Do users get what they want?

The papers in this special issue of the SIGOIS Bulletin were presented at the second meeting in (what turns out to be) a series of annual workshops entitled Do Users Get What They Want (DUG)? 1 This second meeting (DUG'93) was organised by and held at the Centre for Research into Innovation , Culture and Technology (CRICT), Brunel University, UK on 2nd April 1993. It followed the success of a first meeting (DUG'92) held at CRICT on 13th March 1992. 2 The extent of interest and enthusiasm for these events is testimony to the emerging importance of the "problem" of the user. As writers like Friedman (1989) remind us, it is only relatively recently in the history of IT and computer development that conceptions of "the user" have come to prominence. In this introduction, we briefly outline some of the issues associated with attempts to determine whether or not users get what they want; we then offer an overview of some of the main arguments raised in the papers in this collection; and, finally, we reflect upon the value of social science work in this area: are the users of this social science research getting what they want?