Susan Gasson
I am fascinated by the processes of collaboration across knowledge-boundaries in organizational information system (IS) design and use. I am motivated by the desire to ensure that technology design is human-centered, supporting people in their work rather than impeding their effectiveness.
The core focus of IS design has moved "upstream" in the waterfall model, from technical design to the co-design of business-processes and IT systems. Such IS-related organizational innovation deals with "wicked problems," where many business process and information management problems are interrelated. Wicked problems are impossible to define objectively: we need to involve diverse stakeholders in negotiating suitable problem definitions and boundaries for change. Our lack of understanding about how to establish a "common language" for this type of design means that information system innovation tends to be pretty hit-and-miss. Most such initiatives spend more time arguing about process definitions than achieving change.
My research investigates distributed cognition in situated design and technology use that spans knowledge domain boundaries. Through ethnographic studies, I investigate the processes of collaborative design, problem-definition, and knowledge-sharing. I experiment with representational techniques and team-management methods to support collaborative problem-framing. I explore the role of technology in supporting formal (IT-mediated) and informal (interpersonal) systems of collaboration. The objective is to understand how we may engage diverse stakeholders meaningfully in IT-related change -- and how we may define human-centered applications of IT that support people in the work they need to do.
Visit my (rather intermittent) blog, Improvising Design, at
http://blog.improv-design.com/
Address: College of Computing & Informatics
Drexel University
3141 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia
PA 19104
The core focus of IS design has moved "upstream" in the waterfall model, from technical design to the co-design of business-processes and IT systems. Such IS-related organizational innovation deals with "wicked problems," where many business process and information management problems are interrelated. Wicked problems are impossible to define objectively: we need to involve diverse stakeholders in negotiating suitable problem definitions and boundaries for change. Our lack of understanding about how to establish a "common language" for this type of design means that information system innovation tends to be pretty hit-and-miss. Most such initiatives spend more time arguing about process definitions than achieving change.
My research investigates distributed cognition in situated design and technology use that spans knowledge domain boundaries. Through ethnographic studies, I investigate the processes of collaborative design, problem-definition, and knowledge-sharing. I experiment with representational techniques and team-management methods to support collaborative problem-framing. I explore the role of technology in supporting formal (IT-mediated) and informal (interpersonal) systems of collaboration. The objective is to understand how we may engage diverse stakeholders meaningfully in IT-related change -- and how we may define human-centered applications of IT that support people in the work they need to do.
Visit my (rather intermittent) blog, Improvising Design, at
http://blog.improv-design.com/
Address: College of Computing & Informatics
Drexel University
3141 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia
PA 19104
less
Related Authors
InterestsView All (22)
Uploads
Papers by Susan Gasson
Accumulating evidence supports the use of mind-body therapies and psychological treatments for chronic pain management. This study aimed to build a model of Dance/Movement Therapy for resilience-building in people with chronic pain.
Methods
A mixed methods study was conducted to test and refine a preliminary model towards building a composite model of DMT for pain resilience. Twenty-two people with chronic pain participated in a 10-week group DMT intervention. Quantitative assessments of resilience, kinesiophobia, body awareness, pain, mood, stress, and relaxation were conducted. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed according to grounded theory method and compared with the quantitative findings.
Results
DMT resulted in statistically significant improvements in resilience (p < .001), kinesiophobia (p =. 03), body awareness (p = .02), and pain intensity (p = .03) over time. Sixty eight percent of people felt ‘moderately to a great deal better’ post intervention. We found significant within-session changes in mood, stress, relaxation, and pain (p < .001). Key mechanisms (activating self-agency, connecting to self, connecting to others, enhancing emotional intelligence, and reframing), intervening factors and contextual conditions were identified. Based on the findings, the preliminary model was revised and refined to construct a final model.
Conclusions
Group DMT is a promising treatment for chronic pain through dynamic mind-body pathways. The quantitative findings should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size and the lack of control group. More substantive and methodologic work such as utilization of a large scale randomized controlled trial and mediation analysis is needed to further refine the model
Design/methodology/approach – These tensions are explored in the high-risk decision-making environment of an Immigration and Naturalization Service agency. The study combines competitive intelligence risk-analysis methods with an ethnographic analysis of knowledge-flows, to determine how the roles of human decision-makers may be supported effectively by ICT-based knowledge support.
Findings – The findings demonstrate how high-risk decision-making may be analyzed as a integrated hybrid human/ICT intelligence system. The study exposes detailed mechanisms by which knowledge of different forms is transferred, exposing failures in training, interpersonal communications, ICT system support, and reward structures.
Four stages of analysis for a hybrid intelligence framework are suggested:
(i) risk-category identification; (ii) the application of risk-categories to decision-cases; (iii) testing and adapting categorizations against global conditions; and(iv) transfer of locally-meaningful categorizations of risk across communities of practice.
Accumulating evidence supports the use of mind-body therapies and psychological treatments for chronic pain management. This study aimed to build a model of Dance/Movement Therapy for resilience-building in people with chronic pain.
Methods
A mixed methods study was conducted to test and refine a preliminary model towards building a composite model of DMT for pain resilience. Twenty-two people with chronic pain participated in a 10-week group DMT intervention. Quantitative assessments of resilience, kinesiophobia, body awareness, pain, mood, stress, and relaxation were conducted. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed according to grounded theory method and compared with the quantitative findings.
Results
DMT resulted in statistically significant improvements in resilience (p < .001), kinesiophobia (p =. 03), body awareness (p = .02), and pain intensity (p = .03) over time. Sixty eight percent of people felt ‘moderately to a great deal better’ post intervention. We found significant within-session changes in mood, stress, relaxation, and pain (p < .001). Key mechanisms (activating self-agency, connecting to self, connecting to others, enhancing emotional intelligence, and reframing), intervening factors and contextual conditions were identified. Based on the findings, the preliminary model was revised and refined to construct a final model.
Conclusions
Group DMT is a promising treatment for chronic pain through dynamic mind-body pathways. The quantitative findings should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size and the lack of control group. More substantive and methodologic work such as utilization of a large scale randomized controlled trial and mediation analysis is needed to further refine the model
Design/methodology/approach – These tensions are explored in the high-risk decision-making environment of an Immigration and Naturalization Service agency. The study combines competitive intelligence risk-analysis methods with an ethnographic analysis of knowledge-flows, to determine how the roles of human decision-makers may be supported effectively by ICT-based knowledge support.
Findings – The findings demonstrate how high-risk decision-making may be analyzed as a integrated hybrid human/ICT intelligence system. The study exposes detailed mechanisms by which knowledge of different forms is transferred, exposing failures in training, interpersonal communications, ICT system support, and reward structures.
Four stages of analysis for a hybrid intelligence framework are suggested:
(i) risk-category identification; (ii) the application of risk-categories to decision-cases; (iii) testing and adapting categorizations against global conditions; and(iv) transfer of locally-meaningful categorizations of risk across communities of practice.