Robert E. Kraut

Paul Resnick

Sara Kiesler

Uses insights from social science, psychology, and economics to offer advice on planning and managing an online community.

Evidence-based Social Design

Building Successful Online Communities

Sara B. Kiesler

Lee Sproull

Connections is an accessible guide to the promise and the pitfalls of this latest phase of the computer revolution.

New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization

Connections

Pamela Hinds

Multidisciplinary research on dynamics, problems, and potential of distributed work. Technological advances and changes in the global economy are increasing the geographic distribution of work in industries as diverse as banking, wine production, and clothing design. Many workers communicate regularly with distant coworkers; some monitor and manipulate tools and objects at a distance. Work teams are spread across different cities or countries. Joint ventures and multiorganizational projects entail work in many locations. Two famous examples -- the Hudson Bay Company's seventeenth-century fur trading empire and the electronic community that created the original Linux computer operating system -- suggest that distributed work arrangements can be flexible, innovative, and highly successful. At the same time, distributed work complicates workers' professional and personal lives. Distributed work alters how people communicate and how they organize themselves and their work, and it changes the nature of employee-employer relationships. This book takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of distributed work groups and organizations, the challenges inherent in distributed work, and ways to make distributed work more effective. Specific topics include division of labor, incentives, managing group members, facilitating interaction among distant workers, and monitoring performance. The final chapters focus on distributed work in one domain, collaborative scientific research. The contributors include psychologists, cognitive scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, historians, economists, and computer scientists.

Distributed Work

Robert Kraut

Malcolm Brynin

During the past decade, technology has become more pervasive, encroaching more and more on our lives. Computers, cell phones, and the internet have an enormous influence not only on how we function at work, but also on how we communicate and interact outside the office. Researchers have been documenting the effect that these types of technology have on individuals, families, and other social groups. Their work addresses questions that relate to how people use computers, cell phones, and the internet, how they integrate their use of new technology into daily routines, and how family function, social relationships, education, and socialization are changing as a result. This research is being conducted in a number of countries, by scientists from a variety of disciplines, who publish in very different places. The result is that it is difficult for researchers and students to get a current and coherent view of the research literature. This book brings together the leading researchers currently investigating the impact of information and communication technology outside of the workplace. Its goal is to develop a consolidated view of what we collectively know in this fast-changing area, to evaluate approaches to data collection and analysis, and to identify future directions for research. The book will appeal to professionals and students in social psychology, human-technology interaction, sociology, and communication.

Domesticating Information Technology

Computers, Phones, and the Internet

This text brings together leading researchers investigating the impact of information and communication technology outside of the workplace. It develops a consolidated view of what we collectively know in this fast-changing area, evaluates approaches to data collection and analysis, and identifies future directions for research.

Sara Kiesler

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