TY - GEN
T1 - Document cycles
T2 - 42nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS
AU - Østerlund, Carsten
AU - Boland, Richard J.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The paper expands our theoretical and empirical understanding of knowledge flows in heterogeneous information system environments. Through an ethnographic study of a U.S. based teaching hospital it was found that doctors and nurses organize a hodgepodge of information systems, some electronic, other paper-based or wall mounted into circular patterns. The data allows a description of how these cyclical organized systems oscillate between documents that address a broader and narrower configuration of participants, times, places and content. In doing so, organizational members continuously adjust their system use to meet the level of background knowledge held by their collaborators, that is, how intimately their collaborators know the context and the routine work practices at hand. The cyclical organization of information systems does not prevent breakdowns in knowledge sharing. To avert such problems each cycle starts and ends with a dialog and reflection among collaborators.
AB - The paper expands our theoretical and empirical understanding of knowledge flows in heterogeneous information system environments. Through an ethnographic study of a U.S. based teaching hospital it was found that doctors and nurses organize a hodgepodge of information systems, some electronic, other paper-based or wall mounted into circular patterns. The data allows a description of how these cyclical organized systems oscillate between documents that address a broader and narrower configuration of participants, times, places and content. In doing so, organizational members continuously adjust their system use to meet the level of background knowledge held by their collaborators, that is, how intimately their collaborators know the context and the routine work practices at hand. The cyclical organization of information systems does not prevent breakdowns in knowledge sharing. To avert such problems each cycle starts and ends with a dialog and reflection among collaborators.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=63349110918&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=63349110918&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/HICSS.2009.166
DO - 10.1109/HICSS.2009.166
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:63349110918
SN - 9780769534503
T3 - Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS
BT - Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS
Y2 - 5 January 2009 through 9 January 2009
ER -