The document discusses several papers about the social and cultural influences on information sciences and technology. It summarizes papers on virtual environments and protests, health information seeking among African American women, and ICT policymaking across borders. It also covers topics like social informatics, work processes with technology, and community informatics.

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IST 501 Week 11 Summary
Elizabeth Eikey
November 6, 2012

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Summary
 Theme: cultural and social influences on various aspects of
information sciences and technology
 Virtual environments: EVE Online and Second Life (Blodgett and
Tapia, 2011)
 Health information seeking in African American women (Warren et
al., 2010)
 ICT policymaking across borders (Maitland and van Gorp, 2009)

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Social Informatics (Kling, 2007)
 “examines the social aspects of computerization”
 Seen in: Wired magazine, books, conferences, journals, etc.
 Productivity Paradox
 Computers and technology linked with productivity
 Investments in computers =/= increase in productivity
 Economists thought advancements would increase national
productivity
 “…technology alone, even good technology alone, is not sufficient
to create social or economic value”

4. +
Lotus Notes (Kling, 2007)
 PriceWaterhouse in 1989
 Line consultants were supposed to be main users
 Orlikowski, 1993:
 Senior line consultants were modest users
 Junior line consultants (associates) were low users
 Incentives
 Demanding promotion system: move up or out
 w/job security: comfortable and had time to play with Notes
 w/o job security: did not bother with Notes
 Tax consultants had incentive to demonstrate their value to the firm
 Notes gave them the visibility to do so

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Work Processes (Kling, 2007)
 Document systems
 Air traffic control paper flight strips
 Online flight reservations
 Electronic journals

6. +
Socio-technical Systems (Kling,
2007)
 People’s relationship with each and other elements of the
system
 “workable computer applications are usually supported by a
strong socio-technical infrastructure”

7. +
Community Informatics (Stillman
and Linger, 2009)
 Similar to social informatics
 Both create approaches to user-technology problems
 Currently, Social Informatics is closer to Information Sciences than
Community Informatics
 Web 2.0
 Social and interactional
 Provides opportunity for Community Informatics
 How can Community Informatics work better with
Information Sciences?
 Social action theory
 Understand interactions among social pressures and personal
desires

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Community Informatics (Stillman
and Linger, 2009)
 Two goals:
 1. “the conduct of research about the relationship between the
design of information and communications technologies and local
communities
 2. “the implementation of ICT projects in local communities”

9. + Do avatars dream of electronic picket lines?
The blurring of work and play in virtual
environments (Blodgett and Tapia, 2011)
 Social and cultural influences
 EVE Online and Second Life
 recorded interview and did text analysis
 Mixes entertainments and protest
 Activists gravitate toward internet
 Political life online

10. + Do avatars dream of electronic picket lines? The
blurring of work and play in virtual environments
(Blodgett and Tapia, 2011)
 Labor strike in Second Life and corruption in EVE Online
From Do avatars dream of electronic picket lines? The blurring of work and play in virtual environments
(Blodgett and Tapia, 2011, page 7)

11. + Do avatars dream of electronic picket lines?
The blurring of work and play in virtual
environments (Blodgett and Tapia, 2011)
 Lines between play and work blurred
 “in both of the cases, there are clear elements of work and play
that shape and are shaped by the actions of protesters.”
 People of all cultures come together online
 People are exposed to different backgrounds and cultures

12. + Barriers, control and identity in health
information seeking among African American
women (Warren et al., 2010)
 Different cultural context and social impacts
 Traditional and internet resources for health information
 Problem:
 race and culture – people feel they would be treated better if part of
another race/ethnic group; language barriers; literacy problems
 socioeconomic status – stereotypes of low-income African American
women impact the quality of health information seeking; issues
listed above enhanced when a part of a lower socio-economic
group; physicians less likely to provide in-depth information
related to diagnostics, etc.
 the role the internet plays in seeking health information may
differ depending on culture, identity, social position, etc.

13. + Barriers, control and identity in health
information seeking among African American
women (Warren et al., 2010)
 Internet as a means to get informal medical information
 Gave women a sense of empowerment, sense of control
 Better offline experience with physicians
 They can be more assertive.
 They can demonstrate their abilities.

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ICT Policy (Nicol, 2003)
 ICT policymaking – telecommunications, broadcasting, internet
 Need for integration among other policies and across national
boundaries
 Policies are affected by different stakeholders and private
organizations
 Access Issues
 making it possible for everyone to use the internet
 Civil liberty issues
 freedom of expression, right to privacy, right to communicate
intellectual property rights, etc.

15. + Beyond harmonization: ICT policymaking in
regional economic communities (Maitland and
van Gorp, 2009)
 regional economic communities are crucial in information
communication (ICT) policymaking
 policy harmonization my threaten the success of other goals of
ICT policymaking
 regional communities foster adaptivity
 necessary to balance policy harmonization and competition

16. + Beyond harmonization: ICT policymaking in
regional economic communities (Maitland and
van Gorp, 2009)
 competing interests among regional and national authority
 despite having different interests, policy harmonization
attempts to point to similar solution
 made for ideal conditions; real world is less than ideal
 difficult to achieve: differences across legal systems, etc.
 costly

17. + Beyond harmonization: ICT policymaking in
regional economic communities (Maitland and
van Gorp, 2009)
 Complex adaptive systems theory
 “through its strong emphasis on adaptivity, offers a dynamic
approach to understanding regional policymaking”
 policymaking must be adaptive to constantly acclimate to changes
and predict them
 valuing adaptive activities even if they do not result in harmonized
policies is critical
 calls for process of regional policymaking and harmonization is
important
 steps toward a general theory of ICT policymaking

18. +
Reflections and Conclusions
 Accounting for social and culture influences is important for IST
 Social informatics and community informatics have a lot to offer
information sciences
 Various ways we are affected
 Work and play in online environments (Blodgett and Tapia, 2011)
 Meet diverse groups of people
 Healthcare (Warren et al., 2010)
 Information seeking among different groups of people
 Policymaking (Maitland and van Gorp, 2009)
 Can differ among nations, cultures, etc.
 Call for integration

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References
 Blodgett, B. and Tapia, A. 2011. Do avatars dream of electronic picket lines?: The blurring
of work and play in virtual environments. Information, Technology and People, Special
Issue on Digital Culture. 24(10), 26-45.
 Kling, R. 2007. What is social informatics and why does it matter? The Information Society,
23(4), 205-220.
 Maitland, C.F. and van Gorp, A. 2009. Beyond harmonization: ICT policy making in
regional economic communities. The Information Society, 25, 23-37.
 Nicol, C. 2003. ICT Policy: A Beginner’s Handbook. Association for Progressive
Communications. Johannesburg, South Africa. 7-16.
 Stillman, L. and Linger, H. 2009. Community informatics and information systems: Can
they be better connected? The Information Society. 25, 255-264.
 Warren, J.R., Kvasny, L., Hecht, M.L., Burgess, D., Ahluwalia, J.S., Okuyemi, K.S. 2010.
Barriers, control and identity in health information seeking among African American
women. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, 3(3), 68-90.