Collaboration, Coordination, and Computer Support An Activity Theoretical Approach to the Design of Computer Supported Cooperative Work Jacob E. Bardram Ph.D. thesis Aarhus May 1998 Summary The present thesis presents a theoretical foundation for the design of Com- puter Support for Cooperative Work (CSCW). Background This thesis reports on work done within the Industrial Research Educa- tion (EF 577) established between the University of Aarhus, Kommunedata (KMD), and the University Hospital of Aarhus. The initial focus of the project was to investigate ways of supporting the extensive cooperation tak- ing place within a hospital. Objectives The theoretical objective of this work is to apply activity theory as a the- oretical foundation for CSCW research and to focus on the issue of design within CSCW. Furthermore, the applicable and developmental objectives of the Industrial Research project are to provide design principles as well as de- sign methods for the development of computer support for coordination and cooperation within hospitals. These principles and methods can be applied at KMD in other software development projects. i Methods The methodological basis for this project lies within the Participatory Design approach, as developed in Scandinavia. The methods applied within this project have been empirical, experimental, and theoretical. The empirical work has taken place within several hospitals in Denmark and has applied different qualitative methods, such as interviews and ethnographic workplace studies. The experimental work involves software design and construction, which has been developed and evaluated through extensive prototyping. The theoretical work includes literature studies of related work and investigation of activity theory as a possible candidate for CSCW research. Contributions of the Thesis The thesis establishes activity theory as a theoretical foundation for CSCW design. A framework for designing collaboration artifacts is presented and methods supporting the design of such collaboration technologies are devel- oped, deployed, and evaluated. Six papers (of which 5 have been published) elaborate upon this theoretical approach to CSCW research. The papers illustrate how this theoretical foundation can be used to analyze cooperative work activities supported by computer technology, how it can be used to de- sign collaborative computer technologies, and how it can be used to develop and understand methods for designing collaborative computer technology. The applicable contributions of the present work also include several de- sign principles for computer technological support for coordination and co- operation within a hospital setting. Proof of concepts of these design prin- ciples is made in the prototype called the Patient Scheduler, which has been evaluated in numerous design meetings with different healthcare work- ers. ii Resum´e (Danish Summary) Nærværende afhandling præsenterer et teoretisk fundament for design af edb-støtte til samarbejde (eng.: Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW). Baggrund Afhandlingen afrapporterer arbejder udført inden for rammerne af erhvervs- forskeruddannelsen (EF 577), etableret mellem Aarhus Universitet, Kom- munedata (KMD) og Arhus˚ Universitetshospital. Den oprindelige problem- stilling for dette projekt var at undersøge m˚ader hvorp˚a, man kunne un- derstøtte det omfattende samarbejde, der finder sted p˚a et hospital. Form˚al De teoretiske m˚al med dette arbejde er at anvende virksomhedsteorien som et teoretisk fundament for CSCW-forskningen og at fokusere p˚a design inden for CSCW. Endvidere er de anvendelses- og udviklingsmæssige m˚al for er- hvervsforskerprojektet, at bidrage med designprincipper samt designmetoder til brug ved udvikling af edb-støtte til koordinering og samarbejde p˚a hos- pitaler. Disse principper og metoder kan s˚aledes anvendes i andre af KMDs software udviklingsprojekter. iii Metoder Det metodiske grundlag for dette projekt er funderet inden for den skandi- naviske tradition for brugerinvolvering i systemudviklingen. Metoderne der har været anvendt i dette projekt har været empiriske, eksperimentelle, s˚avel som teoretiske. Empiriske undersøgelser har fundet sted p˚a flere hospitaler i Danmark, hvor forskellige kvalitative metoder, s˚asom interviews og etno- grafiske arbejdspladsundersøgelser, har været anvendt. Det eksperimentelle arbejde har involveret software design samt konstruktion, som er blevet eval- ueret og udviklet gennem udpræget brug af prototype afprøvninger. Det teoretiske arbejde inkluderer litteraturstudier af beslægtede arbejder og un- dersøgelser af virksomhedsteorien som en mulig kandidat for CSCW-forsk- ningen. Afhandlingens forskningsmæssige bidrag Afhandlingen etablerer virksomhedsteorien som et teoretisk fundament for design af CSCW teknologier. En begrebsramme til brug ved design af samar- bejdsartefakter præsenteres og metoder, der understøtter designet af s˚adanne samarbejdsteknologier er blevet udviklet, anvendt og evalueret. Seks ar- tikler (hvoraf 5 er publiceret) uddyber denne teoretiske tilgang til CSCW- forskningen. Disse artikler illustrerer hvordan dette teoretiske fundament kan anvendes dels til, at analysere edb understøttet samarbejde, dels til design af edb-baseret samarbejdsteknologi og dels til at udvikle og forst˚a metoder til design af edb-baseret samarbejdsteknologi. De anvendelsesmæssige bidrag fra dette arbejde inkluderer endvidere flere designprincipper vedrørende computerteknologisk støtte til koordinering og samarbejde i et hospitalsmiljø. Disse principper er blevet anskueliggjort og bevist realiserbare gennem udviklingen af prototypen kaldet “the Patient Scheduler”, som er blevet evalueret gennem adskillige designmøder med medarbejderne p˚a hospitalerne. iv Acknowledgments The work done within this Industrial Research Education is funded by a grant from the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV), and by Kom- munedata, and the University Hospital for Arhus˚ Amt (Arhus˚ Amtssygehus). I am especially indebted to the support provided by the steering committee for the project: Martin Sølvkjær, Susanne Bødker, and Nils Birkegaard, who made the whole project possible in the first place, and who provided invaluable support throughout the whole project. I want to thank Nils for his continuous support and help in bridging the gab between academia and ‘realworld’ software construction. I wish to thank my supervisor Susanne for talking me into doing this Ph.D. in the first place, and for her constant support in doing this work. And, I wish to thank Martin for creating the opportunity to do research within the hospitals. I want to thank the numerous people engaged in the project at the different hospitals and departments involved in the project. I hope I have been able to give back something to these departments. I also want to thank Jonathan Grudin, who invited me to stay 6 months at University of California at Irvine. At Irvine I had the privilege to participate in the work of the CORPSand Software Groups, and to discuss and present my work there. I owe several people grateful thanks for their constructive (and patient) reading and commenting on a final draft of thesis. In alphabetic order: Thea Borgholm, Susanne Bødker, Andy Crabtree, Marianne Iversen, Kaj Grønbæk, Preben Mogensen, Christina Nielsen, and Henrik Røn. Finally, but not least, I want to thank the people in the Devise group at the v Department of Computer Science at the University of Aarhus. As John King once said: “If you want to do high quality research, then position yourself among people who do high quality research.” I have been fortunate enough to be in such a position – time will tell, whether I have done high quality research. vi Contents I1 1 Introduction 3 1.1 Background and Motivation . ................ 3 1.2 Research Objectives . ..................... 5 1.2.1 Scientific Objectives . ................ 5 1.2.2 Developmental Objectives ................ 6 1.2.3 Applicable Objectives . ................ 6 1.3 Research Approach . ..................... 6 2 Empirical Background 9 2.1 The SAIK Project . ..................... 9 2.1.1 Background: Hospitals in Denmark . ........ 9 2.1.2 Activities ......................... 11 2.2 Methods for Design . ..................... 13 2.2.1 Qualitative Methods . ................ 13 2.2.2 Design Methods . ..................... 14 2.2.3 Object-Oriented Methods ................ 15 2.3 The Patient Scheduler ................... 17 vii 3 Activity Theory and Design 23 3.1 Activity Theoretical Approaches to Design of Computer Arti- facts . ............................. 24 3.2 Activity Theory: Some Basic Concepts . ............ 26 3.3 Distributed Collective Activity . ................ 31 3.3.1 Collective Activity .................... 32 3.3.2 Actions as the Main Component of Distributed Collec- tive Activity . ..................... 34 3.3.3 Levels of Collaborative Activity . ............ 35 3.3.4 Dynamic Transformation between the Levels of Col- laborative Activities . ................ 40 3.4 Related Theoretical Approaches within CSCW . ........ 42 3.4.1 Situated Action . ..................... 42 3.4.2 Distributed Cognition . ................ 43 3.4.3 The Social Action Framework . ............ 44 4 An Activity Theoretical Approach to CSCW 47 4.1 Re-conceptualizing Computer Supported Cooperative Work . 47 4.2 Coordination of Collaborative Activities ............ 48 4.2.1 Types of Coordination . ................ 49 4.2.2 Dependencies in Work . ................ 52 4.2.3 Coordination Aspects of a Collaboration