Cooperative knowledge work and practices of trust

This paper addresses a specific kind of knowledge work, environmental planning, and a particular form of collaboration, the sharing of measurement data sets, interested in how trust is created; how trustability is assessed in the arm=s-length collaboration of sharing data sets; and how changes in technology interact with those practices of trust.

Abstract

Wowledge communities of ti kinds have social ad material practices for deciding what is known and who is to be -h ti paper, we address a spec%c kind of knowledge work environrnenti planning, and a partictdar form of coflaboratio~tie sharing ofmeasurement data sets. We xe interested in how trust is create~how trustab%ty is assessed in the arrn's-length co~aboration of sharing data sex and how changes in technolo~intemct tith those practices of ~L We look at seveti elements of scientic pmctice that ficfitate this sharing -communities of practice, boundary objects, and assemblages -and discuss the impficntions for CSCW, digiti fibraries, and other tiormation-sharing applications. Ke~ords fiowledge u'or~enviromnenti plamting, boundary objects, assemblages, communities of practice, data sets, digiti kiraries, UC Berkeley Dim Library lNTRODUC~ON Technology desi~ed to support work has to be consonant ~~titbacti work practices. CSCW is e~ficitiy concerned ujth the socifly-ormd practices of users, as we~as with technologi~support for those practices. hluch CSCW research and design has been directd at stnti, stable, heterogeneous groups with on-going org-oti andor task connections [e.g. 1S, 164, et d]. Even when membership in the group is fily lmge, it is, or is assumed to be, tited andor know e.g. people working on a projec~within an ormtio~or as part of a professional community. However, much cooperative work is performed by large, heterogeneous, sfig, transient groups,distributed in time and space, with permeabIe bounties.