Traces of design activity: the design of coordination mechanisms in the shaping of enterprise collaboration systems

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2018.10.078Get rights and content
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Abstract

Enterprise collaboration systems (ECS) are evolving, heterogeneous and sociotechnical systems. They begin life as empty shells without content and their meaning and value unfold over time as users interact with and shape the system to their needs. This paper is part of our research to understand how ECS are being shaped and designed through use. In this paper, we examine coordination mechanisms (CM) as traces of design activity in ECS. Through a structured analysis of two ECS communities we identify key examples of user-designed coordination mechanisms and show how they are used to inscribe specific purposes into ECS communities. Our findings reveal preliminary insights into the ways users are using CM to shape ECS, thus designing them to meet their specific needs. The paper concludes with a discussion of the value of using CM to identify traces of design activity and proposes a future research program to investigate the multiple paths of ECS transformation.

Keywords

Enterprise Collaboration System (ECS)
Design through use
Coordination Mechanisms (CM)
Cooperative Work

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