The Work to Make Coordination Technologies Work

Ina Wagner, Kjeld Schmidt

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Motivated by the long-standing concern in CSCW with the state of digital coordination technologies and the ensuing accumulated empirical evidence of how the shortcomings of coordination technologies are handled in practice, this paper presents four examples of coordination technologies and coordinative artifacts that show how workers cope with their shortcomings through workarounds and hacks: CAD systems in architectural practice; the medical record in a cardiology clinic and the problem of ICD data; the IMDS database in the car industry; and the problems of making MRP systems work for the purpose of local planning. Concluding with the question what is required to support workers in their cooperative effort to ‘make coordination systems work’, the notion of computer support for ‘peer-to-peer plan management’ is introduced.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 22nd European Conference on Computer-supported Cooperative Work : The International Venue on Practice-centered Computing on the Design of Cooperation Technologies
EditorsCatia Prandi, Luigi De Russis
Number of pages16
Place of PublicationSiegen
PublisherEuropean Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET)
Publication date6 Jun 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Jun 2024
SeriesReports of the European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies
ISSN2510-2591

Keywords

  • Digital coordination technologies
  • Coordinative practices
  • Coordinative artifacts
  • CAD systems
  • MRP systems
  • Medical record
  • IMDS database

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