Revealing the Socio-Technical Context of Design Settings: Toward Participatory IS Design

Abstract

This research proposes a participatory sociotechnical design approach to making explicit issues in collaborative information system design in a multidisciplinary context. The approach proposes the Socio-Technical Evaluation (STE) Matrix as a conceptual tool to address the lack of a technical and methodological instrument to expose cultural differences, boundaries, and conflicts in multidisciplinary research. STE Matrix was born within the context of the Village eScience for Life (VeSeL) project and adopts an empirical sociotechnical experimentation to initially explore the context of the stakeholders, including that of the end-users. These contexts are then revisited through information system design theories to rationalize the STE Matrix paradigm. Subsequent experiments and exposure to communities of practice provide validity to the approach by revealing the different frames of interpretation within the VeSeL project. Furthermore, STE Matrix provided a platform to truly observe participatory design by equally involving end-users and design partners in the subsequent phases of the VeSeL project.