Your assignment is to take an instance of the introduction of, or a change in, information technology  in a particular setting and analyze it using the readings from this part of the course.   This might be an instance of fairly radical change.  It might, however, be a case where the expectation was that the change would be minor and easy, but turned out other than expected.  It may be an actual change or a proposed one.

Put yourself in the position of an advisor to the group or organization that adopted the technology and is wondering to what extent it succeeded or failed, and why. Alternatively, you might cast yourself an advisor to an organization, group, community, or the like that is considering a similar innovation,  They need to decide whether they want to do something similar.  In both cases, your clients need to know  (1) what were the intended and unintended outcomes, positive and negative (or neutral),  (2) what conditions may have contributed to these outcomes, and (3) based on this experience, what lessons can you draw, what recommendations would you make?   Remember that in this course we are interested in effects at all levels, not just within the organization or group.  (E.g., the innovation might be good for the organization but damaging to the larger community.)

Remember that we are concerned with information and not just information technology.

This is not simply your opinion of what happened. The emphasis is on synthesis, reflection, and understanding of the topic from a sociotechnical perspective, grounded in the readings. The case that you choose should be rich and complex enough to encompass many of the topics that we have addressed.  I don't expect you to do much research, but I do expect you to substantiate your claims.  For example, if you are writing about an organization where you worked,I expect concrete examples of the points that you are making, not just generalizations.

There are at least three ways to approach this assignment:

• Create your own case study from your own experience -- at work, school, or otherwise.  Examples include the adoption of email, computer conferencing, or some other form of information and communications technology in an organization, social group, voluntary association, or other such group.  Examples from the readings include Orlikowski and Rochlin.
• The introduction of some form of information technology in society more generally -- but still, a specific instance bounded in place and time.  For example,  Jeffrey Rosen's (Oct. 7) New York Times article on the recent use of Closed Circuit TV in Britain, ostensibly to deter terrorism.
• The introduction of, or a radical change in, information and communications technology serving an academic discipline, profession, research or problem area, or the like.   See, for example: Ruhleder, Karen. Rich and lean representations of information for knowledge work: the role of computing packages in the work of classical scholars. ACM Transactions in Information Systems 12, 2 (1994), 208-30, about the effect of the availability of electronic versions of classical texts on how research is done and even what is considered research in classics. ALso see Star, Susan Leigh and Karen Ruhleder.  “Steps toward an Ecology of Infrastructure: Borderlands of Design and Access for Large Information Spaces.”  Information Systems Research 7:1 (March 1996) p.  111-134; about the non-use of information technology in the "worm community," a community of scholars studying a species of worms.

Issues for you to consider include:

• Impact of the innovation on the group or organization, its work, how people do their work, and the people involved.  If possible, consider  multiple levels on which effects might be felt  -- e.g., from Rochlin, p. 12:
•  Direct effects.
• How  new technical capacities and opportunities interact with social and organizational environments to construct new organizational forms and types of behavior while eroding old ones.
• Longer-term systemic and societal implications.
• Were the impacts those anticipated? Desired?
• Did the planned innovation change in the course of implementation?  If so, how?  Often innovations are themselves altered by the context and conditions.
• Why did the project or innovation succeed, fail, and/or have the impact that it did?  (Or fail to have an impact!)
• What else might be learned from this case?

A good paper tells a good story or makes a strong, clear argument rooted in and explicitly referencing the readings and concepts of the course. It should be clear that you have thought about the conjunction of your topic and the course contents. Your experience or case could also be used to refute or point out the limitations of some of the readings, to introduce some new perspective(s) not included in our readings -- you don't have to agree with  or limit yourself to the course readings.

The major difficulties with earlier years' papers were largely of three sorts:

• Fairly good narratives that were not analytical and/or did not use the concepts and literature from the course. The point is not just to tell a story, but to analyze and understand it using the material in this course.
• "First drafts" -- papers with good potential but not well-reasoned and well-argued. Often disjointed, the point being made unclear, the argument disorganized.
• Papers that referenced the readings only in passing or in a minor way, that nominally fulfilled the requirement, but didn't actually incorporate the substance of the readings in the analysis.

• Describe the situation thoroughly enough for an outsider to understand it without bogging the reader down in details;
• Define key terms and concepts; if the reader isn't familiar with key terms, we don't understand your argument;
• Substantiate your arguments!

SCHEDULE:
 

On or before Mon., Nov. 26	Turn in an abstract describing your proposed topic.  The more detail, the better, but a paragraph is enough.
OPTIONAL:  on or before Tues, Dec. 4.	I will review and comment on any work in progress that you give me;  an outline, a draft, a set of questions...whatever you can provide.
Tues, Dec 11, 5 pm	Papers due.  Late papers will be docked 1/2 grade for every 24 hours they are late. Please submit both on paper and electronically. (1) Turn hardcopy  into SIMS office and ask staff to time and date stamp them. (2) Email me electronic version in Word with your name as the filename. Early papers will be welcome!