Design for Dummies - understanding Design Work in Virtual Workspaces

Abstract

New IT artifacts and new ways of designing artifacts challenges the common distinction between design and use. The extensive use of general packaged software changes the conditions under which users influence the design process of the IT artifact. We report from a longitudinal case study of the introduction and use of a packaged web-based groupware product in a financial services corporation. The case study is based both on interviews, a questionnaire and http-log analysis. Our case study suggests that we need to extend our understanding of IS-design as something that continues in what we usually call the use situation. We propose to define this activity as end-user design, and argue for the usefulness of the concept, drawing on Wanda Orlikowskis notion of technology-in-practice.