C47. 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. [A longer version emphasizing
unintended implementation aspects appears as 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.]
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 the change in the
system. 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 the 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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