2024-03-28T16:40:10Zhttps://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace-oai/requestoai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1482021-10-18T07:12:51Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
The Internet and the Velocity of Scholarly Journal Publishing
Kling, Rob
Swygart-Hobaugh, Amanda J.
social informatics
scholarly publishing
2006-05-12T20:22:48Z
2006-05-12T20:22:48Z
2006-05-12T20:22:48Z
2002
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/148
en_US
WP-02-12
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1492006-07-17T14:37:24Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Leveling the playing field, or expanding the bleachers? Socio-Technical Interaction Networks and arXiv.org
Meyer, Eric T.
Kling, Rob
social informatics
STIN
Socio-Technical Interaction Networks
arXiv.org
scholarly publishing
It is has been argued that the use of electronic forums for scientific communication has numerous positive consequences, including being an important means for increasing the participation of scientists who are in peripheral locations, such as less research-intensive universities. ArXiv.org, the electronic research manuscript repository for physics and related fields, is examined to understand the level-playing field story told about this kind of online resource. A random sample of research manuscript postings from 1993 and 1999 were coded and analyzed. We did not find evidence that arXiv.org has served as a leveling influence in the fields of theoretical high-energy physics, astrophysics and mathematics. As an alternative to the standard view of arXiv.org as a level playing field, the authors present a socio-technical interaction network model that better explains the roles of online scientific publishing within the matrix of resources that support the conduct of research.
2006-05-12T21:15:25Z
2006-05-12T21:15:25Z
2006-05-12T21:15:25Z
2002
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/149
en_US
WP-02-10
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1502006-07-17T14:37:26Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Deconstructing the Digital Divide in the United States: An Interpretive Policy Analytic Perspective
Courtright, Christina
Robbin, Alice
social informatics
digital divide
policy analysis
metaphor
2006-05-12T21:19:58Z
2006-05-12T21:19:58Z
2006-05-12T21:19:58Z
2002
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/150
en_US
WP-02-07
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1652006-07-17T14:37:28Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Earths Largest Library -- Panacea or Anathema? A Socio-Technical Analysis
Napier, Mark E.
Smith, Kathleen A.
social informatics
Steve Coffman
ELL
OCLC
Orwell
2006-06-10T15:29:25Z
2006-06-10T15:29:25Z
2006-06-10T15:29:25Z
2000
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/165
en_US
WP-00-02
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1642006-07-17T14:53:01Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Power Issues in Knowledge Management
Ekbia, Hamid
Kling, Rob
social informatics
knowledge management
foucault
regime of truth
scholarly publishing
Knowledge management was advanced in the early 1990’s as a new managerial reform suited to the rapidly changing and globally vast business environment. These reformers encouraged managers to treat as a critical source their employees’ knowledge, of which they themselves had minimally articulated and varying conceptions. The major common feature among these conceptions was their generally cognitive, epistemological, and often individualistic approach to the question of knowledge, which dispossesses them of other important issues, most notably “power.” Adopting a sociological approach in this paper, will reexamine issues of knowledge management, especially as they relate to power relationships inside and outside organizations. We apply a refined version of Foucault’s notion of a “regime of truth” to show the institutionally-specific processes, procedures, and mechanisms that are usually at work in the creation of statements about the social world that function as true. As examples, we distinguish three regimes of truth that, we argue, are at work in the functioning of publicly traded businesses in the U.S. — the financial reporting, analysts’ research, and business press regimes of truth. A brief look at knowledge-management literature will further manifest a fourth regime of scholarly research. The close examination of these multiple regimes will lead us to the overall conclusion that power relationships can systematically influence the statements about the social world that function as true. In the latter part of the paper, we will study the implications of this observation for the theory and practice of knowledge management.
2006-06-10T15:26:06Z
2006-06-10T15:26:06Z
2006-06-10T15:26:06Z
2003
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/164
en_US
WP-03-02
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1662006-07-17T14:37:29Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
The Internet and Unrefereed Scholarly Publishing
Kling, Rob
social informatics
scholarly publishing
open access
repository
guild
ArXiv
scholarly communication
2006-06-15T14:28:12Z
2006-06-15T14:28:12Z
2006-06-15T14:28:12Z
2003
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/166
en_US
WP-03-01
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1672006-07-17T14:37:30Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Academic Rewards for Scholarly Research Communication via Electronic Publishing
Kling, Rob
Spector, Lisa
social informatics
scholarly publishing
repository
strength of publishing
electronic publishing
2006-06-15T14:33:38Z
2006-06-15T14:33:38Z
2006-06-15T14:33:38Z
2002
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/167
en_US
WP-02-13
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1682006-07-17T14:53:01Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Critical Professional Education about Information and Communications Technologies and Social Life
Kling, Rob
social informatics
ICT
computer science education
organizational informatics
information science
IT professionals
cultural models
IT discourses
Looking back over the 1990s, it is easy to see the widespread troubles of many ventures that depended upon advanced IT applications, including business process reengineering projects, enterprise systems, knowledge management projects, online distance education courses, and famously -- some of the dot-com businesses of the 1990s. These "troubles" vary from substantial underperformance (ie. projects that were much more costly and/or produced much less social or business value than most of the participating IT professionals anticipated) and many outright failures. Many of these 'troubles" could have been avoided (or at least ameliorated) if the participating IT professionals had much more reliable and critical understanding of the relationships between IT configurations, socio-technical interventions, social behavior of other participants in different roles, and the dynamics of organizational and social change. Social Informatics is the name for the field that studies and theorizes this topic, and I will discuss it in more detail below. The key issue addressed in this paper is who will produce social informatics research for IT professionals, and where will they learn about important findings, theories, design approaches, etc.? The paper examines the record of computer science in the U.S. as a major contributor to the relevant research and teaching. It also examines the possibilities for new kinds of academic programs -- sometimes called “information schools” and "IT Schools" -- that are being developed to expand beyond the self-imposed boundaries of computer science and to integrate some organizational and social research as sites for social informatics.
2006-06-15T14:42:50Z
2006-06-15T14:42:50Z
2006-06-15T14:42:50Z
2002
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/168
en_US
WP-02-06
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1692006-07-17T14:37:32Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Formal and Informal Learning: Incorporating Communities of Practice into Professional Development
Hara, Noriko
social informatics
community of practice
training
public defender
practical knowledge
informal learning
professional development
The field of professional training has a long tradition of supporting learning and performance through formal training. This paper raises questions about the focus on formal learning and proposes a new way of incorporating communities of practice into professional development. Communities of practice are informal networks that support a group of practitioners in developing a shared meaning and engaging in knowledge building among the members. The purposes of this paper are to describe informal and formal learning found in organizations and to discuss the implications of informal and formal learning in communities of practice for general professional development.
2006-06-15T16:56:18Z
2006-06-15T16:56:18Z
2006-06-15T16:56:18Z
2002
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/169
en_US
WP-02-04
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1702006-07-17T14:37:33Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
The Remarkable Transformation of E-Biomed into PubMed Central
Kling, Rob
Fortuna, Joanna
King, Adam
social informatics
ArXiv
scholarly publishing
electronic forum
In 1999, NIH Director Harold Varmus proposed a national biomedical literature server called “E-Biomed.” E-Biomed reflected the visions of scholarly electronic publishing advocates: it would be fully searchable, free to access, and contain full text versions of both pre-print and post-publication biomedical research articles. However, in less than a year, the E-Biomed proposal was radically transformed, eliminating the pre-print section, instituting delays between article publication and posting to the archive, and changing the name to “PubMed Central.” This article examines the remarkable transformation of the E-Biomed proposal to PubMed Central by analyzing posts to an online E-Biomed discussion forum created by the U.S. governments’ NIH, and other forums where E-Biomed deliberations took place. We find that the transformation of the E-Biomed proposal into PubMed Central was the result of highly visible and highly influential statements made by publishers and scientific societies against the proposal. We conclude that: 1) scientific societies and the individual scientists they represent do not always have identical interests, especially in regards to scientific e-publishing; 2) stakeholder politics and personal interests reign supreme in policy debates, even in a supposedly status-free online discussion forum; 3) multiple communication forums must be considered in examinations of public policy deliberations.
2006-06-15T17:04:17Z
2006-06-15T17:04:17Z
2006-06-15T17:04:17Z
2001
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/170
en_US
WP-01-03
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1712006-10-06T20:13:00Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Mapping the Unmappable: Visual Representations of the Internet as Social Constructions
King, Adam B.
social informatics
visual representation
Internet
network typology
visualization
2006-06-15T17:19:07Z
2006-06-15T17:19:07Z
2006-06-15T17:19:07Z
2000
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/171
en_US
WP-00-05
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1722006-07-17T14:53:06Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Sustaining New Coordination Methods: The Case of World Class Manufacturing
Allen, Jonathan
Bakos, Yannis
Kling, Rob
social informatics
World Class Manufacturing
coordination
organizational theory
rational model
natural systems
Structural Contingency Theory
Institutional Theory
WCD
manufacturing
A popular philosophy of manufacturing reform commonly referred to as "World Class Manufacturing", calls for the adoption of organizational practices that significantly alter coordination within and between manufacturing firms. These practices are intended to enable continuous improvement, speed up response time, improve product quality, and create closer relationships with customers and suppliers.
The adoption of coordination methods advocated by World Class Manufacturing, such as cross-functional teams and vendor certification, has been uneven. This is not surprising, considering the diversity of technical and institutional demands faced by different manufacturing firms, and even by different groups within firms. But the literature on World Class Manufacturing coordination reforms has yet to describe the key contextual factors and processes which make these methods more or less sustainable for different organizations, continuing to prescribe the same solutions to every firm regardless of their situation or history.
In this study, we turn to organizational theory to help explain the sustainability or abandonment of different World Class Manufacturing coordination methods. Using a case study of three different coordination reforms in a Southern California aerospace firm, we compared the explanatory power of two popular theoretical perspectives on organizational coordination and action -- one rational perspective (structural contingency theory) and one natural perspective (institutional theory). One of the abandoned coordination reforms depended upon a complex computerized information system.
Our study indicates that the use of organizational theories adds substantially to our explanation and understanding of the practical barriers faced by World Class Manufacturing coordination practices. Since few of these coordination innovations are justified using traditional techniques, it is especially important to have rich conceptual tools for thinking through exactly which coordination innovations will be sustainable in particular manufacturing organizations. The combination of rational and natural systems models accounts for both the technical and the (often neglected) institutional dimensions of the manufacturing environment.
2006-06-15T17:54:21Z
2006-06-15T17:54:21Z
2006-06-15T17:54:21Z
1998
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/172
en_US
WP-98-06
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1732021-10-18T18:49:03Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
A Study of State-Funded Community Networks in Indiana: Final Report
Rosenbaum, Howard
Gregson, Kim
social informatics
community network
state government
Indiana
Access Indiana
website
2006-06-15T18:18:07Z
2006-06-15T18:18:07Z
2006-06-15T18:18:07Z
1998
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/173
en_US
WP-98-04
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1742006-07-17T14:37:39Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Web-based Community Networks: A Study of Information Organization and Access
Rosenbaum, Howard
social informatics
community network
Access Indiana
website
information organization
content analysis
This paper reports a subset of the results a research project designed to assess the current state of state-funded community networking in Indiana. It explores the organization of information resources and services provided by 24 web-based community networks, examines the core design principles that have been most useful in the development of these community network (CN) sites and assesses the strategies currently used to provide access to these information resources and services.
Using a variety of methods, including content analysis of web sites, interviews with CN board members, echnical staff, and users, and site visits, the study examined the 24 state-funded CNs and attempted to answer a set of research questions, a subset of which will be reported here. The study found that the CN sites have useful and usable technical infrastructures in place but are lacking the deep and meaningful local content and services that will allow them to become important nodes in their communities' digital information environments.
2006-07-01T14:44:10Z
2006-07-01T14:44:10Z
2006-07-01T14:44:10Z
1998
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/174
en_US
WP-98-03
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1752006-07-17T14:37:42Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Conceiving IT-Enabled Organizational Change
Kling, Rob
Tillquist, John
social informatics
re-engineering
sense-making
strategic planning
BPR
pharmaceutical
Management models of IT-enabled organizational change like business process re-engineering, networking organizations, and complementary IT-to-business strategies, circulate broadly through the academic literature and popular business press. But h ow do these models carried within the management discourse influence the praxis of strategic planning? This study examines a strategic planning process as it is shaped by a popular IT-enabled change model. We found that popular cultural models of IT-ena bled change shape the organizational planning process by defining the mode of participant expression and pre-defining taken-for-granted assumptions of work and work organization. Our data show how models of IT-enabled change facilitate sense-making. We di fferentiate between socially-rich and socially-thin models, and argue that the latter, linked to popularized conceptions of management carried in the practitioner literature, are especially problematic for organizational participants and can undermine eff ective organizational action.
2006-07-03T15:40:31Z
2006-07-03T15:40:31Z
2006-07-03T15:40:31Z
1998
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/175
en_US
WP-98-02
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1782006-07-17T14:53:09Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
A longitudinal investigation of personal computers in homes: Adoption determinants and emerging challenges
Venkatesh, Viswanath
Brown, Susan A.
social informatics
PC
adoption
innovation diffusion
technology acceptance model
While technology adoption in the workplace has been studied extensively, drivers of adoption in homes have been largely overlooked. This paper presents the results of a nation-wide, two-wave, longitudinal investigation of the factors driving personal computer (PC) adoption among American homes. The findings revealed that innovators and early adopters were driven by a desire to obtain hedonic outcomes (i.e., pleasure) and social outcomes (i.e., status) from adoption. The early majority was strongly influenced by utilitarian outcomes, and friends and family members. The late majority and laggards have not adopted primarily because of rapid changes in technology and consequent fear of obsolescence. A second wave of data collection conducted six months after the initial survey indicated an asymmetrical relationship between intent and behavior among intenders and non-intenders, with non-intenders following more closely with their intent (to not adopt a PC). We present important implications for research on adoption of technologies in homes and the workplace, and also discuss challenges facing the PC industry.
2006-07-04T16:23:35Z
2006-07-04T16:23:35Z
2006-07-04T16:23:35Z
1998
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/178
en_US
WP-98-01
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1762006-07-17T14:37:43Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
A Typology for Electronic-Journals: Characterizing Scholarly Journals by their Distribution Forms
Kling, Rob
McKim, Geoffrey
social informatics
scholarly publishing
scientific communication
typology
channel
2006-07-03T17:17:46Z
2006-07-03T17:17:46Z
2006-07-03T17:17:46Z
1997
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/176
en_US
WP-97-07
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1772006-07-17T14:53:08Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Notes on a structurational view of digital information in organizations
Rosenbaum, Howard
social informatics
structuration
information use environment
IUE
digital information
Information has become an important resource in organizations and is once again moving into the center of research attention, especially as more of this information is rendered in digital form. When digital information is considered as an organizational resource, it is an undertheorized concept. In an effort to rethink this concept, this paper proposes a structurational framework for digital organizational information within which this type of information is treated as a resource in an organizational information use environment (IUE). One objective of this paper is to develop this framework in detail, clarifying a base from which the social implications of organizational digital information may be explored.
The structuration approach is used because it is "a highly useful framework for the analysis of organizations" (Mills and Murgatroyd (1991; 12). The structurational conception of digital organizational information as a resource is an important element of an organization's IUE, because of the way in which it can extend the power of those who control it (Rosenbaum, 1996b; Orlikowski, 1992). Taylor's (1991) concept of the IUE is used because it focuses on the organizational environment in "information terms." A second objective of this paper is to argue that the access to and control of digital information in organizations is a fundamental characteristic of the structuration of modern organiza given serious and sustained research attention.
2006-07-04T16:19:58Z
2006-07-04T16:19:58Z
2006-07-04T16:19:58Z
1997
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/177
en_US
WP-97-06
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1792006-07-17T14:37:50Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Digital Libraries and the Practices of Scholarly Communication
Kling, Rob
Covi, Lisa
social informatics
digital library
DL
scholarly communication
socio-technical
PC
2006-07-04T16:55:28Z
2006-07-04T16:55:28Z
2006-07-04T16:55:28Z
1997
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/179
en_US
WP-97-03
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1802006-07-17T14:52:59Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
In the trenches of the digital revolution: Intellectual freedom and the "public" digital library
Rosenbaum, Howard
social informatics
intellectual freedom
digital library
public
ALA
access
The development of the Internet and the increasing popularity of the World Wide Web have opened up a new realm of information access, storage, and delivery for librarians and information professionals. Libraries and schools are striving to respond to the pervasive and persistent growth of global networking and manage the demand for access to this dynamic medium. Currently, 21 percent of American public libraries and 35 percent of public schools have some form of internet access (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1995; Sackman, 1995). Working in the trenches of the digital revolution, librarians and information professionals are beginning to offer internet services to patrons; their work marks the beginning of the grassroots implementation of the "public" digital library. Such efforts do not come without their attendant risks, and it is extremely important that those who are becoming network service and resource providers and content producers clearly understand what is involved in their participation in the digital revolution from an issues- and policy-oriented perspective.
This paper will outline one subset of the range of critical issues that are part and parcel of the world of networked information and discuss its impacts on librarians and information professionals. It will discuss questions of access, privacy, copyright, and the protection of intellectual property and suggest that librarians and information professionals discuss and develop reasonable acceptable use policies early in the implementation process that will allow them to effectively person the front lines of the digital revolution.
2006-07-04T17:14:47Z
2006-07-04T17:14:47Z
2006-07-04T17:14:47Z
1996
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/180
en_US
WP-96-03
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1812006-07-17T14:37:51Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Creating Social Spaces to Facilitate Reflective Learning On-Line
Robbin, Alice
social informatics
socio-technical
web-based learning
graduate
pedagogy
critical thinking
2006-07-04T17:16:00Z
2006-07-04T17:16:00Z
2006-07-04T17:16:00Z
2001
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/181
en_US
WP-01-01
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1822006-07-17T14:37:52Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Rob Kling In Search of One Good Theory: The Origins of Computerization Movements
Robbin, Alice
social informatics
craft of inquiry
ICT
Information Society
social order
symbolic interactionism
structuralism
Rob Kling
political order
computerization movement
Rob Kling’s intellectual contribution is a corpus of work that exemplifies the craft of inquiry and the social enterprise of science. He applied core sociological ideas and grounded them in evidence. His work connected theory, method, and evidence. His observations of the empirical world over more than a quarter-century led to research questions that transcended disciplinary boundaries, invigorated disciplines, transformed our thinking, and helped us develop a working vocabulary about technology and social life. He was decidedly unapologetic about his eclecticism — instead, reveling in the need to employ multiple theoretical frameworks, multiple methodologies, and multiple sources of evidence to make his arguments. This paper examines Rob Kling’s craft of inquiry. It traces the evolution of his theorizing, methodological choices, and gathering of evidence to understand computerization movements, an inquiry that situates his analysis in an unfailingly consistent critical stance towards computers and social life.
2006-07-04T17:52:17Z
2006-07-04T17:52:17Z
2006-07-04T17:52:17Z
2005
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/182
en_US
WP-05-01
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1832021-10-18T18:49:05Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
On Rob Kling: The Theoretical, the Methodological, and the Critical
Robbin, Alice
Day, Ron
social informatics
Rob Kling
social critique
theory
intellectual trajectory
We explore Rob Kling’s conceptual scaffolding for Social Informatics: his integration of theory, method and evidence and philosophical underpinnings and moral basis of his commitment to a critical stance towards computers and social life. He extended his focus on organizational practices and a lifelong meditation on democracy, value conflicts and social choices to the discourses of computerization and social transformation and to the education of the information professional. He came to his project through careful observation of organizational life and a critical reading of research conducted by other scholars and the rhetoric about ICTs, As Kling conceptualized it, the project of Social Informatics was to intervene in the social construction of the meaning, value, use and even design of technologies as shaped by discourse and education.
2006-07-08T18:56:17Z
2006-07-08T18:56:17Z
2006-07-08T18:56:17Z
2006
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/183
en_US
WP-06-01
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/1842021-10-18T18:49:08Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Social Informatics Education in I-Schools
Robbin, Alice
Hara, Noriko
Day, Ron
social informatics
education
This essay focuses on the philosophical and conceptual underpinnings of a program of
study in Social Informatics. We examine foundational concepts and analytical tools,
ideas worked out by Rob Kling and others about the key components of an ICToriented
education (even when the intent of their discussion was not pedagogical). Our
intention is to assay Kling’s program of critical inquiry for a Social Informatics
education that prepares information professionals to respond appropriately and
ethically in their future careers. We do not to recommend the adoption of specific
courses for a Social Informatics education. We had also planned to identify those
components of a Social Informatics education that I-schools and library and information
science schools have incorporated in their program offerings to determine how much
progress has been made to adopt a critical perspective on the relationship between
technology and people. However, this proved to be nearly impossible; we discuss our
limited findings based on our initial exploration. Our concluding remarks address
additions to the Kling perspective on a Social Informatics education that we would like
to see and offer some thoughts on ways to support a Social Informatics education for
information professionals.
2006-07-10T23:15:29Z
2006-07-10T23:15:29Z
2006-07-10T23:15:29Z
2005-09
Working Paper
Robbin, A., Hara, N., & Day, R. (2005). Social informatics education in I-Schools. Paper delivered, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, September 28-30, 2005.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/184
en_US
WP-05-02
Creative Commons license
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/5982021-10-18T19:28:20Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
The Quality of Evidence in Knowledge Management Research: Practitioner versus Scholarly Literature
Ekbia, Hamid R.
Hara, Noriko
social informatics
knowledge management
evidence
actor-network theory
The fragmentation of knowledge management as a field and as an area of research poses serious theoretical challenges for researchers. The viability of KM rests on how the community responds to these challenges, but it also depends on how they garner empirical support for their purported theories. One aspect of this would involve the evaluation of the evidence provided in KM research. This paper presents a comparative study of the evidence that is presented in scholarly and professional literature on KM. For this purpose, the paper introduces a typology of evidence to analyze the data obtained from the survey of the literature. The classification based on this typology reveals no systematic difference between the types of evidence put forth in the scholarly and practitioner literature. However, closer examination reveals interesting differences in terms of the questions they ask, the perspective they adopt, and the methods they follow to convince others of the validity their claims. We explain these differences in terms of the notions of “blackboxing” and “performance” borrowed from actor-network theory. Drawing upon lessons from the philosophy of science and science studies, we explicate the different degrees of blackboxing by professionals and scholars in translating data of studied cases into “evidence” that is then handed down to others who take interest in it. The implications of these differences for scholarly research on KM will be discussed.
2006-12-14T15:42:03Z
2006-12-14T15:42:03Z
2006-12-14T15:42:03Z
2006-11
Working Paper
To be published in the Journal of Information Science
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/598
en_US
WP-06-02
Copyright license granted to the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP - the owners of the Journal of Information Science) to
process and distribute the paper as required for review. Copyright of the contents belong to the authors to assign or license pending acceptance for publication in the Journal of Information Science.
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10172007-04-03T22:31:53Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673com_2022_15555com_2022_13945col_2022_147col_2022_24996
Ecological approach to virtual team effectiveness
Shachaf, Pnina
Hara, Noriko
social informatics
virtual team
ecology
globalization
This paper attempts to address the need for more research on virtual team effectiveness, and outlines an ecological theoretical framework. Prior empirical studies on virtual team effectiveness used frameworks of traditional team effectiveness and mainly followed Hackman's normative model (input-process-output). We propose an ecological approach for virtual team effectiveness that accounts for team boundaries management, technology use, and external environment, properties which were previously either non-existent or contextual. The ecological framework suggests that three components, external environment, internal environment, and boundary management, reciprocally interact with effectiveness. The significance of the proposed framework is the holistic perspective that takes into account the complexity of the external and internal environment of the team.
2007-04-03T18:34:29Z
2007-04-03T18:34:29Z
2007-04-03T18:34:29Z
2002
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1017
en_US
WP-02-08
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10182007-04-05T22:32:13Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
From Users to Social Actors: Reconceptualizing Socially Rich Interaction Through Information and Communication Technology
Lamb, Roberta
Kling, Rob
social informatics
user
ICT
social actor
HCI
CSCW
institutional
pillars
A concept of "the user" is fundamental to much of the research and practice of information systems design, development and evaluation. User-centered information studies have relied on individualistic cognitive models to carefully examine the criteria that influence people’s selections of information and communication technologies (ICTs). In many ways, these studies have improved our understanding of how a good information resource fits the people who use it. However, research approaches based on an individualistic “user” concept are limited.
In this paper, we examine the theoretical constructs that shape this “user” concept and contrast these with alternative views that help to reconceptualize "the user" as a social actor. Despite pervasive ICT use, social actors are not primarily “users” of ICTs. Moreover, such socially thin and somewhat pejorative conceptualizations limit our understanding of information selection, manipulation, communication and exchange within complex social contexts. Using analyses from a recent study of online information service use, we develop an institutionalist concept of a social actor whose everyday interactions are infused with ICT use. We then encourage a shift from "the user" concept to a concept of the social actor in IS research. We suggest that such a shift will sharpen perceptions of how organizational contexts shape ICT-related practices, and at the same time will help researchers more accurately portray the complex and multiple roles that people fulfill while adopting, adapting and using information systems.
2007-04-05T20:29:26Z
2007-04-05T20:29:26Z
2007-04-05T20:29:26Z
2002
Working Paper
Lamb, R. & Kling, R. (2003). Reconceptualizing users as social actors in information systems research. MIS Quarterly, 27(2), 197-235.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1018
en_US
WP-02-11
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10192007-04-05T22:32:19Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Group Behavior and Learning in Electronic Forums: A Socio-technical Approach
Kling, Rob
Courtright, Christina
social informatics
learning community
socio-technical
virtual community
group learning
Inquiry Learning Forum
trust
2007-04-05T20:36:24Z
2007-04-05T20:36:24Z
2007-04-05T20:36:24Z
2002
Working Paper
In Sasha Barab, Rob Kling, and James Gray (Eds.).Building Online Communities in the Service of Learning.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1019
en_US
WP-02-09
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10212007-04-05T22:32:21Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Informatics and Distributed Learning
Kling, Rob
Hara, Noriko
social informatics
informatics
distributed learning
pedagogy
2007-04-05T20:41:30Z
2007-04-05T20:41:30Z
2007-04-05T20:41:30Z
2002
Working Paper
Kling, R., & Hara, N. (2004). Informatics and distributed learning, In A. DiStefano, K. Rudestam, R. Silverman, & S. Taira (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Distributed Learning (pp.225-227). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1021
en_US
WP-02-05
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10202007-04-05T22:32:02Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Searching for Safety Online: Managing "Trolling" in a Feminist Forum
Herring, Susan
Job-Sluder, Kirk
Scheckler, Rebecca
Barab, Sasha
social informatics
CMC
trolling
feminism
conflict managementt
disruptive behavior
deception
A common phenomenon in online discussion groups is the individual who baits and provokes other group members, often with the result of drawing them into fruitless argument and diverting attention from the stated purposes of the group. This study documents a case in which the members of a vulnerable online community—a feminist web-based discussion forum—are targeted by a “troller” attempting to disrupt their discussion space. We analyze the strategies that make the troller successful and the targeted group largely ineffectual in responding to his attack, as a means to understand how such behavior might be minimized and managed in general. The analysis further suggests that feminist and other non-mainstream online forums are especially vulnerable, in that they must balance inclusive ideals against the need for protection and safety, a tension that can be exploited by disruptive elements to generate intragroup conflict.
2007-04-05T20:37:12Z
2007-04-05T20:37:12Z
2007-04-05T20:37:12Z
2002
Working Paper
Herring, S.C., Job-Sluder, K., Scheckler, R., and Barab, S. (2002). Searching for Safety Online: Managing "Trolling" in a Feminist Forum. The Information Society, 18 (5), 371-384.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1020
en_US
WP-02-03
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10222007-04-05T22:32:24Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
IT Supports for Communities of Practice: An Empirically-based Framework
Hara, Noriko
Kling, Rob
social informatics
community of practice
CSCW
CoP
knowledge management
IT
Despite strong interest among practitioners and scholars, the study of communities of practice (CoPs) and Information Technology (IT) is short of empirical research. This paper presents a theoretical framework for communities of practice and provides alternative perspectives on IT supports for communities of practice. The framework was developed based on the literature and ethnographic case studies of communities of practice within two organizations. The study examines how people share and construct their knowledge and how they use collaborative IT to support work practices in two organizations. The surprising finding is that the groups that used IT most intensively had the least well-developed CoPs. The results of the study would inform practice and research in Knowledge Management.
2007-04-05T20:51:21Z
2007-04-05T20:51:21Z
2007-04-05T20:51:21Z
2002
Working Paper
Hara, N., & Kling, R. (2002). Communities of practice with and without Information Technology. Proceedings of the 65th annual meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 39, 338-349.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1022
en_US
WP-02-02
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10232007-04-05T22:32:16Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Locally Controlled Scholarly Publishing via the Internet: The Guild Model
Kling, Rob
Spector, Lisa
McKim, Geoff
social informatics
guild publishing model
arXiv
Many librarians and scholars believe that the Internet can be used to dramatically improve scholarly communication. During the last decade there has been substantial discussion of five major publishing models where readers could access articles without a fee: electronic journals, hybrid paper-electronic journals, authors' self-posting on web sites, free online access to all peer reviewed literature, and disciplinary repositories where authors post their own unrefereed articles. There have been numerous projects within each of these models, as well as extensive discussions about their strengths and limitations. While some of these projects have become important scholarly resources in specific disciplines; none of them has become commonplace across numerous disciplines. There is a sixth model that has been quietly adopted and developed in a number of disciplines -- the research publication series called working papers or technical reports that are sponsored by academic departments or research institutes. Many of these manuscript series are available to readers, online, and free of charge. This model -- which we call Guild Publishing -- has a distinct set of advantages and limitations when compared with the other five publishing models. This article explains the Guild Publishing Model, provides some examples, and discusses its strengths and limitations.
2007-04-05T21:10:00Z
2007-04-05T21:10:00Z
2007-04-05T21:10:00Z
2002
Working Paper
Kling, R., Spector, L., & McKim, G. (2002). Locally controlled scholarly publishing via the internet: The guild model. Journal of Electronic Publishing, 8(1).
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1023
en_US
WP-02-01
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10242007-04-05T22:32:27Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Gender and Power in Online Communication
Herring, Susan
social informatics
gender
power
computer-mediated communication
CMC
World Wide Web
2007-04-05T21:16:04Z
2007-04-05T21:16:04Z
2007-04-05T21:16:04Z
2001
Working Paper
Herring, S. C. (2003a). Gender and power in online communication. In J. Holmes & M. Meyerhoff (Eds.), The handbook of language and gender (pp. 202-228). Oxford: Blackwell.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1024
en_US
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10872007-04-26T22:30:32Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Electronic Journals, the Internet, and Scholarly Communication
Kling, Rob
Callahan, Ewa
social informatics
scholarly communication
electronic publishing
socio-technical network model
ARIST
2007-04-26T21:22:40Z
2007-04-26T21:22:40Z
2007-04-26T21:22:40Z
2001
Working Paper
Kling, R., & Callahan, E. (2003). Electronic journals, the internet, and scholarly communication. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 37, 127-177.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1087
en_US
WP-01-04
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10882007-04-26T22:30:39Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
A Bit More To IT: Scholarly Communication Forums as Socio-Technical Interaction Networks
Kling, Rob
McKim, Geoffrey
King, Adam
social informatics
STIN
socio-technical interaction network
Scholarly Communication Forum
ISWorld
FlyBase
ArXiv.org
SPIRES-HEP
In this article, we examine the conceptual models that help us understand the development and sustainability of scholarly and professional communication forums on the Internet, such as conferences, pre-print servers, field-wide data sets, and collaboratories. We first present and document the information processing model that is implicitly advanced in most discussions about scholarly communications -- the “Standard Model.” Then we present an alternative model, a model that considers information technologies as Socio-Technical Interaction Networks (STINs). STIN models provide a richer understanding of human behavior with online scholarly communications forums. They also help to further a more complete understanding of the conditions and activities that support the sustainability of these forums within a field than does the Standard Model. We illustrate the significance of the STIN model with examples of scholarly communication forums drawn from the fields of high energy physics, molecular biology, and information systems.
2007-04-26T21:23:50Z
2007-04-26T21:23:50Z
2007-04-26T21:23:50Z
2001
Working Paper
Kling, R., McKim, G., & King, A. (2003). A bit more to IT: Scholarly communication forums as socio-technical interaction networks. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 54(1), 47-67.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1088
en_US
WP-01-02
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10892007-04-26T22:30:41Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Information Inequality: UCITA, Public Policy and Information Access
Meyer, Eric T.
social informatics
Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA)
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL)
Open Source Movement
2007-04-26T21:31:02Z
2007-04-26T21:31:02Z
2007-04-26T21:31:02Z
2000
Working Paper
Meyer, E. T. (2000). Information Inequality and UCITA. Proceedings of the 2000 American Society for Information Science Annual Meeting.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1089
en_US
WP-00-06
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10902007-04-26T22:30:44Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Information Technologies and the Strategic Reconfiguration of Libraries in Communication Networks
Kling, Rob
social informatics
socio-technical network
library
2007-04-26T21:38:21Z
2007-04-26T21:38:21Z
2007-04-26T21:38:21Z
2000
Working Paper
Kling, R. (2001). The internet and the strategic reconfiguration of libraries. Library Administration and Management, 15(3), 16-23.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1090
en_US
WP-00-04
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10912007-04-27T16:30:21Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Arenas of Innovation: Fringe Groups and the Discovery of New Liberties Of Action
Sawhney, Harmeet
Lee, Seungwhan
social informatics
liberty of action
Internet Multicasting Service (IMS)
Geek of the Week
ARPANET
Napster
The accuracy of our forecasts about a new communication technology depend on our ability to detect new "liberties of action" it offers. We, however, are unable to recognize them because we tend to view the new technology via metaphors based on old ones. Furthermore, the entrenched institutions seek to guide its development within the existing framework with minimal disruptions. Within this context, the breakthroughs which shatter our conceptual blinders come from the activities of fringe groups fueled by the thrill of experimentation rather than the prospect of commercial gain. For example, while corporations (RCA, Westinghouse, AT&T and others) interested in point-to-point wireless telegraphy viewed the scattering of radio waves as a nuisance, amateur radio enthusiasts saw the potential of point-to-multipoint broadcasting. Similarly, the activities of fringe groups were critical in the development of e-mail and internet broadcasting. This paper explains how the fringe groups form an "arena of innovation" outside the established institutional framework which facilitates the discovery of new liberties of action. It first examines the development of radio, e-mail, and internet broadcasting to identify parallels and then conceptualizes the processes via which fringe groups discover the new liberties of action of an emerging communication technology.
2007-04-27T15:49:37Z
2007-04-27T15:49:37Z
2007-04-27T15:49:37Z
2000
Working Paper
Sawhney, H. and Lee, S. (2005). Arenas of innovation: Understanding new configurational potentialities of communication technologies. Media, Culture & Society, 27(3), 391-414.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1091
en_US
WP-00-03
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10922007-04-27T16:30:27Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Students’ Distress with a Web-based Distance Education Course
Hara, Noriko
Kling, Rob
social informatics
distance education
students’ experiences
asynchronous communication
WWW
Many advocates of computer-mediated distance education emphasize its positive aspects and understate the kinds of communicative and technical capabilities and work required by students and faculty. There are few systematic analytical studies of students who have experienced new technologies in higher education. This article presents a qualitative case study of a web-based distance education course at a major U.S. university. The case data reveal a topic that is glossed over in much of the distance education literature written for administrators, instructors and prospective students: students' periodic distressing experiences (such as frustration, anxiety and confusion) in a small graduate-level course due to communication breakdowns and technical difficulties. Our intent is that this study will enhance understanding of the instructional design issues, instructor and student preparation, and communication practices that are needed to improve web-based distance education courses.
2007-04-27T15:55:51Z
2007-04-27T15:55:51Z
2007-04-27T15:55:51Z
2000
Working Paper
Hara, N., & Kling, R. (2000). Students' distress with a web-based distance education course. Information, Communication and Society, 3(4), 557-579.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1092
en_US
WP 00-01-B1
Hara, N., & Kling, R. (2002). Students' Distress with a Web-based Distance Education Course: An Ethnographic Study of Participants' Experiences. In W. H. Dutton & B. D. Loader. (Eds.). Digital academe: New media in higher education and learning (pp.62-84). Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd.
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10982007-04-27T22:30:25Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Not Just a Matter of Time: Field Differences and the Shaping of Electronic Media
Kling, Rob
McKim, Geoffrey
social informatics
social shaping of technology (SST)
High Energy Physics
Molecular Biology
Electronic Publishing
convergence
The shift towards the use of electronic media in scholarly communication appears to be an inescapable imperative. However, these shifts are uneven, both with respect to field and with respect to the form of communication. Different scientific fields have developed and use distinctly different communicative forums, both in the paper and electronic arenas, and these forums play different communicative roles within the field. One common claim is that we are in the early stages of an electronic revolution, that it is only a matter of time before other fields catch up with the early adopters, and that all fields converge on a stable set of electronic forums. A social shaping of technology (SST) perspective helps us to identify important social forces – centered around disciplinary constructions of trust and of legitimate communication – that pull against convergence. This analysis concludes that communicative plurality and communicative heterogeneity are durable features of the scholarly landscape, and that we are likely to see field differences in the use of and meaning ascribed to communications forums persist, even as overall use of electronic communications technologies both in science and in society as a whole increases.
2007-04-27T18:33:58Z
2007-04-27T18:33:58Z
2007-04-27T18:33:58Z
1999
Working Paper
Kling, R., & McKim, G. (2000). Not just a matter of time: Field differences and the shaping of electronic media in supporting scientific communication. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 51(14), 1306-1320.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1098
en_US
WP-99-02
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/10992007-04-27T22:30:30Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
How Public is the Web?: Robots, Access, and Scholarly Communication
Snyder, Herbert
Rosenbaum, Howard
social informatics
Robot Exclusion Protocol
universities
This paper examines the use of "Robot Exclusion Protocol" to restrict the access of search engine robots to 10 major American university websites belonging to institutions recently named among "AmericaÕs Most Wired" universities (Gan, 1997). An analysis of web site searching and interviews with web server administrators at these sites shows that the decision to use this procedure is largely technical and is typically made by the web server administrator. The implications of this decision for openness in scholarly communication and for the future of academic, university-based web publishing are discussed.
2007-04-27T18:39:37Z
2007-04-27T18:39:37Z
2007-04-27T18:39:37Z
1998
Working Paper
Snyder, H. and Rosenbaum, H., How Public is the Web?: Robots, Access, and Scholarly Communications, Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 35, 453-462.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1099
en_US
WP-98-05
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/11002007-04-27T22:30:56Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Organizational Aspects of the Virtual/Digital Library: A Survey of Academic Libraries
Travica, Bob
social informatics
Digital Library
The virtual or digital library (V/DL) is presently being investigated across disciplines. Technology-related topics capture most of attention, while organizational issues are little studied. Rather than looking at V/DL as a specific technology, the present study takes an organizational approach. It places V/DL in the content of the academic library, focusing on relevant opinions of the library heads. The study's findings suggest that the library heads typically understand V/DL as digital materials, are mainly supportive of V/DL understood in this way, and demonstrate the tension between old and new orientations.
2007-04-27T18:44:58Z
2007-04-27T18:44:58Z
2007-04-27T18:44:58Z
1997
Working Paper
Travica, B. (1999). Organizational aspects of the virtual library: A survey of academic libraries. Library and Information Science Research, 21(2), 173-203.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1100
en_US
WP-97-05
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/17982007-05-29T16:30:30Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Human Centered Systems in the Perspective of Organizational and Social Informatics
Kling, Rob
Star, Leigh
Kiesler, Sara
Agre, Phil
Bowker, Geoffrey
Attewell, Paul
Ntuen, Celestine
social informatics
system design
productivity paradox
human-centered
2007-05-29T15:54:54Z
2007-05-29T15:54:54Z
2007-05-29T15:54:54Z
1997
Working Paper
Kling, R., & Star, L. (1997). Human centered systems in the perspective of organizational and social informatics (chapter 5). In T. Huang & J. Flanigan (Eds.), Human centered systems, for the National Science Foundation.
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1798
en_US
WP-97-04
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/18032007-06-07T16:31:38Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
The Internet for Sociologists
Kling, Rob
social informatics
listserv
discussion list
WWW
search
electronic journal
Within the last five years, many sociologists have discovered electronic mail (e-mail) discussion lists (such as LISTSERVs) and the World Wide Web (WWW)-- services, that are associated with a network of computer networks popularly referred to as "the Internet." Over the last twenty years, academics in certain disciplines, especially the lab sciences, have found computer networking to be a viable means for sharing data, organizing professionals discussions, keeping in touch with colleagues, and distributing documents, such as conference programs, preprints, and syllabi. Within the last five years, many sociologists have discovered electronic mail (e-mail) discussion lists (such as LISTSERVs) and the World Wide Web (WWW)-- services, that are associated with a network of computer networks popularly referred to as "the Internet." Over the last twenty years, academics in certain disciplines, especially the lab sciences, have found computer networking to be a viable means for sharing data, organizing professionals discussions, keeping in touch with colleagues, and distributing documents, such as conference programs, preprints, and syllabi. This brief article has the unmodest ambition of explaining to sociologists why they should take the Internet seriously as a medium of professional communication, and why some sociologists should be specially interested in the Internet (or other computer networks) as social spaces in which to study shifting social relationships in our society. Part I may be specially useful to sociologists who have relatively limited experience with Internet services. Part II discusses sociological uses of the Internet to support research, teaching, and professional communication that could interest readers with significant Internet experiences.
2007-06-07T15:39:25Z
2007-06-07T15:39:25Z
2007-06-07T15:39:25Z
1997
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1803
en_US
WP-97-02
Kling, R. (1997). The Internet for sociologists. Contemporary Sociology-a Journal of Reviews, 26(4), 434-444.
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/18022007-08-02T18:18:19Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Digital Shift or Digital Drift?: Conceptualizing Transitions From Paper Media to Electronic Publishing and Digital Libraries in North American Universities
Covi, Lisa
Kling, Rob
social informatics
paper libraries
digital libraries
library automation
research universities
organizational behavior
2007-06-07T15:22:32Z
2007-06-07T15:22:32Z
2007-06-07T15:22:32Z
1997
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1802
en_US
WP-97-01
Covi, L., & Kling, R. (1998). Shift or drift? A closer look at university decision-making concerning the transition from paper to digital libraries. In M. Wolf, P. Ensor & M. A. Thomas (Eds.), Information imagineering: Meeting at the interface: ALA Press.
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/18042007-06-07T16:31:49Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Structure and Action: Towards a New Concept of the Information Use Environment
Rosenbaum, Howard
social informatics
structuration
information use environment
One pressing concern in library and information science is to understand the social context within which the generation and dissemination of information takes place in organizational settings. This paper examines the problems involved in the attempt to account for, in theoretical and empirical terms, the social context within which information is generated, sought for, acquired, evaluated, organized, disseminated, and used in complex formal organizations. It describes the findings of research based on innovative theoretical approach that focuses on one important element of the social context of information, called the information use environment. Based on the work of Taylor [1, 2] and Giddens [3, 4] this approach represents a conceptual advance in the field that allows us to improve our understanding of the complexities of the working world of information professionals.
2007-06-07T15:50:01Z
2007-06-07T15:50:01Z
2007-06-07T15:50:01Z
1996
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1804
en_US
WP-96-04
Rosenbaum, H. (1996), "Structure and action: a new concept of the information use environment", Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 33,152-6.
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/18052007-06-07T16:31:53Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Bits of Cities: Utopian Visions and Social Power in Placed-Based and Electronic Communities
Kling, Rob
Lamb, Roberta
social informatics
place-based community
virtual community
electronic community
cyberutopia
power
california
cyberspace
2007-06-07T15:58:05Z
2007-06-07T15:58:05Z
2007-06-07T15:58:05Z
1996
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1805
en_US
WP-96-02
Kling, R., & Lamb, R. (1998). Morceaux de villes. Comment les visions utopiques structurent le pouvoir social dans l'espace physique et dans le cyberespace. In E. Eveno (Ed.), Utopies urbaines. Presses Universitaires du Mirail.
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/18062007-06-07T16:31:55Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
A Multi-level Approach to Intelligent Information Filtering: Model, System, and Evaluation
Mostafa, J.
Mukhopahyay, S.
Lam, W.
Palakal, M.
social informatics
filtering
SIFTER
To conduct efficient information filtering, uncertanties occurring at multiple levels must be managed. Uncertainties can occur due to changing document space as well as stochasticity and non-stationarity of the user. In this paper, a filtering model is proposed that decomposes the overall task into subsystem functionalities and highlights the need for multiple adaptation techniques to cope with uncertainties. A filtering system, named SIFTER, has been implemented based on the model, using established techniques in information retrieval and artificial intelligence. These techniques include document representation using vector-space model, document classification by unsupervised learning, and user modeling by reinforcement learning. The system can filter information based on content and user's specific interests. The user's interest is automatically learned with only limited user intervention in the form of optional relevance feedbacks for documents. We also describe extensive experimental studies conducted with SIFTER to filter computer and information science documents collected from the Internet and commercial database services. The experimental results demonstrate that the system performs very well in filtering documents in a realistic problem setting.
2007-06-07T16:04:57Z
2007-06-07T16:04:57Z
2007-06-07T16:04:57Z
1996
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1806
en_US
WP- 96-01
Mostafa, J., Mukhopadhyay, S., Palakal, M., & Lam, W. (1997). A multilevel approach to intelligent information filtering: model, system, and evaluation. ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS), 15(4), p.368-399.
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/18352021-10-18T18:43:21Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
Democracy in the Age of the Internet: An Analysis of the Net Neutrality Debate of 2006
Hart, Jeffrey
social informatics
universal service
net neutrality
Vint Cerf
In 2006, a major telecommunications bill failed because it did not include
guarantees for something called “net neutrality.” The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the politics behind the net neutrality debate of 2006 and to predict its likely future course.
2007-08-06T21:05:39Z
2007-08-06T21:05:39Z
2007-08-06T21:05:39Z
2007
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/1835
en_US
WP-07-01
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics
oai:scholarworks.iu.edu:2022/31092021-10-18T20:42:45Zcom_2022_145com_2022_19673col_2022_147
The Controversies over Data Mining and Warrantless Searches in the Wake of September 11
Hart, Jeffrey A.
social informatics
total information awareness
data mining
warrantless search
control
panopticon
In 2004, the Congress voted to end funding for a Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) data mining program called Total Information Awareness (TIA) that was
supposed to be used for preventing terrorist attacks. Because this was not the only data mining project established by the U.S. government after September 11, this paper examines the likely impact of the TIA cancellation on future efforts. It summarizes the controversy over warrantless
wiretaps in the more recent past and then turns to the broader question of the tradeoffs between privacy and security.
2008-03-25T23:45:36Z
2008-03-25T23:45:36Z
2008-03-25T23:45:36Z
2008
Working Paper
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/3109
en_US
WP-08-03
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics