Social Informatics

Paper Summary:

Social informatics, or the collection of research that examines the social and cultural aspects of information technology, is a relatively recent field. From its conception in the early 1970s as an unnamed field of research to its current discussions in popular computer science and social science, the concepts behind social informatics have been widely examined, utilized and commonly misunderstood. This paper discusses the contributions of the field in general and attempts to show that the usefulness of the discoveries made from the research does not, by its self, make it the prime approach for integration discussions.

From the Paper:

"Another study which focuses on the drastic differences in research outcome is discussed by Kling (2001) in the analysis of how oversimplification of the effects of social informatics can have negative consequences for organizations. Kling notes that the introduction of credit card machines and automated tellers would allow travelers wider access to money when traveling. However, due to this oversimplified, unorganized view, credit card issuers in the United States were able to market their product to a wider variety of consumers, some of which were unable to pay the debt they amassed. This caused a higher number of bankruptcies, and a difficulty in regulating interest rate changes (Kling, 2001)."

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