Transforming information system design: enabling users to design

The biggest challenge in information system design is leading users to participate in design and learn how to design the system they will use. Users typically demand features they are familiar with and simply ask engineers to implement them. Working with a large IT vendor, PARC ethnographers found it is possible to guide users to learn and transform their knowledge in a short period of time. Detailed analysis revealed the learning processes that led to innovative designs.

Citation

Yamauchi, Y. Transforming information system design: enabling users to design. In Making work visible: ethnographically grounded case studies of work practice, edited by Margaret H. Szymanski and Jack Whalen. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 2011; 299-311.