Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Computational Artifacts: Interactive and Collaborative Computing as an Integral Feature of Work Practice

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
COOP 2016: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems, 23-27 May 2016, Trento, Italy

Abstract

The key concern of CSCW research is that of understanding computing technologies in the social context of their use, that is, as integral features of our practices and our lives, and to think of their design and implementation under that perspective. However, the question of the nature of that which is actually integrated in our practices is often discussed in confusing ways, if at all. The article aims to try to clarify the issue and in doing so revisits and reconsiders the notion of ‘computational artifact’.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Similarly, what are the artifacts that make up ‘artifact ecologies? Are they devices, or apps, or services, or network protocols, or all of the above [2, p. 457]?

  2. 2.

    We are indebted to Bannon and Bødker for bringing Butler’s astute remarks to our attention [1].

  3. 3.

    The term ‘computational artifact’ is of course also used in methodological discourse in the completely different sense of contamination of data caused by the computational procedure. ‘Artifact’ in this derived sense generally means ‘something observed in a scientific investigation or experiment that is not naturally present but occurs as a result of the preparative or investigative procedure’ (Oxford Dictionary of English). To make matters even more confusing, the exact same term is also being used in recent literature on the foundations of computer science [e.g., 45], without any reference to Suchman’s work whatsoever and in a very different sense, namely ‘the entities that computer scientists construct, the artifacts of computer science’ (ibid., §1). And computer science is defined as what? The science of computational artifacts?

  4. 4.

    The dissertation was later published in a revised edition [38]. The two editions differ somewhat, most importantly in that the concluding chapter is greatly elaborated in the 1987 version. In this version the book has become a classic in CSCW and HCI. Suchman later republished the 1987 text with a lengthy introduction and under another title [41]. – The different editions of the book have together received almost 10,000 citations.

  5. 5.

    http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/sociology/profiles/lucy-suchman

  6. 6.

    Suchman’s research problem was articulated in the same terms in 1999 in an article written in collaboration with Jeanette Blomberg, Julian Orr, and Randy Trigg: ‘A central aim of Suchman’s project was to suggest that the challenge of interactive interface design is actually a more subtle and interesting one than it was assumed to be by her colleagues in the field of human-computer interaction in the 1980s. Basically, their assumption was that computational artifacts just are interactive, in roughly the same that way persons are, albeit with some obvious limitations […]. However ambitious, the problem in this view was a fairly straightforward task of encoding more and more of the cognitive abilities attributed to humans into machines in order to overcome the latter’s existing limitations.’ [40, p. 393. – Emphasis added].

  7. 7.

    The proposition that situated action is ‘essentially ad hoc’ is deeply problematic (it leads to infinite regress) but that is not the issue here (for a critical discussion, cf. [29, Chap. 12]).

  8. 8.

    It is of course common for computer scientists and engineers to refer to the highly regular patterns of behavior of computational artifacts, that are the hallmark of their art, as ‘rules’ or ‘procedures’ (just as they speak of ‘programming languages’, etc.). This is an unavoidable feature of the natural attitude of these professions. Within the bounds of the practices of devising and building computational devices, it is as harmless as when we in ordinary language use expressions like ‘sunrise’ and ‘sunset’. Damage only arises when this innocently convenient language is incorporated into systematic conceptualizations.

  9. 9.

    This is what makes hacking possible.

References

  1. Bannon LJ, Bødker S (1991) Beyond the interface: encountering artifacts in use. In: Carroll JM (ed) Designing interaction: psychology at the human-computer interface. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 227–253

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bødker S, Klokmose CN (2012) Dynamics in artifact ecologies, NordiCHI’12. ACM Press, New York, pp 448–457

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bowers JM, Graham B, Sharrock WW (1995) Workflow from within and without: technology and cooperative work on the print industry shopfloor, ECSCW’95. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 51–66

    Google Scholar 

  4. Butler S (1912) The note-books of Samuel Butler. A. C. Fifield, London

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dennett DC (1978) Brainstorms: philosophical essays on mind and psychology. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  6. Dourish P (2003) The appropriation of interactive technologies: some lessons from placeless documents. Comput Support Coop Work (CSCW) 12(4):465–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Eastman CM (1989) Why we are here and where we are going: the evolution of CAD. In Yessios CI (ed) ACADIA 1989: new ideas and directions for the 1990s: ACADIA conference proceedings, 27–29 October 1989. Gainsville: University of Florida, pp 9–26

    Google Scholar 

  8. Ehn P (1988) Work-oriented design of computer artifacts. Arbetslivscentrum, Stockholm

    Google Scholar 

  9. Ellingsen G, Røed K (2010) The role of integration in health-based information infrastructures. Comput Support Coop Work (CSCW) 19(6):557–584

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Engelbart DC (1962) Augmenting human intellect: a conceptual framework. Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park

    Google Scholar 

  11. Engelbart DC, English WK (1968) A research center for augmenting human intellect. In: FJCC’68. Part I, vol 33, AFIPS Press, New York, pp 395–410

    Google Scholar 

  12. EUSSET (2013) A position statement, European society for socially embedded technologies. (Originally posted 2009). http://eusset.eu/position-paper/

  13. Hanseth O, Monteiro E, Hatling M (1996) Developing information infrastructure: the tension between standardization and flexibility. Sci Technol Hum Values 21(4):407–426

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hanseth O, Lundberg N (2001) Designing work oriented infrastructures. Comput Support Coop Work (CSCW) 10(3–4):347–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Jewett T, Kling R (1991) The dynamics of computerization in a social science research team: a case study of infrastructure, strategies, and skills. Social Sci Comput Rev 9:246–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Karasti H, Syrjänen A-L (2004) Artful infrastructuring in two cases of community PD, vol 1, PDC 2004. ACM Press, New York, pp 20–30

    Google Scholar 

  17. Kling R (1987) Defining the boundaries of computing across complex organizations. In: Boland RJ Jr, Hirschheim R (eds) Critical issues in information systems research. Wiley, New York, pp 307–362

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kuutti K, Bannon LJ (2014) The turn to practice in HCI: towards a research agenda, CHI’14. ACM Press, New York, pp 3543–3552

    Google Scholar 

  19. Lampson BW (1972) Why Alto, XEROX inter-office memorandum. Xerox PARC, Palo Alto

    Google Scholar 

  20. Licklider JCR (1960) Man-computer symbiosis. IRE transactions on human factors in electronics, vol HFE-1, no 1, March, pp 4–11

    Google Scholar 

  21. Monteiro E et al (2013) From artefacts to infrastructures. Comput Support Coop Work (CSCW) 22(4–6):575–607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Norman DA, Hutchins EL (1988) Computation via direct manipulation, Institute for cognitive science. University of California, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  23. O’Neill JE (1992) The evolution of interactive computing through time-sharing and networking. PhD dissertation, University of Minnesota

    Google Scholar 

  24. Pipek V, Wulf V (2009) Infrastructuring: toward an integrated perspective on the design and use of information technology. J Assoc Inf Syst 10(5):447–473

    Google Scholar 

  25. Ross DT (1956) Gestalt programming: a new concept in automatic programming, AIEE-IRE’56 (Western). ACM Press, New York, pp 5–10

    Google Scholar 

  26. Ross DT, Ward JE. Investigations in computer-aided design for numerically controlled production: final technical report: 1 December 1959 – 3 May 1967, Electronic Systems Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge, MA, May 1968

    Google Scholar 

  27. Schmidt K, Simone C (1996) Coordination mechanisms: towards a conceptual foundation of CSCW systems design. Comput Support Coop Work (CSCW) 5(2–3):155–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Schmidt K, Wagner I (2004) Ordering systems: coordinative practices and artifacts in architectural design and planning. Comput Support Coop Work (CSCW) 13(5–6):349–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Schmidt K (2011) Cooperative work and coordinative practices: contributions to the conceptual foundations of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). Springer, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  30. Schmidt K (2014) The concept of ‘practice’: what’s the point?’, COOP 2014. Springer, London, pp 427–444

    Google Scholar 

  31. Schmidt K. Of humble origins: the practice roots of interactive and collaborative computing, ZfM Online, May 2015. http://www.zfmedienwissenschaft.de/online/humble-origins

  32. Shanker SG (1998) Wittgenstein’s remarks on the foundation of AI. Routledge, London

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  33. Smith DC et al (1982) The star user interface: an overview, AFIPS’82. AFIPS Press, Arlington, pp 515–528

    Google Scholar 

  34. Star SL, Bowker GC. ‘Work and infrastructure’. Communications of the ACM, vol 38, no 9, September 1995, p 41

    Google Scholar 

  35. Star SL, Ruhleder K. Steps towards an ecology of infrastructure: complex problems in design and access for large-scale collaborative systems, Inf Syst Res, vol 7, no 1, March 1996, pp 111–134

    Google Scholar 

  36. Suchman L (2002) Located accountabilities in technology production. Scand J Inf Syst 14(2):7

    Google Scholar 

  37. Suchman LA (1985) Plans and situated actions: the problem of human-machine communication. Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto

    Google Scholar 

  38. Suchman LA (1987) Plans and situated actions: the problem of human-machine communication. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  39. Suchman LA (1993) Working relations of technology production and use. Comput Support Coop Work (CSCW) Int J 2(1–2):21–39 [article dated 1994]

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Suchman LA et al (1999) Reconstructing technologies as social practice. Am Behav Sci 43:392–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Suchman LA (2007) Human-machine reconfigurations: plans and situated actions, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  42. Sutherland IE (1963) Sketchpad: a man-machine graphical communication system. PhD dissertation, Lincoln Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 30 January

    Google Scholar 

  43. Thacker CP et al (1979) Alto: a personal computer, Xerox PARC, 7 August

    Google Scholar 

  44. Turkle S (1984) The second self: computers and the human spirit. Simon & Schuster, New York

    Google Scholar 

  45. Turner R (2014) The philosophy of computer science. The stanford encyclopedia of philosophy, 20 August

    Google Scholar 

  46. Williams M (2007) Blind obedience: rules, community, and the individual. In: Williams M (ed) Wittgenstein’s philosophical investigations: critical essays. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, pp 61–92

    Google Scholar 

  47. Wittgenstein L (1978) Remarks on the foundations of mathematics (Manuscript, 1937–44). Transl. from Bemerkungen über die Grundlagen der der Mathematik. Basil Blackwell Publishers, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  48. Wittgenstein L (1980) Remarks on the philosophy of psychology. Volume I (Typescript, Fall 1947). Basil Blackwell Publisher, Oxford [TS 229]

    Google Scholar 

  49. Wulf V et al (2011) Engaging with practices: design case studies as a research framework in CSCW, CSCW’11. ACM Press, New York, pp 505–512

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The research reported in this article has been supported by the Velux Foundation under the ‘Computational Artifacts’ project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Organization, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Kjeld Schmidt

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Jørgen Bansler

Authors
  1. Kjeld Schmidt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jørgen Bansler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kjeld Schmidt .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. InterAction Laboratory Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Antonella De Angeli

  2. LERO Department of Computer Science & Information Systems, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Liam Bannon

  3. Department of Communication Science, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Patrizia Marti

  4. Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Silvia Bordin

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Schmidt, K., Bansler, J. (2016). Computational Artifacts: Interactive and Collaborative Computing as an Integral Feature of Work Practice. In: De Angeli, A., Bannon, L., Marti, P., Bordin, S. (eds) COOP 2016: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems, 23-27 May 2016, Trento, Italy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33464-6_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33464-6_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33463-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33464-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation