Synthesizing IT Case Studies of Nonprofits Using a Multiple-Level Patterns-Based Framework

• Published in: IEEE transactions on professional communication Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 216 - 232
• Main Authors: Kase, Sue E, Yang Zhang, Carroll, John M, Rosson, Mary Beth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.09.2010; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Case studies; Collaboration; Communities; Concretes; Construction; Context; Encoding; Informal learning; Information systems; Information technology; Learning; needs assessment; Organizational learning; Organizations; participatory action research; patterns; Shape; Standards organizations; Strategy; Studies; usability
• ISSN: 0361-1434; 1558-1500
• DOI: 10.1109/TPC.2010.2052858

To better understand how individuals, groups, and organizations can use information systems more effectively, a research approach closer to the level of social interchange is required. A multiple-level, sustainable, information-technology (IT) learning framework, rooted in patterns of practice and constructed by participatory action research, offers an alternative methodology for investigating sustainable strategies of IT learning. The framework evolved from concrete instances of IT learning across organizational case studies. A patterns-based analysis of the ethnographic data enabled the examination of informal IT learning in community contexts and the identification of IT interventions more likely to produce successful learning outcomes.