Information Systems and Activity Theory: A Case Study of Doctors and Mobile Knowledge Work

Mobile workers operate in a manner that isolates them from a traditional office. Further, some of these workers are required to make complex decisions during their travel. This paper is aimed at developing an understanding of the information system utilised by mobile workers and examines the information system beyond the data and technical means of information supply. A much broader view of the information system of mobile knowledge workers is produced through the development of two case studies, Doctors on ward rounds and Newspaper Reporters writing and submitting work from the field. These case studies are assisted through the examination of data using Activity Theory as a lens of interpretation. The resulting framework identifies technical, social and environmental factors that influence the way mobile knowledge workers interacted with information.