ࡱ > #` f9 bjbj lN K1 $
~ ~ ~ P 4
Q] * ' ' ' ' D ' p bB p \ $ M_ h a \ \ ] 8 " ' V [! " C& ~ ! " !] 0 Q] ! 0 Ab Ab " Ab " E l U \ \ r ^ Q]
] Visualizing Social Informatics
Tony Alex Moore
College of Information Science & Technology,
Drexel University 3141 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104
Email: HYPERLINK "mailto:Tony.Alex.Moore@ischool.drexel.edu" Tony.Alex.Moore@ischool.drexel.edu
To date the no empirical research has been done to visualize the discipline of social informatics. This work presents the early stages of a domain analysis of social informatics in terms of its authors. The names of those most frequently cocited with Rob Kling from 1974 to 2007 were retrieved from Social Scisearch via Dialog. The top 48 authors were submitted to author cocitation analysis.
Introduction
Social Informatics (SI) is problem-driven. The late Rob Kling, founder and director of the Center for Social Informatics at Indiana University (See: http://rkcsi.indiana.edu/) argued that research in this field begins with an assumption that Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the social and organizational settings in which they are embedded, are in a relationship of mutual shaping ADDIN EN.CITE Kling19915465465466Kling, RobC.DunlopComputerization and controversy: Value conflicts and social choices. 1991San Diego, CAAcademic Press.Bijker199354754754717Bijker, Wiebe EDo Not Despair - There is Life after Social-ConstructivismScience, Technology & Human Values113-138181993Orlikowski199154854854817Orlikowski, W.Baroudi, J.Studying information technology in organizations: Research approaches and assumptionsInformation Systems Research1-28211991(Kling and C.Dunlop 1991; Orlikowski and Baroudi 1991; Bijker 1993). SI represents a body of research that examines the social aspects of computerization. In the 1970s and 1980s, much of the research on social informatics focused on organizations because they were the major actors in the computerization movement. A framework for reflecting on organizational computing was first presented by Kling and Scacchi in 1982 ADDIN EN.CITE Kling198262062062017Kling, R.Scacchi, W.The Web of Computing: Computer Technology as Social OrganizationAdvances in ComputersAdvances in Computers1-90211982(Kling and Scacchi 1982). According to Kling, it is the interdisciplinary study of the design, uses and consequences of information technologies that takes into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts ADDIN EN.CITE Kling199943643643617Kling, RobWhat is Social Informatics and Why Does it Matter?D-Lib Magazine511999(Kling 1999).
In February 1996, participants of the UCLA-NSF sponsored workshop entitled Social Aspects of Digital Libraries decided that the scattering of ICTs and social aspects of computing research in a wide array of journals and lack of scholarly home was impeding research and dissemination. It was at this workshop that a common name for this emergent field of science was selcted. Later, in 1997, researchers at Indiana Universitys School of Library and Information Science organized a workshop in which the following definition was adopted, Social Informatics refers to the interdisciplinary study o the design, uses, and consequences of ICTs that takes into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts. Blaise Cronin called SI, a rubric of an identity crisis. With Blaise Cronin as chair of a panel at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIST) with hopes of provoking a debate on the merits and limitations of the term (See: HYPERLINK "http://www.asis.org/Conferences/AM04/abstracts/7.html" http://www.asis.org/Conferences/AM04/abstracts/7.html). Like other science disciplines, SI involves an objective, careful and systematic study of some area of intellectual inquiry. What shape does research in the domain of Social Informatics take?
Methodology
Author Cocitation Analysis (ACA) is a specific form of cocitation analysis based on analyzing highly cocited authors' names representing pairs of oeuvres i.e., a body of writings by the same author, or first author in collaboration ADDIN EN.CITE White198262162162117White, H. D.Griffith, B. C.Authors and markers of intellectual space: Co-citation studies of science, technology and societyJournal of DocumentationJournal of Documentation255-2723841982(White and Griffith 1982). We explore the relationships among 48 authors over the period 1974 - 2007selected by being highly cited with Rob Kling. The late Rob Kling is widely recognized as a prominent leader, author and driving force of the field of social informatics.
Interpretation
Interpretation of MDS is largely visual with two things to look for in an output plot; communities and dimensions. Figure 1 shows the cluster enhanced 3D MDS map of Kling and his co-cited author pairs. The map reveals several neighborhoods encircled around sets of points with continuums represented by straight lines. Authors heavily co-cited (because of their common subject or methodological interests) appear grouped in space ADDIN EN.CITE McCain199024624624617Katherine W McCainMapping Authors in Intellectual Space: A Technical OverviewJournal of the American Society for Information Science433-4434161990(McCain 1990). The horizontal continuum, moving form left to right form a neighborhood associated with academic disciplines such as social science and science & technology studies (STS) to management information systems (MIS) and Information Systems research typically found in business schools. For example, the works of Sherry Turkle, Latour, Winner and Bijker exist in the intellectual communities of social science and occur in literature related to social constructivism and social construct of technology. Towards the other pole of the continuum we have Zmud, Ginzberg and Keen who are known for their works in the field of Management of Information Systems frequently found in literature associated with Business Schools. The top of the vertical axis is anchored by the works of Keisler, Hiltz and Rice whose intellectual outputs most frequently are in the area of computer-mediated communication (CMC) studies large in scale and/or global situations of technology use. Towards the polar opposite we find Walsham, Hirschheim and Mumford. These authors also appear in scholarly works on CMC however our analysis of their literature indicates a scale of study more aligned with community and public interests.
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: MDS Map of Authors
Pettigrew and Yin anchor one axis of the 3rd-dimension. Identification of the 3rd dimension was challenging. They are often cited in studies seeking to understand soft variables and key relationships over longitudinal studies of strategic change. Several studies employ a context-process-outcome meta-framework through cross case-study analysis of empirical investigations. On the other end of the 3rd dimension we have Borgman, Cronin, and Danzinger. These authors appear in literature on scholarly communication.
Social Tagging Exercise
This author cocitation analysis highlights research streams and intellectual communities within SI. Critics often comment on the subjective nature of the interpretation of communities. The theme of the ASIS&T 2007 Annual Meeting is Joining Research and Practice: Social Computing and Information Science and the 3rd Annual Social Informatics SIG Research Symposium is a perfect venue for researchers in SI to collaboratively identify the research communities visualized by the map through a social tagging exercise. Great care and exploration of literature was taken in an effort to interpret and validate the claims presented here. Allowing the participants of the Social Informatics Symposium to socially tag the communities will aid in eliminating and subjective bias of the author and lead to a widely adopted understanding of the intellectual landscape in which we work.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Prof. Katherine McCain for producing the ACA Map of Rob Klings citation image and for her general guidance on the project. I would also like to thank Prof. Steve Sawyer for his early review of the map and labels.
ADDIN EN.REFLIST References:
Bijker, W. E. (1993). "Do Not Despair - There is Life after Social-Constructivism." Science, Technology & Human Values 18: 113-138.
Kling, R. (1999). "What is Social Informatics and Why Does it Matter?" D-Lib Magazine 5(1).
Kling, R. and C.Dunlop (1991). Computerization and controversy: Value conflicts and social choices. . San Diego, CA, Academic Press.
Kling, R. and W. Scacchi (1982). "The Web of Computing: Computer Technology as Social Organization." Advances in Computers 21: 1-90.
McCain, K. W. (1990). "Mapping Authors in Intellectual Space: A Technical Overview." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 41(6): 433-443.
Orlikowski, W. and J. Baroudi (1991). "Studying information technology in organizations: Research approaches and assumptions." Information Systems Research 2(1): 1-28.
White, H. D. and B. C. Griffith (1982). "Authors and markers of intellectual space: Co-citation studies of science, technology and society." Journal of Documentation 38(4): 255-272.
PAGE
0 ] ^
ŸŸŧőqb^ZVZ^OZOZOZ hV hC hY hC h9 h9 5CJ OJ QJ \^J hT h!C 5OJ QJ \^J hv h!C 0J OJ QJ \^J *j hv h!C OJ QJ U\^J !j h!C 5OJ QJ U\^J hT 5OJ QJ \^J h!C 5OJ QJ \^J h9 CJ OJ QJ ^J h9 OJ QJ ^J h9 CJ OJ QJ ^J hY CJ OJ QJ ^J 0 ^
D E Q O% P% _% q. gdf ] ` gdl ` gdW~7 ` gd\
&