Supporting*practice.oriented*researchers*with*IT*–**
Research! practices! change,! as! do! many! work! practices.! Partly,! this! is! the! result! of!
changing! agendas! of! funding! agencies.! Increasingly,! funding! agencies! expect! research!
projects!to!consist!not!only!of!researchers!but!to!additionally!include!industry!partners!
and!end>users.!Furthermore,!these!projects!should!address!societal!problems!not!only!
from! the! perspective! of! one! particular! discipline! but! should! combine! scientific!
knowledge!with!industrial!and!end>user>knowledge!to!solve!these!problems.!According!
to! the! European! Commission! (2007),! such! joint! research! projects! (the! "cooperation!
programme")!constitute!the!"core!of!FP7!and!largest!component!by!far",!which!"foster[s]!
collaborative!research!across!Europe!and!other!partner!countries,!according!to!several!
key! thematic! areas".! The! main! share! of! EU! research! funding! hence! goes! into! joint!
research! projects,! which! should! eventually! boost! the! European! economy! by! fostering!
the!production!of!innovations.!Similar!trends!can!be!observed!at!the!national!levels!of!
EU!Member!States,!for!example,!the!German!one.!The!rationale!behind!these!programs!
strongly! builds! on! innovative! effects! of! bringing! together! stakeholders! with!
backgrounds! from! academia,! industry! and! practice.! Through! the! combination! of! their!
respective!expertise!in!joint!research!projects,!the!actors!are!supposed!to!come!up!with!
innovative!results,!which!should!both!solve!a!societal!problem!and!boost!the!economy!
(cf.!Bundesbericht!Forschung,!2010).!
!
These! changes! on! the! institutional! level! have! strong! effects! on! the! working!
circumstances!of!individual!researchers.!Research!funding!is!only!provided!to!them!if!a!
constellation! of! researchers! and! other! actors! has! agreed! upfront! to! cooperate! on! a!
societally! relevant! issue.! Moreover,! the! spatial! distance! between! researchers! tends! to!
increase! due! to! the! pan>European! (or! at! least! national)! scope! of! the! programs.! As! a!
consequence,!IT!tools!play!a!significant!role!for!cooperation!and!coordination.!Despite!
the!increasing!importance!of!such!joint!research!constellations,!empirical!investigations!
into!the!negotiated!and!emergent!nature!of!such!projects!have!not!become!common!(cf.!
Laudel,! 1999;! Hollaender,! 2003).! In! my! Masters! thesis,! I! have! therefore! investigated!
how!stakeholders!cooperate!within!a!German!joint!research!project.!On!the!one!hand,!I!
have!identified!a!great!number!of!learning!possibilities,!which!arise!from!the!different!
perspectives!of!the!actors.!These!learning!possibilities!might!eventually!even!result!in!an!
innovative!product,!as!anticipated!by!the!political!funders.!On!the!other!hand,!I!found!a!
number! of! obstacles,! which! might! hamper! successful! collaboration.! The! situation! was!
further! complicated! by! the! user>centered! design>approach,! which! was! applied!
throughout!the!project.!While!providing!valuable!in>depth!knowledge!about!end>users'!
work!practices,!the!approach!was!strongly!opposed!to!the!expectations!of!some!of!the!
industry!partners!and!their!work!practices.!This!led!to!tensions!and!posed!a!challenge!to!
the!project!management.!
!
Given! the! political! funders'! focus! on! joint! research! projects,! such! heterogeneous!
constellations! of! actors! will! rather! be! the! rule! than! the! exception! in! the! future.!
Furthermore,!my!empirical!results!suggest!the!reasons!for!the!tensions!to!be!eventually!
rooted! in! the! types! of! organizations! and! their! work! practices.! Since! these! are! not!
unusual!types,!my!results!might!be!to!a!certain!extent!generalizable!–!also!beyond!such!
projects.! Adopting! a! CSCW! perspective,! the! questions! of! how! stakeholders! with!
heterogeneous!backgrounds!cooperate!and!which!role!IT>tools!play!thereby,!arise.!In!my!
thesis,!I!approach!these!questions!by!investigating!the!EUSSET!community,!a!network!of!
practice>oriented!researchers!and!industry!practitioners.!The!aim!of!my!research!is!to!
arrive! at! a! thorough! understanding! of! the! community's! members! and! their! work!
practices.! In! a! second! step,! their! cooperation! should! be! supported! by! means! of! an!
internet!platform.!The!following!chapter!outlines!my!project!in!more!detail.!
!
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2.*Outline*of*the*PhD.project**
!
By! using! the! example! of! EUSSET! (“European! Society! for! Socially! Embedded!
Technologies“),! a! community! in! applied! Informatics,! the! PhD>project! examines! which!
opportunities! for! support! arise! from! information! technology! for! interdisciplinary,!
spatially! distributed! knowledge! communities.! At! the! moment,! EUSSET! is! an!
international!network!of!40!people!from!the!fields!of!science!and!industry,!with!focus!on!
user>oriented! and! praxeological! research,! development! and! design! methods.! It! is!
planned! to! establish! a! funding! organization! in! Germany,! as! well! as! the! chargeable!
membership!status!for!people!and!orgaizations.!The!presence!in!the!World!Wide!Web!
accounts!for!33!founders,!spread!all!over!Europe;!the!adjective!“European”!in!its!name!
however,!refers!explicitly!to!an!“intellectual”!tradition,!not!to!geographical!delimitations.!
So,!among!the!associated!people!are!also!representatives!from!the!USA.!Concerning!the!
contents!the!community!distance!itself!from!purely!technical!approaches!in!informatics!
and! postulates! human! activities,! respectively! the! dealings! with! each! other! and! with!
technical! media,! to! build! a! basis! of! technology! development! instead.! Six! academic!
conferences! are! named! in! relation! to! the! EUSSET! community.! The! publications! are!
provided!in!the!digital!library.!!
!
Similar! to! the! aims! of! EUSSET,! I! also! would! like! to! uncover! the! practice! of! work! and!
cooperation!of!the!involved!actors!in!my!dissertation!and!then,!afterwards!support!it!by!
existing! theoretical! concepts! herby! have! a! “sensitizing”! function.! The! leading! research!
questions!are!what!the!EUSSET!community!represents!in!the!view!of!individuals,!what!
individual! motivations! for! participating! are! or! which! approaches! are! used! in! cases! of!
academic! research! and! of! creation! and! sharing! of! knowledge,! respectively! academic!
publications.!Parallel,!insights!should!be!gained!by!participating!in!discussions!at!events!
of! the! community.! The! overall! goal! of! these! empirical! methods! is! to! find! out! which!
functionalities! should! a! common! portal! have.! By! the! participatory! observation! of!
discussions! and! also! by! different! talks! at! a! symposium! of! the! community! at! the!
University!of!Siegen!in!February!2012,!first!indicators!could!have!been!identified.!
!
The!evaluation!and!analysis!of!the!data!should!happen!in!a!grounded!theory>manner!(cf.!
Strauss!&!Corbin,!2008).!The!grounded!theory!has!the!advantage!that!the!data!collection!
and!evaluation!are!not!understood!as!two!separate!processes!but!rather!stimulate!each!
other! until! the! object! of! inquiry! is! completely! captured.! Moreover,! there! is! the!
possibility! to! combine! different! data! sources;! so! besides! ethnographical! notes! and!
transcribed! interviews,! theoretical! literature! and! automatically! generated! date! can! be!
used!as!well.!!
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Whereas! the! first! step! devotes! to! the! data! collection,! evaluation! and! analysis! of!
participants,!the!second*step!of!my!project!aims!to!the!realization!of!the!requirements!
identified! in! the! first! step.! By! the! development! of! a! common! internet! platform! on! the!
basis!of!the!insights,!especially!the!decentralized!character!of!the!community!should!be!
supported.! It! is! important,! that! the! web>portal! should! not! be! perceived! as! a! mere!
repository,! but! its! design! should! in! contrast! be! based! on! the! work! practices! of! the!
prospective! users! (cf.! Ackerman! et! al.,! 2003).! Hereby,! innovative! publication! and!
conference! forms! like! so! called! “Liquid! Publication”! should! be! used! as! well! (cf.!
Camussone!et!al.,!2010;!Casati!et!al.,!2007).!As!the!technical!development!is!built!up!by!
cognitions!that!still!have!to!be!empirically!gained,!it!cannot!be!anticipated!completely!at!
present.!!
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The!third* step! serves! the! purpose! to! evaluate! the! usage! of! the! technical! platform,! as!
realized!in!the!second!step,!and!to!set!it!into!relation!to!the!requirements!identified!in!
the! first! step.! Beside! the! guided! interviews,! also! automatically! generated! data! can! be!
gathered!for!the!evaluation.!The!interview!questions!will!help!to!find!out!if!the!intended!
> Participant!observation!of!a!book!publishing!process!(ongoing)!for!a!
European Commission. 2007. “The Seventh European Research Programme. Taking European Research at the Forefront.” http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/pdf/fp7-brochure_en.pdf.