Although this article does not deal directly to virtual teams, it highlights relevant ideas necessary for creating social technologies that are used in virtual collaboration. This article looks at ways to create meaningful social technologies by having an open discussion on the benefits and the disadvantages of such technologies. Through discussions and workshops with their stakeholders that are social scientists and social workers, they hope to give stakeholders more context on the functionality of certain technologies.
Through the workshop they were able to gain information from the end-users on desirable aspects that are digitally supported, desirable aspects that are not digitally supported, undesirable aspects that are digitally supported, and undesirable aspects that are not digitally supported. As a result, engineers and social workers were able to have an open-space conversation and observe different viewpoints with one another. Through conversation with the members who will use certain social technologies, there is more of a possibility in creating an elegant design. As stated in the paper, "These efforts will also shed more light on the general challenge of dealing with apparent paradox of introducing something that is inherently inhumane, into a context that can be so delicately humane, and ultimately deliver inspiring examples of social technology, fitting of the delicate use context."
I thought this was a good way to look at the humane aspects of creating social technologies that could often be ignored/forgotten in the design process . Also, it shed's light on not only looking at viewpoints of the majority when creating technologies, but to also gain insight from minority members. This article didn't specifically talk about this, but I think it is relevant towards making technologies for the benefit of everyone.
Although this article does not deal directly to virtual teams, it highlights relevant ideas necessary for creating social technologies that are used in virtual collaboration. This article looks at ways to create meaningful social technologies by having an open discussion on the benefits and the disadvantages of such technologies. Through discussions and workshops with their stakeholders that are social scientists and social workers, they hope to give stakeholders more context on the functionality of certain technologies. Through the workshop they were able to gain information from the end-users on desirable aspects that are digitally supported, desirable aspects that are not digitally supported, undesirable aspects that are digitally supported, and undesirable aspects that are not digitally supported. As a result, engineers and social workers were able to have an open-space conversation and observe different viewpoints with one another. Through conversation with the members who will use certain social technologies, there is more of a possibility in creating an elegant design. As stated in the paper, "These efforts will also shed more light on the general challenge of dealing with apparent paradox of introducing something that is inherently inhumane, into a context that can be so delicately humane, and ultimately deliver inspiring examples of social technology, fitting of the delicate use context."
I thought this was a good way to look at the humane aspects of creating social technologies that could often be ignored/forgotten in the design process . Also, it shed's light on not only looking at viewpoints of the majority when creating technologies, but to also gain insight from minority members. This article didn't specifically talk about this, but I think it is relevant towards making technologies for the benefit of everyone.