A Social Informatics Perspective on Socio-Technical Networks

Network-centric perspectives have gained increasing salience, as interconnected information and communication technologies (ICTs) become more ubiquitous in our daily lives. In this paper, we provide an overview of socio-technical network studies, which we then use to help situate the development and use of ICTs within social and organizational domains. We briefly review traditional conceptualizations of socio-technical systems, and then introduce some contemporary theoretical extensions and sociological reconceptualizations. This discussion emphasizes the capability of social informatics perspectives to guide our current and future examinations of ICT use in sociotechnical networks. New Socio-Technical Studies The pervasiveness of computing in social life and organizational work underscores the nuanced and interwoven arrangements that arise between people, what they do, and the information and communication technologies (ICTs) they use. This increasing interconnection between the social and the technical aspects of our worlds highlights the potential value of conceptualizing such arrangements as socio-technical networks. For us, socio-technical networks refer to the interactions between people, organizations, institutions, and a range of technologies in rather intricate heterogeneous arrangements in which what is "social" and what is "technical" cannot be readily isolated in practice. This approach differs in some significant ways from the focus of traditional socio-technical studies, particularly in our explicit attention to ICTs and information systems. In our view, socio-technical networks are fundamental to socio-technical studies, and ICTs are necessary (but not sufficient) components of networked forms of social organization. Traditional Conceptualizations of SocioTechnical Systems Several research traditions emphasize some kind of socio-technical perspective. The two best-known approaches are the Social Shaping of Technology (SST) tradition, based on social studies of science and technology (cf. Williams and Edge, 1995), and the Tavistock Institute’s Socio-Technical Systems (STS) tradition, based on the analysis of work organization (cf. Mumford, 1997; 2000). The SST perspective focuses on large-scale socio-technical ensembles, which we call socio-technical networks. SST researchers examine the ways in which social arrangements shape emergent technologies. Bijker (1995), for example, uses a sociotechnical framework to discuss the development of a wide range of dissimilar technologies, such as bicycles, the origin of plastic (bakelite), and other innovations. The STS approach to socio-technical systems emphasizes workplace interactions with various technologies. STS researchers have focused on developing socially sensitive, ethical, and humane methods for technology design. In doing so, STS scholars have developed concepts and evaluations for use in the analysis of organizational structures and in the diagnosis of workplace discontinuities (Moldaschl and Weber, 1988; Land, 2000). Neither approach explicitly pertains to ICT development and use. However, in the sense that ICTs are a special case of "technology," both approaches have been helpful to IS researchers trying to understand the use of ICTs and the emergence of socio-technical networking arrangements. Quintas (1994) has used the SST approach expressly to inform his analysis of software engineering innovations. Orlikowski and Gash (1994) have also used SST concepts to interpret the development of organizational information systems. Their study merges Bijker's concepts with organizational change theory as they examine complex artifacts and complex “users”-which differ greatly from the turn-of-the-century products and individual consumers in Bijker's histories. Their analysis exposes the recursive nature of changes in technological frames and technological artifacts as complexity increases, and begins to point out the need for a more robust and well-integrated socio-technical network approach. STS perspectives have also been applied to ICT use contexts, beginning with the work of Bostrom and Heinin (1978a, 1978b), but the association between STS concepts and IS research is often not explicitly articulated as such in contemporary literature (Mumford, 1997; Newman and Sabherwal, 1996). Some of this disconnect may stem from the dynamics of networked ICTs, when considered in conjunction with current trends toward globalization. This emergent global context differs substantially from the localized settings of early SST and STS studies.