William Turner

Geoffrey C. Bowker

Susan Leigh Star

Les Gasser

The "great divide" between the approaches of systems developers and those of the social scientists to computer supported cooperative work has been vigorously debated in the systems development literature. In spite of their differences in style, the two groups have been cooperating more and more in the last decade, as the "people problems" associated with computing become increasingly evident to everyone. This book is the first to address directly the problem of how to bridge the divide. It offers an exciting overview of the cutting edge of research and theory, and will constitute a solid foundation for the rapidly coalescing field of social informatics.

Beyond the Great Divide

Social Science, Technical Systems, and Cooperative Work

Geoffrey Bowker

This book is the first to directly address the question of how to bridge what has been termed the "great divide" between the approaches of systems developers and those of social scientists to computer supported cooperative work--a question that has been vigorously debated in the systems development literature. Traditionally, developers have been trained in formal methods and oriented to engineering and formal theoretical problems; many social scientists in the CSCW field come from humanistic traditions in which results are reported in a narrative mode. In spite of their differences in style, the two groups have been cooperating more and more in the last decade, as the "people problems" associated with computing become increasingly evident to everyone. The authors have been encouraged to examine, rigorously and in depth, the theoretical basis of CSCW. With contributions from field leaders in the United Kingdom, France, Scandinavia, Mexico, and the United States, this volume offers an exciting overview of the cutting edge of research and theory. It constitutes a solid foundation for the rapidly coalescing field of social informatics. Divided into three parts, this volume covers social theory, design theory, and the sociotechnical system with respect to CSCW. The first set of chapters looks at ways of rethinking basic social categories with the development of distributed collaborative computing technology--concepts of the group, technology, information, user, and text. The next section concentrates more on the lessons that can be learned at the design stage given that one wants to build a CSCW system incorporating these insights--what kind of work does one need to do and how is understanding of design affected? The final part looks at the integration of social and technical in the operation of working sociotechnical systems. Collectively the contributors make the argument that the social and technical are irremediably linked in practice and so the "great divide" not only should be a thing of the past, it should never have existed in the first place.

Alan H. Bond

Most artificial intelligence research investigates intelligent behavior for a single agent--solving problems heuristically, understanding natural language, and so on. Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) is concerned with coordinated intelligent behavior: intelligent agents coordinating their knowledge, skills, and plans to act or solve problems, working toward a single goal, or toward separate, individual goals that interact. DAI provides intellectual insights about organization, interaction, and problem solving among intelligent agents. This comprehensive collection of articles shows the breadth and depth of DAI research. The selected information is relevant to emerging DAI technologies as well as to practical problems in artificial intelligence, distributed computing systems, and human-computer interaction. "Readings in Distributed Artificial Intelligence" proposes a framework for understanding the problems and possibilities of DAI. It divides the study into three realms: the natural systems approach (emulating strategies and representations people use to coordinate their activities), the engineering/science perspective (building automated, coordinated problem solvers for specific applications), and a third, hybrid approach that is useful in analyzing and developing mixed collections of machines and human agents working together. The editors introduce the volume with an important survey of the motivations, research, and results of work in DAI. This historical and conceptual overview combines with chapter introductions to guide the reader through this fascinating field. A unique and extensive bibliography is also provided.

Readings in Distributed Artificial Intelligence

Nazli Choucri

Theoretical and empirical accounts of the role of business in shaping international environmental policies.

The Business of Global Environmental Governance

Robert Owen Keohane

Peter M. Haas

Marc A. Levy

James B Duke Professor of Political Science Robert O Keohane

Can environmental institutions be effective at bringing about a healthier environment? How? Institutions for the Earth takes a close look at the factors influencing organized responses to seven international environmental problems - oil pollution from tankers, acid rain in Europe, stratospheric ozone depletion, pollution of the North Sea and Baltic, mismanagement of fisheries, overpopulation, and misuses of farm chemicals - to determine the roles that environmental institutions have played in attempting to solve them. Through rigorous, systematic comparison, it reveals common patterns that can lead to improvements in the collective management of these problems and suggests ways in which international institutions can further the case of environmental protection.The contributors identify three major functions performed by effective international environmental institutions: building national capacity, improving the contractual environment, and elevating governmental concern. The international organizations analyzed within this framework include the United Nations Environment Program, the Intergovernmental Maritime Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, numerous fisheries commissions, the Commission for Europe, the Oslo and Paris Commissions, the Helsinki Commission, and the United Nations Fund for Population Assistance.Peter M. Haas is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Robert O. Keohane is Stanfield Professor of International Peace at Harvard University. Marc A. Levy is Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and Associate at Harvard's Center for International Affairs.

Les Gasser

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