Artefacts as designed artefacts as used resource

Authors: Devina RamdunyEllis Alan Dix Paul Rayson Victor Onditi Ian Sommerville Jane Ransom

Publish Date: 2005/06/07

Volume: 7, Issue: 2, Pages: 76-87

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Abstract

This paper addresses the use of artefacts as a powerful resource for analysis focusing on the ‘artefact as designed’ as a means of eliciting the designers’ explicit and implicit knowledge and ‘artefacts as used’ as a means of uncovering the trail left by currently inactive processes Artefact analysis is particularly suitable in situations where direct observation is ineffective especially in activities that occur infrequently We demonstrate the usefulness of our technique through the analysis of artefacts within both the office and the meeting environment This is part of a wider study aimed at understanding the nature of decisions in meetings with the view of producing a tool to aid decision management and hence reduce rework We conclude by drawing out some general lessons from our analysis which reaffirms the intricate role that artefacts play in maintaining activity dynamicsTracker Reducing rework through decision management project is funded by the EPSRC Systems Integration programme in the UK EPSRC Grant Ref GR/R12183/01 May 2001 We would like to thank the Business Enterprise Centre BEC at Lancaster University for giving us access to their meetings and offices the Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration in Dependability DIRC project for the use of their minutes and finally the developers of TeamSpace at the Georgia Institute of Technology for the use of their tool

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