The Socio-Technical Design of a Library and Information Science Collaboratory

• Published in: Information research Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 1368 - 1389
• Main Authors: Lassi, Monica, Sonnenwald, Diane H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thomas D 01.06.2013
• Subjects: Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap; Collaborative Writing; Collaboratories; Computer mediated information behaviour; Computer System Design; Cooperation; Data Collection; Electronic Libraries; Information sharing; Library and Information Science; Prototype design; Scientific collaboration; Shared Resources and Services; Systems design; Use; Use cases; User Needs (Information); Virtual communities; Web 2.0 Technologies
• ISSN: 1368-1613

Introduction: We present a prototype collaboratory, a socio-technical platform to support sharing research data collection instruments in library and information science. No previous collaboratory has attempted to facilitate sharing digital research data collection instruments among library and information science researchers. Method: We have taken a socio-technical approach to design, which includes a review of previous research on collaboratories; an empirical study of specific needs of library and information science researchers; and a use case design method to design the prototype collaboratory. Scenarios of future interactions, use cases, were developed using an analytically-driven approach to scenario design. The use cases guided the implementation of the prototype collaboratory in the MediaWiki software package. Results: The prototype collaboratory design is presented as seven use cases, which each describe central uses of the collaboratory and together illustrate how human system interaction has been facilitated in the prototype collaboratory. Conclusion: Future research includes usability testing to complement the analyticallygenerated scenarios of use and to expand with the production of use cases for specific groups of users.