Carljohan Orre, Department of Informatics, Umeå University, Sweden: ; Christopher Paul Middup, Department of Computer Science, University of Bath, UK: Slowing Down to Work Faster in Home Care: Why Introducing Technology Should Not Replace Team Meetings

In the paper we would like to present, we show that technology introduced into group settings for efficiency purposes can have a negative effect on group socialization, unless the purpose of the meetings is more fully understood than simply analyzing the headline task.

We have drawn and argued two conclusions from our observations of the two organizations at work. Firstly, that any design process that attempts to replace team meetings with a technological intervention needs to consider very carefully the other tasks team members perform, and whether these will be impacted by the loss of face-to-face contact. Secondly, that if the technological intervention is integrated into the existing team meetings, rather than replacing them, then an understanding of the spheres of collaboration that exist amongst co-located groups should not be altered by that technology.

At present, these results are not generalisable, and further work is required to identify more systematically how these phenomena occur, and how designers and system implementers should make use of this understanding in order to better support co-located group work.