A99.
Rice, R. E.
& Schneider, S. (2007). Desktop
artifacts: A site for individual adjustment to new information systems.
Vestnik:
Theory and Practice of Communication – The Journal of the Russian
Communication
Association, 5 (English ed.), 30-46. [A
shorter and different version emphasizing the digital document
technology and
deemphasizing the adjustment/implementation aspects, appears as Rice,
R. E. &
Schneider, S. (2006). Information
technology: Analyzing paper and electronic desktop artifacts. In C. Lin
&
D. Atkin (Eds.), Communication technology
and social change: Theory, effects, and applications (pp. 101-121).
Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence
Erlbaum
Associates.]
This
study analyzes a specific manifestation of individual adjustments
associated
with the implementation of a document imaging and a customer service
database
system: how the physical landscapes of users’ desktops change. While
the
participants had different job functions and different levels of
comfort with
technology, all had on their desktops paper artifacts related to system
changes. Many of these items were placed on or around their computer
monitors,
and were used as reminders, process summaries, indicators of system
failures of
poor interface design, or temporary, transitional information.
Individuals were
often reluctant to dispose of paper related to the old system even
though they
no longer used that system to process information. More generally,
conceptual
analyses identified several underlying dimensions of paper desktop
artifacts:
paper/electronic, materiality/complexity, forms as organizational
media, and
artifact as meta-information. Physical desktop artifacts play a useful
role in
individuals’ adjustment to a new system, can provide valuable
information for
systems analysis and evaluation, and should be included in research on
both
traditional and new communication and information
systems.
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