Conference Workshops

Crash Course for Sociotechnical Scholars: Introductory Concepts and Approaches

Workshop at iConference 2016, Philadelphia, PA.

  • Kristin Eschenfelder, The University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Stephen Voida, The University of Colorado, Boulder
  • Steve Sawyer, Syracuse University

The 2016 Crash Course for Sociotechnical Scholars is designed for those who are new to, or curious about, sociotechnical research — a tradition underlying many other iConference workshops and sub-communities. No prior knowledge or experience is necessary. Attendees will gain (1) knowledge of basic conceptual premises of sociotechnical scholarship; (2) an understanding of the range of methodologies possible; (3) an orientation to venues where sociotechnical research is published and disseminated; and (4) an overview of the overlapping communities of sociotechnical scholars, with a focus on opportunities to become more involved.

Like previous pre-iConference Sociotech events, the crash course provides participants an introduction to the Consortium for the Science of Sociotechnical Systems (CSST). CSST serves a trans-disciplinary community, connecting like-minded scholars from many different intellectual communities with interests about the mutual constitution of social and technological phenomena. Attendees are encouraged to submit a short bio and to come with questions.

Advanced Topics in Sociotechnical Systems: Methods and Concepts of Trace Data

Workshop at iConference 2016, Philadelphia, PA.

  • Rosta Farzan (Pitt)
  • Matt Burton (Pitt)
  • Amelia Acker, (Pitt)
  • Warren Allen (Florida State)

This workshop will refine the methods and concepts of sociotechnical systems. Through interactive training we will provide the workshop participants a mix of qualitative interpretation with quantitative, data driven approaches. The workshop will be divided into two parts. First, a conceptual grounding exercise featuring the motivations of participants in sociotechnical research, followed by small group discussions (led by organizers) about the sui generis of “traces” in our work.

The second part will be four different technical breakout skills sessions about data collection, preparation, and analysis from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. This advanced methods workshop builds upon the established base of people and practices to further the impact of sociotechnical research. It is directed towards scholars with exposure to Sociotechnical Systems research and ideas as well as researchers from other domains including science and technology studies, data science, social computing, new media literacies, HCI, critical information studies, and infrastructure studies.

Sociotechnical approaches to fieldwork and trace data integration

Workshop at iConference 2015, Newport, CA

  • Steven Sawyer
  • Warren Allen
  • Carlos Monroy
  • Kalpana Shankar
  • Norman Makoto Su

The 2015 Sociotech Workshop focuses attention to the possibilities of leveraging trace data (data that is created from the use or presence of digital artifacts and interactions) with data collected through fieldwork. This combination is sociotechnical both in its form and value to better engaging human/ machine interactions. To this end, the workshop provides a forum for: (1) introducing scholars to the basic conceptual premises of sociotechnical scholarship; (2) sociotech scholars to advance their own work and thinking relative to the opportunities of combining the various types of evidence gathered through fieldwork with the range of trace data possibilities that are emerging. Like the seven previous pre-iConference Sociotech Workshops, this event also provides participants an introduction to the Consortium for the Science of Sociotechnical Systems (CSST). The CSST serves a trans-disciplinary community, connecting like-minded scholars from many different intellectual communities whose interests are towards the mutual constitution of social and technological phenomena. A 250-word position paper is due March 9; see the iConference workshop web page for details.

Breaking down and building up: Accelerating sociotech scholarship in the ischool community

Workshop at iConference 2014, Berlin, Germany

  • Ingrid Erickson
  • Warren Allen
  • Payal Arora
  • Sean Goggins
  • Kalpana Shankar

The annual Consortium for the Science of Sociotechnical Systems (CSST) workshop at the iConference perpetuates a tradition of providing sociotechnical scholars with a place to surface areas and domains ripe for new or renewed attention, highlight synergies that have gone unidentified previously, and establish new relationships. This year’s workshop, “Breaking Down and Building Up: Accelerating Sociotech Scholarship in the iSchool Community,” will pivot around the dual orientation of community building and scholarly action; the full day agenda will combine a morning of introductory talks and discussion with an afternoon of hands-on feedback sessions built around project ideas and paper drafts. We are particularly keen this year to bring together scholars from a wide variety of disciplines, nationalities, and histories so that our work together can itself break down barriers between ideas, schools, countries and perhaps continents to establish new mechanisms and pathways for integrated sociotechnical scholarship.

Sociotechnical systems research: Defining, converging, and researching as a community

Workshop at iConference 2013, Fort Worth, TX

  • Rebecca Reynolds
  • Warren Allen
  • Ingrid Erickson
  • Shuyuan Mary Ho
  • James Howison

The Consortium for the Science of Sociotechnical Systems (CSST) serves as a trans-discipline community, connecting like-minded scholars from many different intellectual communities. CSST brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines to develop a common language and scholarly repertoire as we work to understand diverse sociotechnical issues. Researchers focus on improving human lives through understanding sociotechnical systems, conducting research on human activity such as collaboration, creativity, learning and economic production in domains like healthcare, education, science, leisure, and computing. This requires researchers to understand both social and technical aspects of human organization. This workshop supports continued advancement of definitions and boundaries in this area. We will engage in activities with established leaders as well as newcomers in this trans-discipline, to build understanding of factors that support the community’s cohesion, and, aim to leverage the diversity of the work being conducted by its members, to engender learning and research innovation.

The Sociotechnical Learning Object Slam Happening

Alternative event at the 2011 iConference, Seattle, WA

  • Michael Khoo
  • Michael Twidale
  • Andrea Wiggins
  • Jennifer Rode

Teaching sociotechnical concepts requires insightful, effective and engaging instructional resources suitable for students of various levels. The authors propose an interactive Alternative Event, the Sociotechnical Learning Object Slam Happening (SLOSH), in which participants will design and then present prototype sociotechnical learning objects. Discussion will be initiated regarding requirements for an online SLO Repository.

Study of sociotechnical systems workshop

Workshop at iConference 2010, Urbana-Champaign, IL

  • Steven Jackson
  • David Ribes
  • Sean Goggins

The workshop builds on and extends efforts that have included the 2008 & 2009 Summer Research Institute of the Consortium for the Science of Sociotechnical Systems (CSST). These research institutes, supported by the National Science Foundation and held at the University of Michigan (2008) and Syracuse University (2009), brought together a diverse set of researchers from fields as diverse as science and technology studies, humancomputer interaction, management and organizational studies, library and information science, sociology, social informatics, and computer science, to begin exploring and framing a future research agenda centered on sociotechnical research.

Engaging Multidisciplinarity in Sociotechnical Internet Research: A hands-on workshop

Workshop at Internet Research 10, Milwaukee, WI

  • Ingbert Floyd
  • David Gurzick
  • Andre Brock
  • Caroline Haythornthwaite

This workshop explores multidisciplinary aspects of sociotechnical research on the Internet, by providing a forum for the pooling and sharing of disciplinary perspectives, and for finding complementarity and synergy across disciplinary knowledge, methods, and approaches. Activities planned for the workshop will engage participants with theoretical and methodological approaches drawn from multiple disciplinary perspectives.

The Science of Socio-Technical Systems in iSchools

Workshop at iConference 2009, Chapel Hill, NC

  • Sean P. Goggins
  • Ingbert R. Floyd
  • Jonathan Grudin
  • Steve Sawyer
  • Ingrid Erickson

This workshop builds on and extends an effort begun in 2005 that led to the 2008 Summer Research Institute of the Consortium for the Science of Socio-Technical Systems (CSST). This Research Institute, supported by the National Science Foundation and held at the University of Michigan, brought together a diverse set of researchers, including the fields of science and technology studies, human-computer interaction, management and organizational studies, library and information science, sociology, social informatics, and computer science, to begin exploring and framing a future research agenda centered on socio-technical research. We now propose a workshop as a follow-on to the 2009 iConference to invite iSchool faculty and students to join the emerging CSST network and work to tailor its broad goals to both reflect and support the research being pursued within the greater iSchool community. We see this workshop as continuing and expanding on the 2008 Summer Research Institute.