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‘Use’ discourses in system development: Can communication be improved?

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Abstract

This paper aims to provide a basis for renewed talk about ‘use’ in computing. Four current ‘discourse arenas’ are described. Different intentions manifest in each arena are linked to failures in ‘translation’, different terminologies crossing disciplinary and national boundaries non-reflexively. Analysis of transnational use discourse dynamics shows much miscommunication. Conflicts like that between the ‘Scandinavian System Development School’ and the ‘usability approach’ have less current salience. Renewing our talk about use is essential to a participatory politics of information technology and will lead to clearer perception of the implications of letting new systems becoming primary media of social interaction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Lund University, Box 213, SE-221 00, Lund, Sweden

    Carl Martin Allwood

  2. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome, Utica, NY, USA

    David Hakken

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  1. Carl Martin Allwood
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  2. David Hakken
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Correspondence to Carl Martin Allwood.

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Allwood, C.M., Hakken, D. ‘Use’ discourses in system development: Can communication be improved?. AI & Soc 15, 169–199 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01208704

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