The E-Journal of Intercultural Relations, Fall 1998, Vol. 1(4)   Originally Posted: 11/13/98   Academic Paper

Talking Heads vs. Virtual Workspaces:  A Comparison of Design Across Cultures   Lorna Heaton, Ph.D. University of Montreal

 

This is an extended abstract of a full paper that was eventually published as
Lorna Heaton, Talking heads vs. virtual workspaces: A comparison of design across cultures. Journal of Information Technology, 13 (Dec 1998) 4, p. 259-72. (Editors Note: 4/23/01)

 

The past decade has seen the development of a perspective holding that technology is socially constructed (Mackenzie & Wacjman, 1985; Bijker, Hughes & Pinch, 1987; Bijker & Law, 1992), This paper examines the social construction of one group of technologies, systems for computer supported cooperative work. It compares the design of systems for computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) in Scandinavia and Japan with particular attention to the influence of culture on the design process. Two case studies are presented to illustrate the argument that culture is an important factor in technology design, despite commonly held assumptions about the neutrality and objectivity of science and technology.

The paper further proposes an explanation for why, despite similar technical backgrounds and research interests, CSCW design is conducted differently and produces different results in Denmark and Japan. Basing its argument in the discourse of designers themselves, it explains how Japanese CSCW designers invoke Japanese culture in general and certain aspects in particular as resources upon which to found technical decisions, illustrating the translation of these "cultural" arguments in CSCW systems. Similarly, Scandinavian designers consistent invoke a group of concepts centering on democracy (user involvement, participation, etc.) to justify certain of their design choices and their systems reflect these democratic ideals. The paper argues that, by looking at CSCW systems as texts which reflect the context of their production and the society from which they come, we may be better able to understand the transformations that operate when these texts are "read" in the contexts of their implementation.

In the context of this paper, CSCW has been broadly defined as: work by multiple active subjects sharing a common object and supported by information technology. CSCW is a particularly appropriate object for this type of inquiry since it is generally recognized as a field which spans a number of boundaries and integrates a variety of perspectives, ranging from those of hard science (engineering) to social science and even philosophy. The focus of computer supported cooperative work, then, is less on working with computers than on working with each other through computers. This changing orientation opens the door to a real contribution from social scientists to understanding the complex relationship between technology and its context of emergence and implementation. As such, it can be thought of as a messy model or hybrid, in which the social and the technical are inextricably intertwined. The social "content" of a CSCW system is thus much greater that that of, say, a toaster or even a television. On the other hand, one cannot make abstraction of the very real technical knowledge and constraints that go into building a working system.

 

Patterns in CSCW research

A systematic review of the CSCW and European CSCW conference proceedings over the past decade (Heaton, 1997) documents a number of general patterns in how CSCW researchers present their work to the international academic community of their peers. Presentations coming out of Japan illustrate a considerable homogeneity in research interests. All the research presented at international CSCW conferences has centered on the exploration of the possibilities of video, multimedia, and large screen displays. Gesture has a major importance, as does shared view of workspaces. Japanese work tends to present solutions which are technically innovative and which require major investments of technical resources (high bandwidth communication channels, large flat screen displays, a number of video cameras, etc.) Finally, the Japanese groupware scene is much more technically oriented than European or American contexts. Japanese researchers readily admit to their technical focus and product orientation. In fact, one of the prime criteria for evaluating a research project appears to be whether or not it is up and running, and it is inconceivable for the researchers interviewed that research not lead to a working system.

In contrast, video-mediated communication is completely absent in Scandinavian work, which focuses on organizational issues and is typically presented in the form of cases in which designers have been active participants. Cooperative design, supporting users in their daily work, and looking at work as situated in a specific context are common themes. British work is fairly equally distributed among case studies, conceptual and technical articles, while the volume and variety of work done in North America makes it very difficult to classify: all tendencies are represented - from high-tech video-intensive environments, to ethnographic studies of implementation and use, to theoretical models of coordination.

The question remains: how can we explain that designers, who have similar technical knowledge and professional backgrounds, choose to explore different issues or questions, and, what is more, appear to answer them in different ways? This is all the more astonishing given the fact that they identify themselves as members of the same research community and are in regular contact with designers from various countries and institutions.

 

Research Question

This research focused on the following question: To what extent are different preoccupations in different countries the result of different "cultural constructions of computing?" In other words:

a) How do CSCW designers translate their ideas about what people do when they work, and the role of computers in supporting work, into the systems they design?

b) What is the impact of the circumstances in which designers find themselves, on the systems they design? Circumstances here include the larger institutional context, as well as daily work practices, which serve as both resources and constraints on what can be done.

These questions lead to others of larger significance, however. By asking how ideas and circumstances affect action, we are in fact raising larger issues of the relationship between technology and context. As such, it is part of a growing body of work struggling to come to terms with this question of growing significance given increasing globalization and the increasing impact of technology (computer-based or not) in our lives. (Jackson, 1995, Orlikowski & Gash, 1994). It is important to understand how technological artifacts are constructed and how the end result relates to its conditions of construction.

 

On Culture

While the focus of this paper is on comparing Japanese and Scandinavian CSCW design, this should not be taken to imply simply a discussion of national culture. As will become clear in the discussion, organizational and professional cultures are also vital elements in the mix. For the purposes of this research, culture is defined as a dynamic mix of national/geographic, organizational, and professional or disciplinary variables in constant interaction with one another. Culture changes according to the context and over time, and should be understood not in terms of pre-existing, fixed categories, but as resources, accumulations of actions, patterns which constitute, reinforce and transform social life. In short, culture is continually constructed and reconstructed.