Category Archives: L.2.1

Knowledge Maturing at Workplaces of Knowledge Workers: Results of an Ethnographically Informed Study

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The concept of knowledge worker has been around for fifty years and many information and communication technologies have been implemented in order to support this type of work. Workplaces have changed substantially, but information is scarce about how actual knowledge workers handle knowledge in their workplaces. This paper presents the results of a joint study of knowledge workers’ workplaces in five organisations representing a diverse sample in terms of size, sector and technology intensity. The results suggest that a number of person types with predominant ways of handling knowledge can be favourably used for designing supportive tools and infrastructures.

Perspective and Contrast, Design Principles for Supporting Self-directed and Incidental Learning

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This paper reports on a meta-analysis of two qualitative studies that use visualisations of user interactions in Web2.0 systems in order to support self-directed and incidental learning. This analysis focuses on the identification of design principles for supporting learning beyond the well structured conditions of educational institutions. The studies applied a reference architecture for context-aware systems together with a contextual framework that is based on the theory of situated learning. Although combining these concepts lead to satisfactory results, it appeared that the design of visualisations for supporting selfdirected learning requires further constraints. The given meta analysis identified the two design principles “perspective” and “contrast”. This paper discusses how these principles were present in both prior studies.