Designing with ethnography: a meta level approach to CSCWD

CSCW systems are developed based on concrete and well-established models and theories. Most of them have emerged from the social sciences and have an important position in CSCW design. They provide meta-level concepts that can be used in the analysis and development of CSCW systems. This work investigates aspects of the relationship between the social organization of work settings and the system development context. The work presents meta-level concepts, which are based on the strength and community of different models and theories vis., coordination theory, activity theory, action/interaction theory, task manager, and the object-oriented activity support model. Following this, it describes the applicability of these concepts to the analysis of cooperative work using ethnography and the design of CSCW systems.