Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The remainder of this essay highlights some of the important design and research challenges
brought about by today's explosion in HCI complexity. These challenges are largely related to the
HCI needs of transient groups and communities, which increasingly serve as hotbeds for knowl-
edge creation and information acquisition and transfer in modern life (Barab, Kling, and Gray,
2004). The challenges mentioned here are not mutually exclusive, nor are they exhaustive; rather,
they are meant to be illustrative of the vast set of challenges confronting HCI design and research
today and into the future.
HCI DESIGN CHALLENGES
Virtuality
Perhaps the most fundamental challenge for HCI systems design stems from the virtual nature of
work which, although made possible by technology, simultaneously increases demand on the part
of users for information access at any time and in any place (DeSanctis and Monge, 1999; Lipnack
and Stamps, 1997; Mowshowitz, 2002). Increasingly, information access requires access to other
people—colleagues, coworkers, friends, anyone in an appropriate knowledge network who can
supply needed resources to the user. HCI design, therefore, must facilitate identification of appro-
priate parties, support for information sharing, and, in general, the ability to “be together” while
apart (Hinds and Kiesler, 2002). Virtuality implies boundary spanning of all sorts: “edgeless, with
permeable and continuously changing interfaces between company, supplier, and customers . . .
offices, departments, and operating divisions constantly reforming according to need” (Davidow
and Malone, 1992, p. 6).
For the past decade or so, supporting virtuality has meant that HCI needs to pay attention to col-
laboration processes (Malone and Crowston, 1994). Lateral coordination has been the emphasis. As
we look to the future, this emphasis will likely expand to include targeted support for vertical rela-
tionships as well, since today's users require not only rapid response but also high security, learning,
and tight organizational control. For example, teams and firms have an interest in using status differ-
ences and reputational or other social assets for strategic advantage (Benjamin and Poldony, 1999;
Cummings, 2004; Earley and Mosakowski, 2000).
The implication is that support for status, power, leadership, and hierarchy may move to the
foreground of HCI concern, supplementing support for collaboration (e.g., see Barab et al., 2004;
Saunders, Robey, and Vavarek, 1994). As we look to the future, information systems will not only
bring people together across boundaries but also selectively manage who can say what to whom, who
should listen to what, and what information will be given priority and under what circumstances.
Dynamism
Concomitant with the expansion of the computer user to include diffuse groups, organizations, and
communities is greater difficulty in specification of user needs and system requirements. There are
two aspects to this dynamism. First is the changing composition of the collectives themselves (see
Huber, 2004). How can an information system support a team when team members come and go?
How can a system support members of an organization if employees turn over or the customer base
is in flux? How can a community be supported when its participants are transient, or are as yet unde-
fined? The issue is more than one of scalability, or supporting both large and small groups. Overall
group needs and preferences vary as individuals move in and out of the target user group. The needs
of a group include its members' communication with one another, their collective dreaming, goal
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