Database Support for Cooperative Work

The study of computing infrastructures has grown significantly due to the rapid proliferation and ubiquity of large-scale IT-based installations. At the same time, recognition has also grown of the usefulness of such studies as a means for understanding computing infrastructures as material complements of practical action. Subsequently the concept of “infrastructure” (or “information infrastructures,” “cyberinfrastructures,” and “infrastructuring”) has gained increasing importance in the area of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) as well as in neighboring areas such as Information Systems research (IS) and Science and Technology Studies (STS). However, as such studies have unfolded, the very concept of “infrastructure” is being applied in different discourses, for different purposes, in myriad different senses. Consequently, the concept of “infrastructure” has become increasingly muddled and needs clarification. The chapter presents a critical investigation of the vicissitudes of the concept of “infrastructure” over the last 35 years.

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Practice and Technology

10.1093/oso/9780198733249.003.0003 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kjeld Schmidt

Keyword(s):

Turning Points ◽

Modern Technology ◽

Cooperative Work ◽

Computer Supported Cooperative Work ◽

Technical Knowledge ◽

Crucial Question

The emergence of practice-centered computing (e.g., Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, or CSCW) raises the crucial question: How can we conceptualize the practices into which the prospective technology is to be integrated? How can we, reasonably, say of two observed activities or events that they are, or are not, instances of the same type? These are crucial questions. This chapter therefore attempts to clarify the concepts of “practice” and “technique.” First, since our ordinary concepts of “practice” and “technique” developed as part of the evolution of modern technology, as tools for practitioners’ and scholars’ reflections on the role of technical knowledge in work, the chapter outlines the major turning points in the evolution of these concepts, from Aristotle (via the scholastics), to enlightenment thinkers such as Diderot and Kant, and finally to Marx and Marxism. The chapter thereafter moves on to analyze the concepts as we use them today in ordinary discourse.

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shARe-IT: Ad hoc Remote Troubleshooting through Augmented Reality

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) ◽

10.1007/s10606-021-09393-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas Ludwig ◽

Oliver Stickel ◽

Peter Tolmie ◽

Malte Sellmer

Keyword(s):

Augmented Reality ◽

Ad Hoc ◽

Cooperative Work ◽

Computer Supported Cooperative Work ◽

Limiting Factors ◽

Minor Role ◽

Articulation Work ◽

Remote Collaboration ◽

Expertise Sharing ◽

A Minor

Abstract10 years ago, Castellani et al. (Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, vol. 18, no. 2–3, 2009, pp. 199–227, 2009) showed that using just an audio channel for remote troubleshooting can lead to a range of problems and already envisioned a future in which augmented reality (AR) could solve many of these issues. In the meantime, AR technologies have found their way into our everyday lives and using such technologies to support remote collaboration has been widely studied within the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. In this paper, we contribute to this body of research by reporting on an extensive empirical study within a Fab Lab of troubleshooting and expertise sharing and the potential relevance of articulation work to their realization. Based on the findings of this study, we derived design challenges that led to an AR-based concept, implemented as a HoloLens application, called shARe-it. This application is designed to support remote troubleshooting and expertise sharing through different communication channels and AR-based interaction modalities. Early testing of the application revealed that novel interaction modalities such as AR-based markers and drawings play only a minor role in remote collaboration due to various limiting factors. Instead, the transmission of a shared view and especially arriving at a shared understanding of the situation as a prerequisite for articulation work continue to be the decisive factors in remote troubleshooting.

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