INFO 202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Analytic Capacity, Tim Wu, Software Studies
INFO 202 Lecture Notes
Week 16
4/1 – Final Review
What is Informatics?
• Understanding the impact technology has on people
• The development of new uses for technology
• The application of information technology in the context of another field
• Informatics is the interdisciplinary study of the design, application, use and impacts of
information technology
Social Informatics Reading Focus – Kling et al
• A body of research that examines the social aspects of computerization
• The itedisiplia stud of the desig, uses ad oseueces of information technologies
that takes ito aout thei iteatio ith istitutioal ad ultual otets.
• Examples –
o Computerization in the workplace
o How people search the Web
o Human computer interaction
o Use of mobile phones in a society
o Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW)
Five Central Principles of Social Informatics
• Uses of ICT lead to multiple and sometimes paradoxical effects
• Uses of ICT shape thought and action in ways that benefit some groups more than others
• The differential effects of the design, implementation and uses of ICTs often have moral and
ethical consequences
• The design, implementation and uses of ICTs have reciprocal relationships with the larger social
context
• The phenomenon of interest will vary by the level of analysis
Socio-technical Information System Have the Following Elements
• People in various roles and relationships with each other and with other system elements
• Hardware (computer mainframes, workstations, peripherals, telecommunications equipment)
• Software (operating systems, utilities and application programs)
• Techniques and processes (management science models, voting schemes)
• Support resources (training/support/help)
• Information structures (content and content providers, rules/norms/regulations, such as those
that authorize people to use systems and information in specific ways, access controls)
Review: The Productivity Paradox
• Fear of automation and losing jobs
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
INFO 202 Lecture Notes
• The relationship between productivity and the investment in ICTs showed no real cause and
effect
• Do you think ICTs bring better productivity to your own work or in your workplace?
• Why or why not?
• ou a see the opute age eehee ut i the podutiit statistis
• What’ ee ou epeiee ith e tehologies? Did ou get the podutiit or
futioalit ou’d ee poised o hoped fo?
What is a theory? Reading Focus – Pinch & Bijker, Rogers, Feenberg
• A theory can be
o A framework for explanation – why does something happen
o An orienting lens for understanding phenomena
Social Construction of Technology
• One should never take the meaning of a technical artifact or technological system as residing in
the technology itself (p. 6).
Diffusion of Innovation
• Teholog diffusio is defied as … the poess hih a ioatio is
communiated though etai haels oe tie aog ees of a soial sste
(Rogers, p.11)
Technological Determinism
• Teholog as pie oe i histo
• New technologies transform society at every level
• Human factors and social arrangements are secondary to technology
• Focus on causality (cause and effect relationships)
o Mono-causal – offers a single cause
Critical Theories
• Analysis of power
• Critique of the social
• Several different approaches
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
What is informatics: understanding the impact technology has on people, the development of new uses for technology, the application of information technology in the context of another field. Informatics is the interdisciplinary study of the design, application, use and impacts of information technology. Information structures (content and content providers, rules/norms/regulations, such as those that authorize people to use systems and information in specific ways, access controls) Review: the productivity paradox: fear of automation and losing jobs. Reading focus pinch & bijker, rogers, feenberg: a theory can be, a framework for explanation why does something happen, an orienting lens for understanding phenomena. Social construction of technology: one should never take the meaning of a technical artifact or technological system as residing in the technology itself (p. 6). Diffusion of innovation: te(cid:272)h(cid:374)olog(cid:455) diffusio(cid:374) is defi(cid:374)ed as (cid:862) the p(cid:396)o(cid:272)ess (cid:271)(cid:455) (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h (cid:894)(cid:1005)(cid:895) a(cid:374) i(cid:374)(cid:374)o(cid:448)atio(cid:374) (cid:894)(cid:1006)(cid:895) is communi(cid:272)ated th(cid:396)ough (cid:272)e(cid:396)tai(cid:374) (cid:272)ha(cid:374)(cid:374)els (cid:894)(cid:1007)(cid:895) o(cid:448)e(cid:396) ti(cid:373)e (cid:894)(cid:1008)(cid:895) a(cid:373)o(cid:374)g (cid:373)e(cid:373)(cid:271)e(cid:396)s of a so(cid:272)ial s(cid:455)ste(cid:373)(cid:863) (rogers, p. 11)
