Shifting Practices: Reflections on Technology, Practice, and Innovation

Description

How disruptions and discontinuities caused by the introduction of new technologies often reveal aspects of practice not previously observed. What happens in an established practice or work setting when a novel artifact or tool for doing work changes the familiar work routines? Any unexpected event, or change, or technological innovation creates a discontinuity; organizations and individuals must reframe taken-for-granted assumptions and practices and reposition themselves. To study innovation as a phenomenon, then, we must search for situations of discontinuity and rupture and explore them in depth. In Shifting Practices, Giovan Francesco Lanzara does just that, and discovers that disruptions and discontinuities caused by the introduction of new technologies often reveal aspects of practice not previously observed. After discussing methodological and research issues, Lanzara presents two in-depth studies focusing on processes of design and innovation in two different practice settings: music education and criminal justice. In the first, he works with the music department of a major American university to develop Music LOGO, a computer system that allows students to explore musical structures with simple, composition-like exercises and experiments. In the second, he works with the Italian court system in the design and use of video technology for criminal trials. In both cases, drawing on anecdotes and examples as well as theory and analysis, he traces the new systems from design through implementation and adoption. Finally, Lanzara considers the researcher's role, and the relationship—encompassing empathy, vulnerability, and temporality—between the reflective researcher and actors in the practice setting. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Prologue: On Negative Capability......Page 16 I Studying Innovation as a Phenomenon......Page 28 II Making Music in the Digital Medium: A Reflective Inquiry into theDesign of a Computer Music System for Music Education......Page 70 1 Tracking the Design Process......Page 74 2 The Music Faculty’s Test of the System......Page 110 3 Revisitations: Shifting Stories......Page 132 III Encountering Video Technology in Judicial Practice: Experimentsand Inquiries in the Courtroom......Page 156 4 Entering the Temple of Justice......Page 160 5 Experimenting with Video Technology in the Courtroom......Page 166 6 The VCR and the Back Office: Building “Equipmentality”......Page 190 7 Reshaping Judicial Practice......Page 200 IV Further Inquiries into Shifting Practices......Page 210 Epilogue: Reflections on Work Past......Page 268 References......Page 282 Index......Page 294