SOCIO-TECHNICAL APPROACH FOR DESIGNING GROUPWARE
IN A MULT ONTEXT
.1 Introduction
ith the extension of the OSI layers, where social and cultural layer is added as the 8th and 9th layer, the cultural layer to the contextual research framework that proposes guidelines nt of groupware application supporting collaboration dynamics, so that developer
rs located
commitment to the
Figure 4.1 The changing perspective from technological involvement to people involvement (source: [171])
ICULTURAL C
4
W
this section will apply for the developme
has a workbench with a process design specifically using the cultural engineering approach.
What can be done to improve the performance of groupware to avoid the lack of social aspect from the previous systems? The lack of social factors can discourage collaborative work. The supporting mechanism of this system is to consider in increasing collaboration. When collaborato
distributed, communication mechanism must be used to mediate the interaction.
Groupware is a collaborative technology and impacts on the way people communicate with each other. Groupware can change the way organizations work and communicate. Successful groupware implementations require a great deal of planning, the right type of culture, a
platform, and proper staffing [170]. Groupware maximizes human interaction while minimizing technology inference, or in other words, the technology behind groupware should not be visible to the users [171]. Figure 4.1 illustrates the changing perspective from technological involvement to people involvement [171].
4.2 Socio-technical gap
hroughout the last 15 years, all CSCW systems grew more sophisticated. The increase popularity of creases both technical and cultural complexity. Technical systems are rigid orld. Important CSCW technical mechanisms such as the floor or session
ocio-technical approach aims to give equal weight to social and technical issues when new work on as the used in Passenger 2 or in any
d technical components. Why using the socio-technological system approach in developing
hould be T
groupware technologies in in supporting the social w
control are lacking the flexibility required in the social life. The socio-technical gap is one of the major issues and one of the challenges within the field of CSCW. The gap is between the social requirements of collaborative activities and what needed to be supported by technology. Centralizing the social- technical gap as a necessary problematic in CSCW’s intellectual mission is a major first step [12]. Technical researchers should understand better the social requirements needed to build a useful system. Cultural aspects are the potential solutions for this social-technical gap.
4.3 Using the Socio-technical approach as the research framework
S
systems are being designed [24]. The socio-technical approach is used in this dissertati foundation in specifying the requirements that will be propose to be
other groupware in multicultural context. The cultural layer is expected to fill in this social-technical gap between the social requirements of CSCW and it technical mechanism. Successful collaboration requires the establishment of a shared understanding or common ground between team members [172]. By using the socio-technical approach, the quality of working life for the group is expected to be better.
Collaboration support is not only about providing technologies and tools, but also about shaping socio- technical systems. The socio-technical system approach focuses on the dependency between social systems an
groupware as one of the CSCW technology, below are several reasons why:
a. CSCW technology are technical systems that are highly embedded in social systems
b. The social and the technical systems should be designed in parallel to be optimized because they influence each other
c. The goal or task of the overall system which is for usage in multilateral context s taken as the main source for the consistency of the system
igning a groupware using
In des the socio-technical approach (Figure 4.3), this will include social
aspects, which in this research cultural factor are the social aspect that will be mainly focused on. The research framework is shown in Figure 4.2.
Bridging between social & technology Social Physical OSI Layers Data Link Network Transport Session Presentation Application Culture End‐Users Layers Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) Expected Outcome Guideline for groupware design in multicultural context User interface design for Passenger 2 Expert System embed in Passenger 2 Human Computer Interaction Social aspect Culture influence Technology aspect CSCW Technologies (Groupware) Socio‐technical approach Research Framework
Figure 4.2 Bridging between the end user layers to the research framework
Socio‐technical Approach Technical Aspects Social Aspects
Figure 4.3 Socio-technical approaches consisting of technology and social components
The main contribution of the social aspects (Figure 4.4) in this dissertation will mainly focused on the cultural issues or cultural influencing user’s perception and acceptance of groupware. The need for cultural information is related to the target group of users that the application is developed and will be used. Different cultures have different values, making difficult to prioritize requirements. Cultural dimensions are discussed as the parameters to identify these requirements, which include how different cultures affect users’ preference to work and to communicate. Users’ preferences on how to use groupware and how to communicate using groupware are obtained through the surveys conducted during this research. Results that were obtained are then analyzed deploying the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) theory. The cultural analyses are used to define the rules in order to build a knowledge-based expert system. This expert system will serve as a cultural support for the users to use, since in cross-cultural environment, differences are delicate issues that can cause conflict.
Social Aspects (Culture) Rules Preferences Cultural Dimensions
Figure 4.4 Factors associated to culture in this research
The main contributions for the technical aspects (Figure 4.5) propose in this dissertation are requirements, designs and expert system. Requirement that will serve as guidelines for developers and software engineers to follow in order to develop groupware as an intercultural collaboration tools for multicultural users. Designs will consist of the comparison of groupware designs that are available in the markets and highlight what can be learned and used for the implementation of Passenger 2. To facilitate multicultural group of users working together, knowledge based expert system is created to provide tools and features that are recommended for the group to use. This expert system is expected to be embedded in Passenger 2 as a cultural support for the users.
Technical Aspects (Groupware) Requirements in multicultural context Expert system Designs for multicultural users
Figure 4.5 Factors associated to groupware as the product of this research
To support the social interactions in cooperative work, groupware design should focus on improving to support users, the fit of groupware in term of technology and its social gap will be discussed in the next chapter.