Book details of 'Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart'

Title	Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart
Author(s)	Bonnie A. Nardi, Vicki L. O'Day
ISBN	0262140667
Language	English
Published	January 1999
Publisher	MIT Press

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Reviewer amazon.com wrote:
Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart is Bonnie Nardi and Vicki O'Day's thesis on how the average citizen has become distanced from the process of designing technology, resulting in technology that doesn't adequately serve the user's needs. Using the plot of the film Metropolis as their primary example, the authors explain how those who are creating technology are pouring their hearts into it, but aren't using their heads enough to anticipate whether "our creations can betray us." Nardi and O'Day first draw on the works of prominent technology authors--such as Langdon Winner, Jacques Ellul, Nicholas Negroponte, and Clifford Stoll--examining various perspectives on technology design. Next, they define information ecology as "a system of people, practices, values, and technologies in a particular local environment." The book then urges readers to become involved in information ecologies and explains how to do so. Several case studies highlight successful information ecologies: a library setting, which emphasizes diversity of human personalities and technical resources without competition; Longview Elementary School in Phoenix, where students and educators collaborate to establish guidelines for responsible use of a virtual community called Pueblo; and a digital photography class, where the focus is on the value of the content being created rather than the sophisticated tools needed to perform the task of creation. A slim but inspiring book, Information Ecologies opens our eyes to the technology we use daily and prompts us to question how it could be better used or designed to meet our goals.
Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
I have only the greatest sympathy for any attempt to ensure that technology serves people, rather than the other way around. This book, however, adds almost nothing to the ongoing debate and work on the subject. And it is ongoing. One of the more surprising features of this text is the repeated implication that nobody else has ever considered that there might be a middle path between uncritical technophilia and rabid Neo-Luddism. Part one of the work is entitled "Concepts and Reflections." The promised ideation is rather sparse, while the opining takes up the bulk of the space. Chapter one is a rather error filled (the book actually contradicts itself on some points) description of Fritz Lang's silent classic "Metropolis." The main point of a rather meandering chapter two seems to be the assertion that technology is not "inevitable." The metaphors of technology as a tool, text, and system are examined in chapter three. Unfortunately, while the models do provide differing ways of looking at practices, the analysis is so orthogonal that almost no useful comparisons can be made. Chapter four finally brings us to "information ecologies," but not in any defining way. The discussion feels like all too many discussions of the "free market" system: new products influence the market, and the market influences new products, and it all just sorta works, you know? Deliberation about values, in chapter five, is undercut by the immediate jump into the relativist camp. Which makes the subsequent insistence on "core" values rather ironic. Chapter six does not, therefore, provide any useful guidance on how to evolve an information ecology. The "case studies" of part two does not help in any attempt to understand what an information ecology might be. While all of the communities involved; libraries, MUDs (Multiple User Domains), informal "help" networks, school courses, and teaching hospitals; use technology, the descriptions provided deal strictly with social interactions. While some of these behaviours may be affected by computers and new forms of communications (and, in some cases, may require them), the analysis does *not* deal with differences between traditional and "computer-aided" dialogues. Indeed, in most cases the fact of technology could be removed entirely from the essays, and it wouldn't make any difference. "Odd man out" in this section is a chapter on the Internet. This may be because of the demand that information ecologies be somehow "local," which the net decidedly is not. A concluding chapter recapitulates the episodes of the book, but does not help to clarify whatever concepts the authors intended to present. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1999
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Book description:

The common rhetoric about technology falls into two extreme categories: uncritical acceptance or blanket rejection. These two positions leave us with poor choices for action. They encourage us to accept as inevitable whatever technological changes come along. Claiming a middle ground, Bonnie Nardi and Vicki O'Day call for responsible, informed engagement with technology in local settings, which they call "information ecologies." Their goal is to change the way people look at information technology. An information ecology is a system of people, practices, technologies, and values in a local environment. Like their biological counterparts, information ecologies are diverse, continually evolving, and complex. Nardi and O'Day encourage the reader to become more aware of the ways people and technology are interrelated. A key to thoughtful action, they say, is to ask more "know-why" questions, before jumping to the more straightforward "know-how" questions. They talk about practical ways to have more "know-why" conversations, to dig deeper and reflect more about how we use technology. Nardi and O'Day draw on their empirical research in offices, libraries, schools, and hospitals to show how people can engage their own values and commitments while using technology. These case studies show new and fruitful avenues for participation and engagement with technology. Read the first chapter More on Information Ecologies