Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TO COMPUTERIZATION:
A CASE STUDY OF A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
Barry Wellman
Director, NetLab Department of Sociology
University of Toronto Toronto, Canada M5S 1A1
wellman@chass.utoronto.ca www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
Anabel Quan-Haase
Faculty of Information & Media Studies; Dept of Sociology
University of Western Ontario London, Ontario Canada
aquan@uwo.ca
5/26/2005 1
Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
Thirty Years On
1976: Amaze people with HC-CH communication
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Is the Internet
Transforming Work Organization?
Characteristics of a Networked Organization
Traditional Hierarchical Bureaucracies Short-Circuited
Peer-to-Peer Rather than Tree-Structure
Napster vs. iPod
Multiple Reports – Management by Network
Flexibility and Openness
Computer Mediated Communication
Used Widely
Used Locally as Well as Globally
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Attachments – files
GloCalization
Extensive Global and Extensive Local
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Research Questions
How Does CMC Fit in a
Routinized, Normalized Media Ecology ?
How Does CMC Affect Work Practices?
What are Social Networks Like?
Within Group and Beyond Group
Work and Socializing
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Software Development Client Services
-Time-to-marketpressures -Cost pressures
Industry -Success measures: profit, market -Success measures: satisfaction,
share acceptance
-Less likely to have matrix structure -Matrix managed and project focused
-Involved in entire development cycle -People assigned to multiple projects
Group -More cohesive, motivated, jelled -Work-together as needed
-Opportunities for large financial -Salary-based
rewards -Rely on formal specifications
-Large discrepancies in income -Larger, somewhat dispersed
-Small, co-located
Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
Hyperconnected
Visually: People Look Isolated
Hi Level of Email and IM Connectivity
Complemented by:
Informal Encounters – Walk-Overs, Lunches
Formal Meetings
Peer-to-Peer among Programmers
Maintainers more Hierarchical
Logged-In Morning to Night
Availability Indicator
Tradeoff between Interdependency & Overload
Multitasking
Computerization and Pedestrianization
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Information Brokering
Information brokers are central in
information network
Measured as information network centrality
Social Network
Information
network
Technological
Network
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Sources of Information
Rely on both human & documentary sources
Both human and documentary sources
predominantly accessed online
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Phone-IM Tradeoff
If there is any complexity to it, I use the phone
sometimes too.
The phone and face-to-face, it is kind of similar in
that if it is at all complex, I want it that way, just
to have it back and forth.
Last night I started communicating with Roger with
IM and pretty quickly I just wanted to call him on
the phone. It would just take too long to explain
everything on IM. You can do a fair amount of back
and forth.
[Phone] is better than email: there is some back
and forth. So I talk on the phone because it is too
complex to try and sort out over IM.
(James, programmer)
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Interdependence
I investigated the product by trying various things
and to do that.
I IM’d some people that it had impact: Brian and
Sally they were experts.
And then, it happened to be in this case Steve
and Denise who were emailing and Brian. They
were in this email thread that was going back
and forth. It is very specific to what the problem
is, though. John, Software Developer
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“Local Virtuality”
DEF: Use of CMC for local communication
CMC is the majority of communication encounters
(days/year)
However, IMs short, emails longer, F2F longest
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Outside Organization
178
Elsewhere in Organization
285
Within Department
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Never
Workgroup Organization Outside
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FTF &
Email IM
Phone
Outside 21 103 72
Organization (11%) (53%) (37%)
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Instant Messaging
Priority over email, F2F, phone
Speed, Synchronicity, Compellingness
Logging-in creates awareness of availability
IM can’t be saved or archived
Sometimes this is an advantage
Used extensively for bonding: social exchanges
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Instant Messaging
I use IM a lot. IM is great if you have one
question that you just need an answer to.
When you need to explain something in detail – an
outline, kind of a business case for doing
something, or for getting somebody to take
action – email is the best.
I just know that if you call or send an IM, you will
get a faster response than email.
Software developer Linda
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Email vs F2F
I don’t want to be loud because there all these
people right there.
The phone is ok, but I feel I am invading other
people’s privacy, if I am loud on the phone.
The best way for me is email plus I like to keep
a written record of everything that is going on.
(Lori, Community Maintainer)
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Email vs IM
I use email … because I can develop a well
thought-through message, and the other person
can respond to it at a different time.
A Networked Hierarchy
Classic Management Hierarchy Persists
Professionals Accomplish Goals
Independently
Interdependently – especially Software Developers
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Implications
For the Computerization Movement
Computerization > Hyperconnectivity >
Trust, Community, Cooperation
Organic Solidarity: Interdependent Interdependencies
Structured by Type of Work & Department
Spatial Propinquity Still Matters
Enabling Bureaucracy –
Not a Networked Organization
Technology Affords; It Does Not Transform
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Changing Structures
Densely Knit > Sparsely-Knit
Impermeable (Bounded) > Permeable
Broadly-Based Solidarity >
Specialized Multiple Foci
To Find Networks, We Don’t Assume Structure
But Ask/Observe About Relationships
Discover Who is Central, Bridges, Brokers
Where are Subgroups
Where are Equivalent People
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Unit To Unit (Place To Place)
(Phones, Networked PCs, Airplanes, Expressways, RR, Transit)
Home, Office Important Contexts,
Not Intervening Space
Ramified & Sparsely Knit: Not Local Solidarities
Not neighborhood-based
Not densely-knit with a group feeling
Partial Membership in Multiple Workgroups/ Communities
Often Based on Shared Interest
Connectivity Beyond Neighborhood, Work Site
Work Group to Work Group
Domestication, Feminization of Community (& Work?)
Shift from Manipulating Atoms (Things) to Manipulating Bits (Words)
Deal with Multiple Groups
Knowledge Comes From Internal & External Sources
“Glocalization”: Globally Connected, Locally Invested
Person-to-Person: Networked Individualism
Networked Individualism
(Person-to-Person)
Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
Individual as Portal
Individual is the Primary Unit of Connectivity
Not the Household, Workgroup, Tribe
Each Person Operates a Personal Network
Each Person is the Portal of Communication
Mobile Phone, Email Address, Instant Messaging
• Versus Letter, Landline Phone, Home Address
Each Person is the Portal of Resource Mobilization
Specialized Ties; Divisions of Labor
Control of Property & Control of Networks
Bridges Important
Connect Individuals; Connect Clusters; Integrate Societies
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Bounded Groups Î Networked Individualism
** Each in its Place Î Mobility of People and Goods **
“Our Town” Î “Friends”
Met at Malt Shop Î Met on Match.com
Dating > Engagement Î Hanging Out > Seeing Each Other
Love> Sex> Marriage> Baby Î Sex > Love > Partnering
Marriage Î Civil Union
HH as Reproductive Unit Î HH as Consummatory Duet
“Love and Marriage” Î “Sex and the City”
Mom & Dad, Dick & Jane Î Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, & Miranda
United Family Î Serial Marriage, Mixed Custody
1-2 Person Household Î 3-4 Person Household
Shared Community Î Multiple, Partial Personal Nets
Densely-Knit Î Sparsely-Knit
Neighborhoods Î Dispersed Networks
Voluntary Organizations Î Informal Leisure
Face-to-Face Contact Î Computer-Mediated Communication
Public Spaces Î Private Spaces
Similar Attributes Î Similar Interests
Social Control Î Dyadic Exchanges
Conserves Resources Î Gathers New Resources, Failures
Routinized Stability Î Stable Instability
Thank You –
Barry Wellman & Anabel Quan-Haase
… and Max