For Those About to Tag

ACM SigGroup Bulletin, 2001

Abstract An increasing portion of the contemporary workforce is using mobile devices to create new kinds of work-space flows characterized by emergence, liquidity, and the blurring of all kinds of boundaries. This changes the traditional notion of the term workplace. The study reported on in this paper focused on how people enact and make sense of new work space boundaries enabled by their mobile practices. A unique method of data collection—the use of cultural probes—was adapted to an online format to facilitate participant reflection and documentation of mobile practices. Coupled with in-depth interviews, this methodology enabled the thick description of how individuals enacted spatial, temporal, and psychosocial boundaries of workplace through their mobile practices. Findings show that the growing reality of workplace for many is that it is becoming less a singular place dedicated to work performed in a predictable frame of time and evolving more towards an idiosyncratic space that takes on the spatial and temporal requirements of the individual worker—the overarching claim being the increasing individuation of workplace enabled by mobile devices. Keywords: enactment, mobile practices, boundaries, workplace, emergent organization

2003

Currently, mobility is a significantly pervasive term; the concept is being widely used in multiple discussions including social, economic, political, and technological debates. However, the theoretical grounding of the concept is surprisingly unstable. This thesis aims to offer a theoretical foundation for the I am deeply indebted to countless people for their help and support throughout the past three years. Without their help, this thesis would never be completed. I should also thank the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, the Matsushita International Foundation, and the International Communications Foundation for their generous financial support for this research. I would like to thank especially the following people: First of all, Dr. Carsten Sørensen, my supervisor, for his insightful guidance and indefatigable encouragement since my MSc course period. He has always been not only a wonderful mentor but also a pleasant big brother. All the professional workers whom I have interviewed in the course of this research for their insightful accounts of their working lives, which not only contributed to the originality of this thesis but also greatly motivated me to continue my endeavour to be a 'professional' researcher. Daniele Pica not only for his kind help especially in the final stage of this research but also for being a friend who is always willing to give me thought-provoking ideas and critical comments.

Abstract An increasing portion of the contemporary workforce is using mobile devices to create new kinds of work-space flows characterized by emergence, liquidity and, the blurring of multiple boundaries. This changes the traditional notion of the term workplace. The research study discussed in this essay focused on how people enact and make sense of new workplace boundaries enabled by their mobile practices. A method of data collection—the use of cultural probes— was adapted to an online format to facilitate participant reflection and documentation of mobile practices. Coupled with in-depth interviews, this methodology enabled the thick description of how individuals enacted spatial, temporal, and psychosocial boundaries of workplaces through their mobile practices. Findings showed that mobile practices do facilitate a shift in the boundaries of workplace and that a growing reality for many is that workplace is becoming less a singular place dedicated to work performed in a predictable timeframe and more of an idiosyncratic space that take on the spatial and temporal requirements of the individual worker. In the course of enacting work space through mobile practices there is an observable collapse in the boundaries between work and leisure domains but this study found wide diversity in an individual’s sensemaking about such reconstituted lifespace. These findings contribute a more accurate picture of the contemporary workplace by providing insight into what kinds of work space, time, and psychosocial norms are emerging through mobile practices—insight that bears on designing, developing, and managing the workplace under conditions of mobile technology use. Keywords: mobile practices, boundaries, workplace, emergent organization

NAPA Bulletin, 2008

In this concluding chapter, we articulate four salient patterns that emerge from the contributors' eight narratives about mobile work and life: (1) the performance, presentation, and meaning of work, when activities are interwoven in personal, relational, and work spheres across contexts; (2) the multiplicity in identity and self-presentation; (3) the context and the decontextualization and recontextualization of meaning in changing spaces; and (4) the technological change and dexterity as well as the centrality of communication technologies in defining and redefining what it means to be a mobile worker. We explore each of these themes by referencing examples from the narratives to illustrate how mobile work is redefining the very meaning of work and its place in our lives. We conclude by suggesting directions for further research on mobility in the workplace.

Information Systems Development, 2011

Information is the basis of our society, of our businesses and of our organisations. Once, information was marginal to organisations and then gradually information became central. Consequently, information systems development methodology, ".. . [the] recommended collection of philosophies, phases, procedures, rules, techniques, tools, documentation, management, and training for developers of Information Systems", also became central (Avison and Fitzgerald 1988). Over the last decade, the mobility and connectedness afforded by universal personal devices, systems and technologies have meant that the production, transformation, transmission, consumption, ownership, control, nature and significance of information have changed rapidly and dramatically. The consequences for information systems, for the development of information systems, and for the organisations that use them are still unfolding. This paper outlines in very general terms the impact of mobility and connectedness and asks about the effects on information systems and their development. Personal mobile devices are curiously both pervasive and ubiquitous, both conspicuous and unobtrusive, both noteworthy and taken-for-granted in the lives of most people. Almost everyone owns one and uses one, often more than one. Not only do they own them and use them but they also invest considerable time, effort and money choosing them, buying them, customising them, enhancing them and exploiting them. These devices express part or much of their owners' values, affiliations, identity and individuality through their choice and their use. They include smart-phones, satnav, games consoles, digital cameras, media players, netbooks and handheld computers. They are a challenge to the world of information and organisation and how systems are developed.

ACM SigGroup Bulletin, 2001

Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications

There have been significant advances in mobile technologies in recent years. The euphoric technology void left by the dot-com crash in early 2000 soured many technology users; however mobile computing has provided much needed enthusiasm for both technologists and business users. In this chapter we focus on aspects of mobile technology, from both a business user perspective and a technology view point. Aspects such as total cost of ownership, return on investment and capital investment have been discussed from a financial perspective. Technical aspects of running and maintaining a mobile technology infrastructure have also been explored. The chapter concludes with a review of potential areas of application for mobile technology. The area discussed is mobile technologies in banking; however, many of the aspects covered could easily be applied to any other business vertical.Finally, this chapter is not meant to be a holy grail for mobile computing. It is simply a glimpse of the need to...

2006

In this paper we discuss the sociotechnical nature of mobile computing as used by three policing agencies within the United States. Mobile devices, access and service was provided via a third generation wireless network to a focal application, Pennsylvania’s Justice NETwork (JNET), a secure web-based portal connecting authorized users to a set of 23 federated criminal justice and law enforcement databases via a query-based interface. In this study we conceptualize mobility and policing as a sociotechnical ensemble that builds on the social-shaping of technology perspective and the tradition of sociotechncial theorizing focusing on the co-design of work practices and technologies to support work. Drawing from the social informatics tradition, we turn a critical, empirical, and contextual lens on the practices of mobility and work. Our analysis of the data leads us to find that the social and the technical are still separate in this mobile work context. This simple view of social and ...