Social and Community Informatics

I have created a flow chart to illustrate the socio-technical network model. This includes the components that are involved in a successfully network that uses technology to help with communication. The different jobs of people are shown along with the technological devices that are used. Each uses the technology in a way that will affect each other.

By using a flowchart, the information can be presented in a clearer and more orderly way then just using text to describe the relationships and interactions between different types of people and ICTs. A complex network can be represented by simple flowchart shapes. The flow of information is not only clearly represented for one case, but can adapt to be compatible with many different scenarios. This dynamic model is valuable to any socio-technical network. It provides the users, managers, designers, and content providers with an outline for the way the information is transfered.

This was created using both Open Office and Microsoft Office. Different organizational tools were used to produce the effects. Once
the image was completed, I saved it as a PNG (Portable Network Graphics) type image in order for it to have lossless compression.

Notebook computers can be a valuable resource in businesses and school. In Texas, the proposition to give all students notebooks was turned down. This may have been a good thing. The computers were intended partly to lower costs by eliminating the need for textbooks. While textbooks are expensive, the notebook computers were even more costly. This was mostly due to the cost of maintenance. It would cost $10 per month for the computer itself, while $42 per month for hiring support professionals. Using this method of organizational informatics, costs that were not typically thought about are revealed and considered. In addition, from a social informatics perspective, one must also consider how this will affect the students. Will productivity increase? Based on the authors' analysis, it appears as if there would not be a major increase in productivity that would be proportional to the cost. The amount of output by the students would not be enough to justify the cost. The price is still present, except the burden was shifted from the school district to the parents. The SI and OI analysis used by the authors is valid. The Texas decision could have benefited from a full study on the effects of this policy.

Posted by Jeremy at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments  

Technology has become a necessity in modern life. It seems as if everything you do requires technological interaction. With so many aspects of life depending on ICTs, it only seems natural to have the products meet the end users needs. Developers of software, for example, will find that making a strong model for development at the projects start is absolutely crucial to having a successful product. When the users relay information back to the developers that requires the model to change, there is difficulty in adjusting the program to the new specifications. Often times, there are many things that require modifications that the user does not see. After a product is deployed, if there are any more modifications that need to be made, they are very costly. For this reason, it is very beneficial to have beta testers and direct interaction between the developers and the users.

When ICT-based systems are created, the developers do not know how they will be used. They can predict some uses, but unless they are working with a contract or in-house development, it can be difficult to target the uses when having the first version in mind. When a product development method is used, customization is perfect. This would allow for many different users to have many different uses, yet still be able to use the same program. The beauty of programs like Mozilla's Firefox is that they allow the user to have a product that is fully customizable. If there is some feature that the user wants incorporated directly into the browser, they can get an extension. If no such extension exists, they can write their own because the source code to the program is publicly available.

Not only can miscommunication between the design and use of a program be costly, but it can also be deadly. One such example occurred on July 3, 1988. Iran Air Flight 655 was struck down by the USS Vincennes which resulted in 290 deaths. The Vincennes was armed under the AEGIS combat system - a new system at the time. The system was not designed for the specific situation in which the Vincennes happened to be in that fateful day. Because of a designing error due to a lack of preparation of the scenario, the Vincennes identified the Airbus A300B2 as an F-14A Tomcat. This could have easily been avoided if there had been further preparation involving feedback from the users of the system after having it tested fully.

Posted by Jeremy at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments  

There is a large disconnect in how technology is used in popular media and scholarly communication. There was a large effort made to bring technology and the internet into classrooms. The problem was that it was unknown how the computing would actually improve the education of the students. In popular media these technologies seem to be used easily to solve complex problems.

If you ever watch a movie or TV show, it seems so quick to find something on a computer. Just type on a keyboard, and your answers are there. There is a much different reality. Computers can do many great things, but the users need to know how to use them. The machines are only as powerful as their operators let them be. Different people use the technology in different ways. Some people are purely followers of what teachers show them. Others teach themselves and explore the technology more throughly. Some even contribute to the technology itself in projects such as wikis, open source programs, forums, etc. The power of computing must be unleashed by the people who use it.

Saying that ICTs rarely cause social transformations is not cynical. ICTs tend to provide an enhancement to previous social structures rather than dramatic change. If ICTs created a transformation, it would typically be minimal or at least based on a previous one. Otherwise it would most likely be rejected by the community because of the radical change. Workers were never replaced due to the new technology as was predicted. This is because they computers are a tool, not a replacement. You would not say that after the invention of the tractor, farmers were no longer needed. There still need to be a human mind to operate the device (at least until artificial intelligence can take over). Social networking sites, for example, do not really change the way people interact, but rather the medium in which they do. The technology does not invent new forms of communication. Instead it enhances the previous ones.

There are, however, times in which there would be radical change from the previous methods. With faster processes and the use of computers do make hash searches, people can finding information at phenomenal speeds. This would make work much more efficient and faster, but would not fundementally change what was going on. Behind the scenes, the methods of action would change, while the results would stay the same, just with more efficiency.

Posted by Jeremy at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments  

Hello World!

Posted by Jeremy at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments