Socio-technical affordances for stigmergic coordination implemented in MIDST, a tool for data-science teams

Kevin Crowston, Jeffrey S. Saltz, Amira Rezgui, Yatish Hegde, Sangseok You

Research output: Contribution to journalEditorialpeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a conceptual framework for socio-technical affordances for stigmergic coordination, that is, coordination supported by a shared work product. Based on research on free/libre open source software development, we theorize that stigmergic coordination depends on three sets of socio-technical affordances: the visibility and combinability of the work, along with defined genres of work contributions. As a demonstration of the utility of the developed framework, we use it as the basis for the design and implementation of a system, MIDST, that supports these affordances and that we thus expect to support stigmergic coordination. We describe an initial assessment of the impact of the tool on the work of project teams of three to six data-science students that suggests that the tool was useful but also in need of further development. We conclude with plans for future research and an assessment of theory-driven system design.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number117
JournalProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Volume3
Issue numberCSCW
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2019

Keywords

  • Awareness
  • Data-science teams
  • Stigmergic coordination
  • Translucency

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Networks and Communications

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