A stick with a handle at each end: Socially implicated work objects for design of collaborative systems

Abstract

We propose an analytic approach - Socially Implicated Work Objects (SIWOs) - to describe and unify diverse shared virtual objects and work practices in organizations. SIWOs are virtual objects that connect two or more people. SIWOs provide support to coordinate work, especially across distances. Examples of relevant types of work include collaborative scheduling through calendars, collaborative task management, collaborative request management, and co-Authoring of documents. Beginning with familiar features from calendars, we build the more general case for SIWOs as a strong concept describing an under-supported class of coordinative artifacts in organizations. With a theoretical background combining Schmidt's work on coordinative practices with Bjørn's and Chistensen's concept of relation work, we explore how work practices and work virtual objects could be configured and interrelated through a common and extensible abstraction.