Luiz asks some questions about my new book "Information Ecologies: Using
Technology with Heart," co-authored with Vicki O'Day, which I'll try to
answer. It can be ordered on amazon.com and is under $20, hardcover (MIT Press).
The concept of an "information ecology" is very much like an activity
system. We define it as "people, practices, values and technologies" in a
local setting. Information Ecologies is a trade book, so we had to come up
with a metaphor that evokes a more emotional response in a familiar idiom
than the somewhat dry "activity system."
The book is basically an argument for finding a middle ground between
technophilia and technophobia, with emphasis on being aware of the rhetoric
of inevitability in technology discourse (from both ends of the technology
love-hate spectrum). We report our empirical studies of many kinds of
technology use done over the last several years, including a high school
digital photo course, an elementary school MOO, office use of spreadsheets
and CAD systems, the use of video during neurosurgery, a study of the work
of reference librarians, and so forth.
We get to some of Luiz's concerns about "oppressing and empowering forces,"
but with no theoretical language because of our audience. We are trying to
find an everyday praxis with which people can more carefully and happily
engage with technology (or leave it alone when it makes no sense).
We do not make assumptions about sustainability, progress, or productivity
or anything else. The idea of the information ecology is to get local groups
of people to examine their own practices and values and then make their own
decisions about technology use based on their local concerns.
Information ecologies are of course part of a larger world. But it's also a
relative term: Al Gore can play in a bigger information ecology than the
high school students studying digital photography. The metaphor is intended
to get people to reflect on their own spheres of influence, and to act
within them.
I do hope Luiz will pursue the project of "trying to understand the HCI
interdisciplinary arena as a eco-cultural system of oppressing and
empowering forces." As a member of that community I would be very interested
in such an analysis.
Best,
------
Bonnie Nardi
Bonnie A. Nardi
Research Scientist
AT&T Labs West
75 Willow Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(650) 463-7064
nardi who-is-at research.att.com
fax:(650) 327-3796
www.best.com/~nardi/default.html