discourse and by visuaizing the community to itsef)? Theory: What are usefu modes, theories, and frameworks for understanding community dynamics (activity theory, distributed cognition)? Diversity: How can different audiences needs be met? What power issues reate to different participants roes and backgrounds? Are there ways that communities can be designed to enhance interconnection between different types of peope? How can communities faciitate communication and cooperation across internationa, cutura, and socia boundaries? Our discussion wound up focusing on three theme custers: (1) earning in the context of community informatics, (2) paradigms of research and action for studies of earning in community, and (3) community infrastructures that faciitate earning. Learning in the Context of Community Informatics We distinguished earning in communities, in which earning is often informa, incidenta, and integrated with participation in community activity, from earning communities, which exist for and are a about earning. Learning in communities is not just reciproca or mutua earning; it is the coaborative construction of ideas in practice. This concept of earning in communities is impicit in democracy, and discovering how to faciitate such earning is a chaenge in the future trajectory of democracy in an age when face-to-face earning may become ess important. A key issue for community informatics is how to construct environments that encourage sharing of knowedge, particuary about content and perspectives that are not mainstream. Paradigms of Research and Action for Studies of Learning in Communities There is a tension between research and action in studies of earning in communities. Many of the workshop participants engage in some form of participatory action research. These methods are appropriate, but they are very costy with

9 Preface ix respect to the time and effort of facuty and students. Standard promotion and tenure vaues do not weigh community outreach highy. In US and grant universities, there is a we-deveoped concept of cooperative extension, athough its history is primariy agricutura outreach. Perhaps, a concept of information technoogy cooperative extension coud be deveoped as a more standard mode. One issue to consider is that, within universities, there often is a cear distinction between cooperative extension facuty and reguar research and teaching facuty. Perhaps, the extension mode woud just institutionaize the tension between research and action. One approach to this tension is to ceary divide consutancy and research engagement. For exampe, schoo systems and commercia organizations have we-articuated concepts of consutant. In such a roe, one can efficienty provide guidance for a cient s probem. But successfu consuting often requires focusing totay on soving a specific probem at hand, and not abstracting or generaizing that probem, or on enroing practitioners as research coaborators. Consutancy as an action research paradigm produces case studies that can subsequenty be refected on and deveoped as research activities. (Donad Schon might be a good exampe of this.) Community Infrastructures that Faciitate Learning Infrastructure is the sociotechnica background that aows work activity to move smoothy. It incudes hardware and software, processes of governance, socia faciitation of earning, and cutura and cognitive modes. Infrastructure is often invisibe, but invisibiity can entai negect and breakdown, and can repicate existing power structures. Different segments of society are differentiay abe to shape infrastructures. One strategy for managing infrastructures is to make them more visibe and participatory, especiay during periods of transition when infrastructures are changing. A reated strategy is to sow down adoption through coective resistance. One too for this is raising questions about infrastructures. We are in a period now of rapid deveopment and adoption of new information technoogy infrastructures. Severa workshop participants are exporing aternative infrastructure initiatives that attempted to deiberatey strengthen specific aspects of community-oriented activity, such as discussion and debate or visuaization of the community.

10 x Preface This Book This voume gathers together a of the schoary materias directy emanating from the workshop. The participants used the workshop as a catayst for three mutidiscipinary discussions of earning in communities. Initiay, a sectioned report on the workshop, incorporating ten short papers, was pubished as a specia section in the Journa of Community Informatics, voume 2, number 2, in 2006 ( net/). Subsequenty, a specia issue of five fu papers was pubished in the Journa of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, voume 16, 2007, and a specia section of two fu papers was pubished in the Internationa Journa of Computer- Supported Coaborative Learning, voume 2, in Part I presents the ten short papers from the specia section of the Journa of Community Informatics. In Chap. 1, Ann Peterson Bishop, Bertrum C. Bruce, and Cameron Jones argue that community inquiry is a core mechanism of effective coaborative earning. In Chap. 2, John Carro argues that, in participatory approaches to community-based earning, the designer/researcher must act in the periphery to be effective. In Chap. 3, Gerhard Fischer describes how earning in community transcends individua earning by better expoiting human diversity and socia sources of creativity. In Chap. 4, Fischer, aong with Markus Rohde and Voker Wuf, argues that traditiona universities can incorporate community-based earning modes an idea they subsequenty deveoped more fuy in a fu paper (see beow). In Chap. 5, Andrea Kavanaugh and Phiip Isenhour describe a panning process for deveoping speciaized wiki/webog appications to support civic and poitica deiberation among community members. In Chap. 6, Vomar Pipek, Mary Beth Rosson, Gunnar Stevens, and Voker Wuf argue that technoogy appropriation by communities of citizens requires many specific kinds of support. In Chap. 7, Rosson, with John Carro, describes a community-based earning project invoving women at various eves of deveopment as information technoogy professionas. In Chap. 8, Lynette Kvasney describes how digita divides tend to reproduce arger patterns of inequity, and what strategies might interrupt such a status quo. In Chap. 9, Kvasney, with Nancy Kranich and Jorge Reina Schement, reminds us that effective digita access requires far more than the mere possibiity of transmitting bits. In Chap. 10, Murai Venkatesh and Jeffrey Owens continue this ine of anaysis, viewing design, and the design of civic networks in particuar, as inherenty a batteground in the socia construction of technoogy between entrenched cutura practices and aternatives. Part II presents the seven fu papers from the Journa of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and the Internationa Journa of Computer-Supported Coaborative Learning. Chapter 11, by Andrea Kavanaugh, Than Than Zin, Mary Beth Rosson, John M. Carro, Joseph Schmitz, and B. Joon Kim, presents resuts from a ongitudina survey study of the Backsburg Eectronic Viage community. The chapter investigates how affiiation with community-oriented groups affects poitica participation in the community. For exampe, as members uses of information technoogy within oca groups increase over time, so do their eves and types of invovement in community groups. Further, these increases most often

11 Preface xi appear among peope who serve as opinion eaders and maintain weak socia ties within their communities. In Chap. 12, Gerhard Fischer, Markus Rohde, and Voker Wuf argue that earning in communities in a variety of specific senses provides a more effective aternative to what they ca traditiona instructionist teaching. They describe their own experiences from the University of Coorado and the University of Siegen demonstrating how community-based earning can be integrated into a computer science curricuum. In Chap. 13, Umer Farooq, Patricia Schank, Aexandra Harris, Judith Fusco, and Mark Schager report on a decade-ong design research investigation of an onine community environment supporting thousands of geographicay dispersed educators across many communities of practice. Many onine community projects are initiay interesting, but not sustainabe. The authors discuss four design strategies they beieve are critica to deveoping sustainabe onine environments for professiona communities of practice. In Chap. 14, Tim Reiching, Michae Veith, and Voker Wuf describe recommender system support for expertise sharing within communities of practice. They describe a 3-year case study invoving a requirements gathering fied study and design of an expert recommender system in a European industria association. The recommender system took document coections as an indicator of an actor s expertise. The practices and poitics of expertise sharing in this organization and the fit with existing software infrastructures were determining factors in this case. In Chap. 15, John M. Carro and Umer Farooq deveop and iustrate the proposa that design patterns, in the sense that term is used by Christopher Aexander, provide a usefu eve of description for design soutions for addressing probems in community-based earning. They draw on a decade of experience working coaborative with oca nonprofit groups to address earning chaenges regarding the use of information technoogy. In Chap. 16, Murai Venkatesh and Mawaki Chango consider how cutura vaues shape the basic teecommunications and Internet access services upon which software appications depend. The poitics of infrastructure design are investigated in a case study of the deveopment of a reference architecture for broadband civic networking and its impacts in a particuar urban community. The fina chapter is Supporting Community Emergency Management Panning Through a Geocoaboration Software Architecture, by Wendy A. Schafer, Craig H. Ganoe, and John M. Carro. Community emergency management panning invoves many stakehoders throughout a community. Geocoaboration is critica: Emergency managers, pubic works directors, first responders, and oca transportation managers need to exchange information reating to possibe emergency event ocations and their surrounding areas. The software architecture was deveoped through a case study of panning for emergency management appications in a community in centra Pennsyvania. This coection of chapters is not the definitive summary of earning in communities. It is assuredy more proegomena than coda. Learning is increasingy recognized as a critica facet of ifetime activity, one that must be become better

12 xii Preface integrated with a that peope do. At the same time, community structures are increasingy recognized as a critica category of socia organization fexibe and adaptabe, capabe of innovation and deveopment, and yet just as strongy nurturing and supportive. The promise of earning in communities ies ahead of us. Hopefuy, this set of essays wi prope us a aong that path. Acknowedgments The Learning in Communities workshop was partiay supported by the US Nationa Science Foundation (IIS ). I especiay thank Dr. Suzi Iacono of NSF who supported this workshop through her now-egendary Digita Society and Technoogy program. I thank the editors-in-chief of the three journas that originay pubished the workshop papers that are gathered and re-presented here: Dr. Michae Gurstein, editor-in-chief of the Journa of Community Informatics, Dr. Kjed Schmidt, editor-in-chief of the Journa of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, and Dr. Gerry Stah, editor-in-chief of the Internationa Journa of Computer- Supported Coaborative Learning. I aso thank Dr. Ann Bishop for her guidance and assistance in preparing the specia section of short papers for the Journa of Community Informatics. University Park, PA, USA John M. Carro

13 Contents Part I 1 Community Inquiry and Informatics: Coaborative Learning Through ICT... 3 Ann Peterson Bishop, Bertram C. Bruce, and M. Cameron Jones 2 The Participant-Observer in Community-Based Learning as Community Bard... 7 John M. Carro 3 Learning in Communities: A Distributed Inteigence Perspective Gerhard Fischer 4 Spiders in the Net: Universities as Faciitators of Community-Based Learning Gerhard Fischer, Markus Rohde, and Voker Wuf 5 Designing Technoogy for Loca Citizen Deiberation Andrea Kavanaugh and Phiip Isenhour 6 Supporting the Appropriation of ICT: End-User Deveopment in Civi Societies Vokmar Pipek, Mary Beth Rosson, Gunnar Stevens, and Voker Wuf 7 Deveopmenta Learning Communities Mary Beth Rosson and John M. Carro 8 Socia Reproduction and Its Appicabiity for Community Informatics Lynette Kvasny xiii

14 xiv Contents 9 Communities, Learning, and Democracy in the Digita Age Lynette Kvasny, Nancy Kranich, and Jorge Reina Schement 10 Radica Praxis and Civic Network Design Murai Venkatesh and Jeffrey S. Owens Part II 11 Loca Groups Onine: Poitica Learning and Participation Andrea Kavanaugh, ThanThan Zin, Joseph Schmitz, Mary Beth Rosson, B. Joon Kim, and John M. Carro 12 Community-Based Learning: The Core Competency of Residentia, Research-Based Universities Gerhard Fischer, Markus Rohde, and Voker Wuf 13 Sustaining a Community Computing Infrastructure for Onine Teacher Professiona Deveopment: A Case Study of Designing Tapped In Umer Farooq, Patricia Schank, Aexandra Harris, Judith Fusco, and Mark Schager 14 Expert Recommender: Designing for a Network Organization Tim Reiching, Michae Veith, and Voker Wuf 15 Patterns as a Paradigm for Theory in Community-Based Learning John M. Carro and Umer Farooq 16 Architecture, Infrastructure, and Broadband Civic Network Design: An Institutiona View Murai Venkatesh and Mawaki Chango 17 Supporting Community Emergency Management Panning Through a Geocoaboration Software Architecture Wendy A. Schafer, Craig H. Ganoe, and John M. Carro Index