L545 Systems Analysis & Design Week 7: October 14, 2008

SLIS S556 2 Announcements Mid-term evaluation results Qs re Individual Assignment #2? Informed consent?

SLIS S556 3 Culture Culture defines expectations, desires, policies, values, and the whole approach people take to their work Cultural context: the mindset that people operate within and that plays a part in everything they do

SLIS S556 4 Cultural Context Issues of cultural context  Not concrete  Not technical  Not represented in an artifact  Not written on a wall  Not observable in a single action

SLIS S556 5 Cultural Context Issues of cultural context are:  Revealed in the language use  Implied by recurring patterns of behavior, nonverbal communications, and attitudes  Suggested by how people decorate and the posters they put on their walls

SLIS S556 6 Influence of Culture: Tone?

SLIS S556 7 Influence of Culture: Tone?

SLIS S556 8 Influence of Culture: Tone?

SLIS S556 9 Influence of Culture Policies  What are the polices people follow?  How are policies recorded?  Are there policy manuals? Are they used? (cf., artifact model)

SLIS S Influence of Culture

SLIS S Influence of Culture Organizational influence  Are there organizations, individuals, or job functions that keep showing up, either as troublesome or helpful?  What are the organizations or job functions that always seem to get in the way?  Listen to how people talk about others

SLIS S Influence of Culture

SLIS S Influence of Culture

SLIS S Influence of Culture

SLIS S Making Culture Tangible Cultural model provides a tangible representation (see p. 113 & 114 in B&H) In a cultural model, we represent:  Influencers (people, organizations, and groups)  Influences  Problems/breakdowns

SLIS S Cultural Model Rules (B&H p ) Influencers are shown as large bubbles  Bubbles sit on one another, showing how one org forces another to take or not take actions Influences are shown as arrows piercing the bubbles with labels  Label with language representing the experience of the people doing the work Breakdowns with the culture are marked with a lightning bolt

SLIS S Cultural Model Cultural model =\ organization charts Individual managers appear only they are charismatic figures

SLIS S Physical Environment PE:  How people move  How the space supports or hinders communication  Location of the tools people use (hardware, networks, machines) to do work

SLIS S Impact of the Physical Environment Organization of Space  Are there stations?  How do they relate to the work?  Are stations grouped to follow the flow of work?

SLIS S Impact of the Physical Environment Division of Space  Where are the walls?  Do they follow the structure of the work?  Do they interfere with it?  How do people over come the problems?

SLIS S Impact of the Physical Environment Grouping of People  How are people grouped in the spaces? By function or by project?  Does each person have their own separate office area?

SLIS S Impact of the Physical Environment Organization of Workplaces  How are the individual stations, offices, or work areas organized?  What is kept out, ready to hand, and available?

SLIS S Impact of the Physical Environment Movement  When do people move?  What triggers them to leave one place to go to another?  Understanding why the movement happens  help you decide whether it makes more sent to support it better or eliminate it

SLIS S Physical Model A physical model:  a drawing of those aspects of the workplace  Shows how the physical environment affects the work  Is annotated to show how the space is used  Is to show strategies, intents, and cultural values revealed by the space use

SLIS S Physical Model (B&H,p. 117) The places in which work occurs (e.g., room, workstations, offices, hallways) The physical structures that constraints the space (e.g., desks, file cabinets, dividers) The usages and movement within the space that indicate strategies, intents, and cultural values The hardware, software, communication lines, and other tools (e.g., printers, post-its, phone) The artifacts that people use (e.g., to-do lists, piles of stuff, bills, spreadsheets) The layout of the tools, artifacts, furniture, and walls Breakdowns

SLIS S Physical Model Ask Qs:  Do people accept the workplace as it is?  Do they work around it?  Does the work as it is experienced mismatch work?  What do people do about it?

SLIS S Physical Model Physical model =\  a floor plan for the work site  An inventory of the computer room  Show detail unrelated to the project focus

SLIS S Example of Physical Model

SLIS S Example of Physical Model

SLIS S Example of Physical Model

SLIS S Five Work Models Different models reveal different aspects of work Seeing how users work drives design Later on, consolidate individual models

SLIS S Interpretation Session (B&&H Ch 7) Are there notable characteristics of interpretation sessions that you’d like to discuss? Any problems you noticed during the interpretation session?

SLIS S A Rich Picture (Monk & Howard) A rich picture  A graphic representation that identifies primary stakeholders, their interrelationships, and their concerns  A tool to record the work context and to articulate how they should affect the design

SLIS S A Rich Picture (Monk & Howard) Structure  Refers to aspects of the work context that are slow to change Process  Refers to the transformation that occur in the process of the work Concerns  Issues, problems, breakdowns (represented by thought bubbles, & crossed swords icons) Tensions  Tensions between stakeholders should be identified by the “crossed swords” icon

SLIS S A Rich Picture (Monk & Howard) In participatory design  Brainstorming  Storyboarding  Paper-based prototyping In lightweight usability methods  Need to prepare prototypes & scenarios Note: no single technique is capable of capturing full diversity of the work process

SLIS S KM: NY City Taxi Cab Case Study (Skok, 2003) A case study of Rich Picture (p.128) Socialization (tacit-to- tacit) Externaliza- tion (tacit-to explicit) Combination (explicit-to- explicit) Internaliza- tion (explicit- to-tacit)

SLIS S Exercise 1 Create a cultural model from Karen’s perspective

SLIS S Exercise 2 Create a physical model of: 1. SLIS information commons 2. The reference/help Information Commons 3. The research library circulation/computer clusters area 4. SLIS faculty mailbox room (LI016)