The variety of mobile guide systems continues to grow but to date there has been little research done comparing the mobile guide systems of various application domains to one of their ancestors, the paper-based guidebook. This paper presents a field study testing a mobile nature guide against a paper guidebook for a guided nature tour.

This paper examines how combining narrative research methods with an actor-network perspective is valuable for the process-oriented field studies that adopt an ensemble-view of technology. In response to a call by senior IS researchers to theorize the IT artifact, the paper draws on five premises previously identified as a basis for more seriously engaging such artifacts. The paper synthesizes ...

Based on ethnographic fieldwork, and the modelling of work processes at a medical department, this paper considers some of the opportunities and challenges involved in working with models in a complex work setting. The paper introduces a flexible modelling tool to CSCW, called the DCR Portal, and considers how it may be used to model complex work settings collaboratively. Further, the paper dis...

A major activity of many sciences is to search for patterned behavior within complex phenomena. The fields of Biology and Psychology are just two examples, in which the discovery of patterns is an impetus for building explanatory models that could account for the patterns. This paper reports the invention of a powerful machineoriented heuristic for finding complex patterned behavior in empirica...

This narrative examines early conceptualizations of geographical space among the primitive tribes of Europe in pre-history times. It was constructed as a result of intensive fieldwork, strenuous archeological investigations, laborious transcription of ancient runic devices and a strong desire to avoid actually doing anything useful. It could reveal important clues pertaining to the development ...

We describe methods and practices of early user involvement and human-centred design: how researchers and designers, in the ICT industry, attempt to cooperate with end-users, with the goal of making a better match with end-users’ needs and preferences. We describe six (dance) moves: participatory design, ethnographic fieldwork, lead-user approach, contextual design, codesigning, and empathic de...

A simple model termed ECOPATH is presented which estimates mean annual biomass, production, and consumption for components of an ecosystem. To use the model, the ecosystem must be partitioned into groups of similar species and provide for these species groups, estimates of production to biomass, diet, and food consumption. The ECOPATH model is applied to an ecosystem at French Frigate Shoals in...

Communal violent has shattered the image of Maluku as a socially harmonious community where traditional institutions, such as pela and sasi, have been thought to represent or facilitate inter-group harmony and sustainable resource management. More than three years of sectarian conflict has destroyed settlements and resources, and left many displaced people. It has changed the physical and socia...

There are many misconceptions in the United States about the technological and social status of the Internet in Cuba, in part due, perhaps, to the still considerable isolation of the island under the U.S. trade embargo and, consequently, the relative lack of field research on this and other subjects of contemporary interest concerning Cuba. The lack of knowledge about the state of the Internet ...