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overview of the application is not something a
regular user has.
cerpt as viewed under an AT framework defines
mediation through an artifact. When a regular
user and a super user discuss how to tailor VB to
achieve the best result for working with a client's
account, they use VB as a mediating artifact or
tool for the purpose of accomplishing the object,
which is to do accounting for the client. In this
tailoring process, the super user helps the regular
user to choose the options that best fit the task
to be accomplished. This mediation can also be
seen when the super user takes a more complex
problem to the application coordinator. Together
they discuss possible changes to be made to the
application, and sometimes they end up with a
new business solution tailored to a specific client
or a branch of clients.
the vb application as a mediating
artifact
Using VB to mediate the relationship between
the subject (users) and the object is also a process
aimed at closing the gap mentioned earlier. Ad-
aptation of VB to domain-specific needs will be
the task of the super users in collaboration with
the application coordinator. The accountants have
various clients they keep accounts for, and to
offer good service to the clients, they depend on
finding the right functions in VB, making them
available and to ensure the workflow is optimal.
By learning the proper way of working in VB, the
super users tailor the application for each client
by selecting and deselecting functionality. To be
able to modify a function such as a button or field,
they may have to get assistance from someone who
has expertise in the underlying functionality in
VB. This requires boundary spanning (Volkoff
et al., 2002). The super users communicate with
both regular users and the application coordinator,
assisting the former in finding the right functions
in VB, consulting the latter when the task is
beyond their skill and training. One of the users
described VB:
The changes we make are often tailor-made
solutions for a particular group of clients, such
as real-estate agents. When a group of clients
is relatively large we produce shared solutions
for them, which make doing their accounts more
streamlined. The request for these kinds of solu-
tions comes from those who do the accounts.
It is not always the super users who discover
the solution to a problem. Often a regular user,
through their position in the organization, is able
to bring the solution to the attention of other VB
users. This is achieved as a result of collabora-
tion between local developers, super users, and
regular users. This is also something Gantt and
Nardi (1992) have explored, that user and local
developers often collaborate to make adjustments
that one person in the group cannot do on his or
her own.
Figure 4 shows the development of a business
solution for real estate agents. The application
coordinator and a super user have developed this
solution by tailoring VB. They have removed
standard fields and added new ones to model their
clients' accounts better. All fields in VB can be
hidden and made visible again. They can also be
sorted and selected using shortcuts.
VB is not a completed program and may never
be. It is a pile of Lego blocks that you have to put
together to create an accounting system suiting
the needs of the clients you keep accounts for. It's
clearly a high threshold to cross.
This illustrates what we referred to above as
the under-design strategy to end-user development
(Fischer et al., 2004). VB is a generic system,
represented by an architecture (set of components)
that embodies a family of applications. To create
an accounting system (a specific application) out
of the “pile of Lego blocks” requires design work
involving multiple actors. Furthermore, the ex-
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