A Pragmatic Technology Analysis of Distributed Knowledge Practices Bertram C. Bruce Library & Information Science U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC2 Outline Classical design & evaluation Pragmatic technology Examples: –Alliance teams –ENFI –Inquiry Page Implications for evaluation, technology studies, design

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC3 Waterfall model

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC4 Waterfall process 1.Document the concept 2.Specify the requirements 3.Modularize (architectural design) 4.Design each part 5.Code the components 6.Test each component 7.Integrate the pieces 8.Test the system 9.Deploy

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC5 Problems with the waterfall model Synergies of components Problems hidden until full system test Information ecology differences & changes Don't know user needs in advance Users don't understand the functions User needs & situation change Non-standard use

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC6 Modifications Spiral design Overlapping phases Subprojects Evolutionary prototyping Staged delivery User-centered design

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC7 Reverse the flow?

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC8 Pragmatism Technological change Scientific discoveries Demographic shifts But, rigid concepts => an idea about ideas

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC9 Action -> -> -> Destiny Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny. –William James

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC10 Pragmatist themes experimentalist philosophy ordinary experience means vs. ends knowing — action relationships situation as a whole logic — inquiry into inquiry technology — means of resolving a problem

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC11 Pragmatic technology technology as the means for resolving a problematic situation -- Larry Hickman (1990), John Dewey's Pragmatic Technology

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC12 Problems find technologies technology => solves a problem solution to a problem=>technology

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC13 Problem-solving cycle problem 1 => technology 1 technology 1 => problem 2 problem 2 => technology 2 technology 2 => problem 3 …

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC14 Implications Technology studies: Alliance teams Evaluation: ENFI Design: Inquiry Page

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC15 Distributed Knowledge project Study of the Alliance/NCSA New ways of doing science in distributed teams Distributed Knowledge Research CollaborativeDistributed Knowledge Research Collaborative

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC16 How does embedded knowledge become mobile? Knowledge TechnologyCommunity

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC17 Application Technologies teams ers/ApplicationTechnologies/ ers/ApplicationTechnologies/

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC18 Grand vision

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC19 Problems EOT often shows the greatest impact But it doesn't use AT enough, and AT doesn't use ET enough Successes often emerge from user community and are fed back into the Alliance Large structure w/o clear lines of control leads to politics, miscommunications, difficulty in planning, failures to collaborate effectively

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC20 Enabling Technologies teams ers/EnablingTechnologies/ ers/EnablingTechnologies/

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC21 Astronomy Digital Imaging Library ADIL developed and maintained by the Radio Astronomy Imaging GroupRadio Astronomy Imaging Group "collect astronomical, research-quality images and make them available to the astronomical community and the general public"

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC22 Incorporation into practice Addresses existing problems –limited access to equipment –attribution for images Reconfigurations –Worldwide collaboration –New modes of publishing

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC23 Pasteur’s death-bed words Bernard is right; the pathogen is nothing; the terrain is everything. – Oliver Sacks, Awakenings

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC24 Implications: Technology studies Adaptive structuration: substitution, enlargement, reconfiguration (Giddens, Poole, Contractor, …) Longitudinal studies User response, reception theory Ecological analysis (Bruce & Hogan, 1997; Nardi & O'Day, 1999)

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC25 Realizations of ENFI Text sharing Drama Socratic tutoring Scenarios Small group discussions Brainstorming Collaborative writing Devil’s Advocate Distance networking Twenty questions Cross-age tutoring Discussion of reading Discussion of issues Open discussion

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC26 Classical summative evaluation Quantitative only Little attention to antecedent conditions or classroom transactions Assumes fixed, knowable entities Unable to address unanticipated effects No model for diversity of realizations

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC27 Hermeneutics Not occasionally only, but always, the meaning of a text goes beyond its author. That is why understanding is not merely a reproductive, but always a productive attitude as well. – H. Gadamer, Truth & Method

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC28 Alternate realizations

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC29 Evaluation questions Summative: How well does it work? Formative: How can it be improved? Situated: What practices emerge as the innovation(s) are incorporated into different settings?=> How well do they work? How can they be improved?

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC30 Responsive evaluation … orients more directly to program activities than to program intents; responds to audience requirements for information; and … the different value perspectives present are referred to in reporting the success and failure of the program -- R. E. Stake, 1975, p. 14

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC31 Implications: Evaluation Need to understand diverse realizations Innovation begins with the user Technology as a tool for its own re- creation Situated evaluation (Bruce et al., 1993; Twidale, 1993)

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC32 Partner project Resource for inquiry teaching philosophy Collaborative teaching & learning community Lesson planning support and idea site What is the Inquiry Page?Inquiry Page

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC33 Evolving uses Teachers share curriculum units Project website: researchers, students Student work Community health care Water quality: policy makers, industry, public, K12

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC34 Design by use: Collaboration 1)Create and share a unit 2)Dialogue spaces: listservs, web forums 3)Spin-offs 4)Comment feature on units 5)Multiple authors with separate logins 6)Distributed IP: Style sheetsDistributed IP 7)Synchronous editing support

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC35 Participatory inquiry Design through use or participatory inquiry aims to respond to human needs by democratic processes. Through creation of content, contributions to interactive elements, and incorporation into practice, users are not merely recipients of technology, but participate actively in its ongoing development.

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC36 Equitable relations, then tasks renders the progress of expertise in a community secondary to a relational and epistemological practice of confronting differences so that its participants can come to understand how the beliefs and purposes of others can call their own into question. Clark, "Rescuing the discourse of community"

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC37 Implications: Design Design inseparable from use User-centered design Participatory design (Bjerknes et al., 1987) Equitable relations An idea about technology (Menand, 2001)

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC38 Meaning of technology only by extracting at each present time the full meaning of each present experience are we prepared for doing the same thing in the future. -- Dewey, Experience & Education

10/25/02Bertram C. Bruce, UIUC39 La propension des choses In the traditional configuration (shi)…, tension is expressed by the curve of a roof… François Jullien