Three Case Studies of Technology in Support of Urban Transport Policies in London By
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Public Policy, Technology and Lived Experience: Three Case Studies of Technology in Support of Urban Transport Policies in London by Philip Inglesant A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of London Department of Computer Science University College London January 2007 First supervisor: M. Angela Sasse Second supervisor: Helen Margetts 1 Declaration I, Philip George Inglesant, hereby declare that the following thesis is my own work. Signed: Date: 2 Abstract High-quality public services can support policy outcomes in many areas of government; this thesis focuses on public policy in transport. An essential factor, often overlooked, is the usability of public services. Usability is crucial to e-government, both because quality of service is a public value, and because poor public perception of services may weaken policy acceptance. However, usability, as developed in the Human-Computer Interaction research tradition, has not been prominent in the theory or practice of public policy. This is a critical shortcoming, since policy decisions inscribed in e-government systems have implications for the lived experience of transport users. Actualising this critique, the history of the HCI concept of usability is traced, and related to research traditions which deepen understanding of the inter-relations between technology and the social. This leads to a view that usability is meaningless outside the lived experiences of system users. This goes beyond the “user experience” with technology, because people live with technology as it becomes increasingly intertwined with everyday situations. This thesis makes its contributions from three case studies in urban transport. Semi- structured, recorded interviews and focus groups with 126 transport users were held alongside over 100 public policy documents and interviews with 25 key post- holders, and laboratory and situated observations. The insights of phenomenology, dialogism and pragmatic philosophy provide a route to understanding experiences with technology. A qualitative analysis based on Grounded Theory and Discourse Analysis is developed and used to illuminate these lived experiences. The embodied-ness of inter-actions with technology is investigated from an ecological perspective of affordances and genres. As service users freely mix electronic and non-electronic artefacts to meet real-life needs, the contingency of their actions calls into question a simple model of cognitive or institutional schemata; this has profound implications for electronic systems in support of public policy aims. 3 Acknowledgements It is with great pleasure and appreciation that I am able to thank the many people who have given their time, thought, and energy to helping me throughout my PhD research. The first word of thanks must go to my supervisor M. Angela Sasse, whose persistent support has taught me so many lessons about research and academic life. I would also like to thank my second supervisor, Helen Margetts, who provided a contrasting viewpoint and whose insights and experience have been invaluable. The third person in the trio who first interviewed and selected me is Janet McDonnell, whose critical commentary was so useful in the early stages. I would like to thank them all, along with the EPSRC, the Department of Computer Science and the School of Public Policy at UCL, for choosing me for this studentship. It would be easy to overlook my informants, many of whom gave their time freely in interviews and other ways. In particular in this category I include members of staff of Transport for London, London TravelWatch, the Greater London Authority, the Lambeth Public Transport Group, the Association of London Government, and others, whose openness is an example to all public service providers. I am fortunate in counting as friends several who have trodden this path before. In particular it gives me special pleasure to thank Stuart Gibson, who proof-read several chapters as well as giving constant support and advice. I am also indebted to my colleagues at UCL, for their willingness to comment on drafts and for informal discussions across the desk. In no particular order, I am thinking particularly of Simone Stumpf, Philip Bonhard, Hina Keval, Sven Lacqua, Jens Riegelsberger, Hendrik Knoche, and Brock Craft, and Dave Elder-Vass at Birkbeck. It has been many years since I relied on my parents for material support. Nevertheless their example and hard work is the underpinning of all that I have achieved since. I thank especially my late father, who was finally able, very late in his life, to put his love of study into practice. And above all I give my most heartfelt thanks to Christian Laflamme, for practical help, from cooking and housework to proof-reading, and for support and encouragement without which I could not have embarked on this road and certainly would not have reached completion. 4 Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................3 Acknowledgements....................................................................................................4 Table of Contents ......................................................................................................5 List of Figures..........................................................................................................12 List of Tables ...........................................................................................................13 Chapter 1 Introduction: Public policy, Technology and Lived Experience........................................................................................14 1.1 Living with technology....................................................................14 1.1.1 Technology and government.............................................................15 1.1.2 Motivation for this thesis: living with e-government........................16 1.2 The research questions....................................................................16 1.2.1 Usability in support of policy aims ...................................................18 1.2.2 Experiences with technology ............................................................19 1.3 Research contributions ...................................................................20 1.3.1 Theoretical contributions: Bringing together emerging strands of thought ..........................................................................................20 1.3.2 Methodological contributions: Situating the research in the HCI and Information Systems traditions ..................................................21 1.3.3 Empirical research.............................................................................21 1.3.4 Outcomes: Lessons for stakeholders and well-founded hypotheses.........................................................................................22 1.4 Outline of research approach.........................................................22 1.4.1 An interpretative approach based on empirical data.........................23 1.4.2 Making sense of experience..............................................................23 1.4.3 Focussed case studies........................................................................24 1.4.4 Research scope: addressing the transport crisis in London...............25 1.5 Overview of the thesis .....................................................................25 1.6 Conventions......................................................................................27 1.6.1 Notation for quoted text samples ......................................................27 1.6.2 Style conventions..............................................................................28 1.6.3 Definitions.........................................................................................28 Part I: The Lived Experience with e-Government...............................................30 Summary of literature review............................................................................30 Chapter 2 From human factors to lived experience.......................................37 2.1 Usability: the genealogy of a concept.............................................37 2.1.1 Constructing the user.........................................................................38 2.1.2 The human information processor ....................................................38 2.1.3 The socially situated user..................................................................39 2.1.4 Users as human actors.......................................................................40 2.1.5 The usability movement....................................................................41 2.1.6 Defining usability..............................................................................41 2.2 The changing computer ..................................................................42 2.2.1 The computer in context....................................................................42 5 2.2.2 Interfaces as borders..........................................................................43 2.2.3 Features of the interface as affordances............................................43 2.2.4 Affordances between the social and the technical ............................45 2.2.5 Genres: technology as text ................................................................46 2.2.6 Ecologies of affordances, information,