Information Ecologies: Using Technology With Heart - Hardcover

Nardi, Bonnie A.; O'Day, Vicki

  • 3.81 out of 5 stars
    54 ratings by Goodreads
 
9780262140669: Information Ecologies: Using Technology With Heart

Synopsis

The common rhetoric about technology falls into two extreme categories: uncritical acceptance or blanket rejection. These two positions leave us with poor choices for action. They encourage us to accept as inevitable whatever technological changes come along. Claiming a middle ground, Bonnie Nardi and Vicki O'Day call for responsible, informed engagement with technology in local settings, which they call "information ecologies." Their goal is to change the way people look at information technology.

An information ecology is a system of people, practices, technologies, and values in a local environment. Like their biological counterparts, information ecologies are diverse, continually evolving, and complex. Nardi and O'Day encourage the reader to become more aware of the ways people and technology are interrelated. A key to thoughtful action, they say, is to ask more "know-why" questions, before jumping to the more straightforward "know-how" questions. They talk about practical ways to have more "know-why" conversations, to dig deeper and reflect more about how we use technology.

Nardi and O'Day draw on their empirical research in offices, libraries, schools, and hospitals to show how people can engage their own values and commitments while using technology. These case studies show new and fruitful avenues for participation and engagement with technology.

Read the first chapter

More on Information Ecologies

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Bonnie A. Nardi, a researcher at AT&T Research Labs, is the author of A Small Matter of Programming (MIT Press, 1993) and editor of Context and Consciousness (MIT Press, 1996). Vicki O'Day, formerly a researcher at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, is a graduate student of anthropology at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780262640428: Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0262640422 ISBN 13:  9780262640428
Publisher: MIT Press, 2000
Softcover