Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The questions are discussed throughout the
chapter and specifically addressed in the empirical
section. The rest of this chapter is organized as
follows. We start by presenting the perspective
and rationale of the study, followed by a brief
survey of EUD and user design activities. Next,
we present our conceptual framework, based on
elements of activity theory. Then we provide back-
ground information of the company we studied
and present the case in some detail, including an
overview of the VB application. Next, we present
the method for data analysis. The last part provides
an empirical analysis of the data we collected. At
the end, we summarize our findings and provide
suggestions for further work.
ands skills. The latter is about EUD. Although
the four activities are intertwined, we focus on
EUD in this chapter. We have also been involved
in studies of the integration of work and learning
in conjunction with other companies, describing
similar adoption and use cases as the one reported
here (Mørch, Engen, & Åsand, 2004a; Netteland,
Wasson, & Mørch, 2007).
end user development
The motivation for EUD in our study is as fol-
lows. Users of computer applications that interact
heavily with customers as part of their work (e.g.,
accountants) operate in a variety of business con-
texts and scenarios that cannot always be predicted
in advance. Thus, the line between “users” and
“developers” becomes blurred as ICT spreads and
as tailoring tools becomes available. The support
for EUD in these settings is therefore fundamental
in order to resolve the difference between a generic
system and customer-specific needs. The generic
system provides functionality for everyone, but
can hamper productivity for individuals and work
teams with excess information and functionality
that is poorly adapted. On the other hand, the
localized versions created as a result of tailoring
generic systems address the specific needs of
individual employees and work teams, but what
enhances productivity at one local office may
prove less useful in other parts of the company.
These discrepancies are not easily resolved by
conventional system development techniques,
and generic systems with EUD support are one
alternative to address the issues.
The introduction and gradual acceptance
of EUD (Lieberman, Paterno, & Wulf, 2006;
Mehandjiev & Bottaci, 1998), along with the
related areas of human-computer interface de-
sign and recent trends in software engineering,
can be seen as a result of software developers
having succeeded in embedding easy-to-use
customization tools in commercial off-the shelf
(COTS) application systems, making generic
perspeCtive
Knowledge transfer and learning have always
been a central factor in organizational imple-
mentation of ICT. When an organization chooses
to implement a new application system, access
to information will rapidly increase. As a con-
sequence, few individuals are able to master all
information relevant for their daily work. Instead,
information becomes distributed among people
and stored in databases, causing an information
management problem (Ackermann, Pipek & Wulf,
2003; Gantt & Nardi, 1992; Hollan, Hutchins,
& Kirsh, 2000). In this chapter, we address this
information management problem at its most
dramatic, in conjunction with the introduction
of a new and different information system. The
new system, a multipurpose application system,
replaces several older, non-integrated systems.
Two central issues need to be addressed to ensure
a smooth transition from development to use: the
integration of work and learning, and the integra-
tion of design and use. The former is about the
task relevant information employees need access
to while working in increasingly information
rich environments and when interacting with
collaborators who have different backgrounds
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