Information Ecologies

Luiz Ernesto Merkle (lmerkle who-is-at julian.uwo.ca)
Tue, 2 Feb 1999 15:14:44 -0500 (EST)

Hi Bonnie,
I could wait until I receive a copy of your new book on
"Information Ecologies", co-authored with Vicky O'day, but my curiosity
does not sustain my patience.

Once you are in the list, may I ask how much the concept of
information ecology overlaps with the ones within theory of activity in
your new book? By the abstract, the table of contents, and knowing your
work, it is seems to me that a situated axiology based on agengy and
other concepts is enmeshed within what you call an information ecology. Is
this information ecology also situated within larger eco-social systems and
how, or it is initially only a metaphor? I apologize if these questions
are already raised and answered in the book but they seem relevant to me.

The human centred approach within HCI is a great improvement over
the common techno-centric one, but it can degenerate either into a form of
ethnocentrism, in which only the human aspects are stressed, or a kind of
"philocentrism", in which only the semiotic ones are emphasized, what is
not necessarily healthy. Mostly decontextualized approaches to cognition
are used. Both Theory of Activity, Distributed and Situated Cognition,
and Environmental Psychology offer partial complementary solutions to this
problem. Although it seems to me that a lot of work is still required to
chart their niches and forms of contribution. Current I'm trying to
understand the HCI interdisciplinary arena as a eco-cultural system in
which a myriad of oppressing and empowering forces are present. That is
also why I would like to hear your point of view, or better, read it.

In this scaffold, my questions are based on my interest on
"developing sustainable praxes" within computing technology design and
use, or better, heteropraxes, as Jay Lemke has coined. Most of the current
methodologies are driven toward the objective of "sustaining developmental
praxes" as a monologic discourse and behavior, what is in accordance with
Western culture's notions of progress/evolution. In other words,
supporting working practices (or labour politics) through technology is
not always sustainable, although it can always be developed or enforced.
That is it.

Ciao,
Luiz