Sara Eriksén, Ph.D., Department of Human Work Science, University of Karlskrona/Ronneby: Knowing and the Art of IT Management. An inquiry into work practices in one-stop shops.

New information technology is developing faster than the models, metaphors and methods in use for conceptualizing the sharing and managing of information in organizations, in communities and in society in general. The way we utilize information technology today does not seem to succeed in supporting the everyday work practices through which organizations accomplish their work. Based on the results of a research project about skill, cooperation and computer support in public service one-stop shops, I have tried to find alternative metaphors for understanding the constructive aspects of front office work practices. One hypothesis is, that it is valuable not only to be aware of multiperspectivity as an issue, but also to make use of it in design. A problem here is that many traditional research methods, as well as most methods for systems development, are designed to diminish rather than make use of ambiguity and diversity. I have found it useful to introduce the metaphor of inverted indexicality of language, in order to conceptualize the construction of meaning in action. New ways of conceptualizing IT management 'on the shop floor' - including design issues - are much needed. Metaphors such as 'the art of IT management', 'gardening' and 'caring for' are indicative of the issues at stake. Paraphrasing Pirsig's 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', I have gone, not to Zen-Buddism, but to philosophy according to Kant, Wittgenstein, von Wright, Anscombe... even all the way back to Aristotle's practical syllogism, where he shows how being aware of the interrelatedness of the choice of general premise and the choice of action - including the action itself - means taking responsibility for the intentionality of your own actions. It is this interrelatedness, once caught sight of, which offers us the possibility of moving from intentional spaces - representations of plans, whether daydreams, budgets, or shopping-lists - to purposeful places, where those representations become a part of our 'inner picture' (metaphorically speaking) and we can recognize, and realize in action, what they are meant for, and how they are meant to be used. There is a connection, here, with desktops and computers, IT management and developing on-line information systems for public service. Through continued research work in various projects such as ATTACH (Advanced Trans-European Telematics Applications for Community Help, a three-year EC-project concerning the development of multi-media applications for information kiosks which ended in December 1998) and One-stop Service, an on-going regional project here in the county of Blekinge, I have come to see how central genius loci - the spirit of the place, the meaningful, lived-in world - is to design for actual use. Today, we design technology to support intentional spaces. But it's in purposeful places that things get done.

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Ola Henfrisson