This book provides an in-depth insight into the emerging paradigm of End-User Development (EUD), discussing the diversity and potential for creating effective environments for end users. Containing a unique set of contributions from a number of international researchers and institutes, many relevant issues are discussed and solutions proposed, making important aspects of end-user development research available to a broader audience. Most people are familiar with the basic functionality and interfaces of computers. However, developing new or modified applications that can effectively support users' goals still requires considerable programming expertise that cannot be expected of everyone. One of the fundamental challenges that lie ahead is the development of environments that enable users with little or no programming experience to develop and modify their own applications. The ultimate goal is to empower people to flexibly employ and personalise advanced inform ation and communication technologies.

This book provides an in-depth insight into the emerging paradigm of End-User Development (EUD), discussing the diversity and potential for creating effective environments for end users. Containing a unique set of contributions from a number of international researchers and institutes, many relevant issues are discussed and solutions proposed, making important aspects of end-user development research available to a broader audience. Most people are familiar with the basic functionality and interfaces of computers. However, developing new or modified applications that can effectively support users' goals still requires considerable programming expertise that cannot be expected of everyone. One of the fundamental challenges that lie ahead is the development of environments that enable users with little or no programming experience to develop and modify their own applications. The ultimate goal is to empower people to flexibly employ and personalise advanced inform ation and communication technologies.

This book is concerned with the associated issues between the differing paradigms of academic and organizational computing infrastructures. Driven by the increasing impact Information Communication Technology (ICT) has on our working and social lives, researchers within the Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) field try and find ways to situate new hardware and software in rapidly changing socio-digital ecologies. Adopting a design-orientated research perspective, researchers from the European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET) elaborate on the challenges and opportunities  we face through the increasing permeation of society by ICT from  commercial, academic, design and organizational perspectives. Designing Socially Embedded Technologies in the Real-World is directed at researchers, industry practitioners and will be of great interest to any other societal actors who are involved with the design of IT systems.

This book is concerned with the associated issues between the differing paradigms of academic and organizational computing infrastructures. Driven by the increasing impact Information Communication Technology (ICT) has on our working and social lives, researchers within the Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) field try and find ways to situate new hardware and software in rapidly changing socio-digital ecologies. Adopting a design-orientated research perspective, researchers from the European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET) elaborate on the challenges and opportunities we face through the increasing permeation of society by ICT from commercial, academic, design and organizational perspectives. Designing Socially Embedded Technologies in the Real-World is directed at researchers, industry practitioners and will be of great interest to any other societal actors who are involved with the design of IT systems.

This book is an edited volume of case studies exploring the uptake and use of computer supported collaborative learning in work settings. This book fills a significant gap in the literature. A number of existing works provide empirical research on collaborative work practices (Lave & Wenger, 1987; Davenport, 2005), the sharing of information at work (Brown & Duguid, 2000), and the development of communities of practice in workplace settings (Wenger, 1998). Others examine the munificent variation of information and communication technology use in the work place, including studies of informal social networks, formal information distribution and other socio-technical combinations found in work settings (Gibson & Cohen, 2003). Another significant thread of prior work is focused on computer supported collaborative learning, much of it investigating the application of computer support for learning in the context of traditional educational institutions, like public schools, private schools, colleges and tutoring organizations. Exciting new theories of how knowledge is constructed by groups (Stahl, 2006), how teachers contribute to collaborative learning (reference to another book in the series) and the application of socio-technical scripts for learning is explicated in book length works on CSCL. Book length empirical work on CSCW is widespread, and CSCL book length works are beginning to emerge with greater frequency. We distinguish CSCL at Work from prior books written under the aegis of training and development, or human resources more broadly. The book aims to fill a void between existing works in CSCW and CSCL, and will open with a chapter characterizing the emerging application of collaborative learning theories and practices to workplace learning. CSCL and CSCW research each make distinct and important contributions to the construction of collaborative workplace learning.

COOP 2010 is the 9th edition of the International Conference on Designing Cooperative Systems, being the second European conference in the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work after ECSCW. The conference brings together researchers who contribute to the analysis and design of cooperative systems and their integration in organizational community, public and other settings, and their implications for policy and decision making. Cooperative systems design requires a deep understanding of collective activities, involving both artifacts and social practices. Contributions are solicited from a wide range of domains contributing to the fields of cooperative systems design and evaluation: CSCW, HCI, Information Systems, Knowledge Engineering, Multi-agents, organizational and management sciences, sociology, psychology, anthropology, ergonomics, linguistics.

This volume presents the proceedings of ECSCW 2011, the 12th European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Each conference offers an occasion to critically review our research field, which has been multidisciplinary and committed to high scientific standards, both theoretical and methodological, from its beginning. The papers this year focus on work and the enterprise as well as on the challenges of involving citizens, patients, etc. into collaborative settings. The papers embrace new theories, and discuss known ones. They contribute to the discussions on the blurring boundaries between home and work and on the ways we think about and study work. They introduce recent and emergent technologies, and study known social and collaborative technologies, such as wikis and video messages. Classical settings in computer supported cooperative work, e.g. meetings and standardization are also looked upon anew. With contributions from all over the world, the papers in interesting ways help focus on the European perspective in our community. The 22 papers selected for this conference deal with and reflect the lively debate currently ongoing in our field of research.

This volume presents the proceedings of ECSCW 2011, the 12th European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Each conference offers an occasion to critically review our research field, which has been multidisciplinary and committed to high scientific standards, both theoretical and methodological, from its beginning. The papers this year focus on work and the enterprise as well as on the challenges of involving citizens, patients, etc. into collaborative settings. The papers embrace new theories, and discuss known ones. They contribute to the discussions on the blurring boundaries between home and work and on the ways we think about and study work. They introduce recent and emergent technologies, and study known social and collaborative technologies, such as wikis and video messages. Classical settings in computer supported cooperative work, e.g. meetings and standardization are also looked upon anew. With contributions from all over the world, the papers in interesting ways help focus on the European perspective in our community. The 22 papers selected for this conference deal with and reflect the lively debate currently ongoing in our field of research.

The book contains 24 research articles related to the emerging research field of Communities and Technologies (C&T). The papers treat subjects such as online communities, communities of practice, Community support systems, Digital Cities, regional communities and the internet, knowledge sharing and communities, civil communities, communities and education and social capital. As a result of a very quality-oriented review process, the work reflects the best of current research and practice in the field of C&T.

Knowledge management (KM) is more a nd more recognized as a key factor of success for organisations: not only stru ctured companies, but also virtual enterprises, networks of organisations or ev en virtual communities. These organisations of differentki nds, are becoming increasingly aware of the need to collect, organise, mobilise, increase, in sum manage, the knowledge characterising their ability to stay alive, adapt and evolve in a turbulent context. Through various organisationaland t echnological approaches, KM aims at improving knowledge access, sharing and reuse as well as new knowledge creation. KMIA 2008 highlights problems, requirements and solutions that are derived from actual, concrete experiences. The fourteen papers accepted at KMIA 2008 give various answers to the following questions: What organisational strategies can enable to enact and promote KM within organisations? How to link these organisational strategies withth e ICT technology? Organisational strategies can be related to the evolution of the organisation itself or to its environment: intra organisational and inter organisational strategies can thus bedi stinguished. Some papers emphasize the importance of collaboration and knowledge transfer for team work and collaborative projects that may be intra organisational or inter organisational (e.g. intero rganisational outsourcing relationships). Strategies for designing and manufacturing innovative products are recognised as crucial for enterprises that operate in competitive sectors. Networkso forg anisations can help to improve the competitiveness of these organisations: KM can thus enhance competency management in such networks and help an organisation to find relevant costumers, suppliers, or cooperation partners.

COOP 2010 is the 9th edition of the International Conference on Designing Cooperative Systems, being the second European conference in the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work after ECSCW. The conference brings together researchers who contribute to the analysis and design of cooperative systems and their integration in organizational community, public and other settings, and their implications for policy and decision making. Cooperative systems design requires a deep understanding of collective activities, involving both artifacts and social practices. Contributions are solicited from a wide range of domains contributing to the fields of cooperative systems design and evaluation: CSCW, HCI, Information Systems, Knowledge Engineering, Multi-agents, organizational and management sciences, sociology, psychology, anthropology, ergonomics, linguistics.

Work practices and organizational processes vary widely and evolve constantly. The technological infrastructure has to follow, allowing or even supporting these changes. Traditional approaches to software engineering reach their limits whenever the full spectrum of user requirements cannot be anticipated or the frequency of changes makes software reengineering cycles too clumsy to address all the needs of a specific field of application. Moreover, the increasing importance of 'infrastructural' aspects, particularly the mutual dependencies between technologies, usages, and domain competencies, calls for a differentiation of roles beyond the classical user-designer dichotomy. End user development (EUD) addresses these issues by offering lightweight, use-time support which allows users to configure, adapt, and evolve their software by themselves. EUD is understood as a set of methods, techniques, and tools that allow users of software systems who are acting as non-professional software developers to 1 create, modify, or extend a software artifact. While programming activities by non-professional actors are an essential focus, EUD also investigates related activities such as collective understanding and sense-making of use problems and solutions, the interaction among end users with regard to the introduction and diffusion of new configurations, or delegation patterns that may also partly involve professional designers.

By now, most people have become familiar with the basic functionality and interfaces of computers. However, developing new or modified applications that effectively support users' goals still requires considerable expertise in programming that cannot be expected from most people. Thus, one fundamental challenge for the coming years is to develop environments that allow users who do not have background in programming to develop or modify their own applications, with the ultimate aim of empowering people to flexibly employ advanced information and communication technologies. The present book is an effort to make many important aspects of the international discussion on End User Development (EUD) available to a broader audience. It provides a unique set of contributions from various research institutes in various countries addressing relevant issues and proposing original solutions.

By now, most people have become familiar with the basic functionality and interfaces of computers. However, developing new or modified applications that effectively support users' goals still requires considerable expertise in programming that cannot be expected from most people. Thus, one fundamental challenge for the coming years is to develop environments that allow users who do not have background in programming to develop or modify their own applications, with the ultimate aim of empowering people to flexibly employ advanced information and communication technologies.The present book is an effort to make many important aspects of the international discussion on End User Development (EUD) available to a broader audience. It provides a unique set of contributions from various research institutes in various countries addressing relevant issues and proposing original solutions.

The book contains 24 research articles related to the emerging research field of Communities and Technologies (C&T). The papers treat subjects such as online communities, communities of practice, Community support systems, Digital Cities, regional communities and the internet, knowledge sharing and communities, civil communities, communities and education and social capital. As a result of a very quality-oriented review process, the work reflects the best of current research and practice in the field of C&T.

Schmidt and Bannon (1992) introduced the concept of common information space by contrasting it with technical conceptions of shared information: Cooperative work is not facilitated simply by the provisioning of a shared database, but rather requires the active construction by the participants of a common information space where the meanings of the shared objects are debated and resolved, at least locally and temporarily. (Schmidt and Bannon, p. 22) A CIS, then, encompasses not only the information but also the practices by which actors establish its meaning for their collective work. These negotiated understandings of the information are as important as the availability of the information itself: The actors must attempt to jointly construct a common information space which goes beyond their individual personal information spaces. . . . The common information space is negotiated and established by the actors involved. (Schmidt and Bannon, p. 28) This is not to suggest that actors' understandings of the information are identical; they are simply "common" enough to coordinate the work. People understand how the information is relevant for their own work. Therefore, individuals engaged in different activities will have different perspectives on the same information. The work of maintaining the common information space is the work that it takes to balance and accommodate these different perspectives. A "bug" report in software development is a simple example. Software developers and quality assurance personnel have access to the same bug report information. However, access to information is not sufficient to coordinate their work.

Schmidt and Bannon (1992) introduced the concept of common information space by contrasting it with technical conceptions of shared information: Cooperative work is not facilitated simply by the provisioning of a shared database, but rather requires the active construction by the participants of a common information space where the meanings of the shared objects are debated and resolved, at least locally and temporarily. (Schmidt and Bannon, p. 22) A CIS, then, encompasses not only the information but also the practices by which actors establish its meaning for their collective work. These negotiated understandings of the information are as important as the availability of the information itself: The actors must attempt to jointly construct a common information space which goes beyond their individual personal information spaces. . . . The common information space is negotiated and established by the actors involved. (Schmidt and Bannon, p. 28) This is not to suggest that actors' understandings of the information are identical; they are simply "common" enough to coordinate the work. People understand how the information is relevant for their own work. Therefore, individuals engaged in different activities will have different perspectives on the same information. The work of maintaining the common information space is the work that it takes to balance and accommodate these different perspectives. A "bug" report in software development is a simple example. Software developers and quality assurance personnel have access to the same bug report information. However, access to information is not sufficient to coordinate their work.

This book is an edited volume of case studies exploring the uptake and use of computer supported collaborative learning in work settings. This book fills a significant gap in the literature. A number of existing works provide empirical research on collaborative work practices (Lave & Wenger, 1987; Davenport, 2005), the sharing of information at work (Brown & Duguid, 2000), and the development of communities of practice in workplace settings (Wenger, 1998). Others examine the munificent variation of information and communication technology use in the work place, including studies of informal social networks, formal information distribution and other socio-technical combinations found in work settings (Gibson & Cohen, 2003). Another significant thread of prior work is focused on computer supported collaborative learning, much of it investigating the application of computer support for learning in the context of traditional educational institutions, like public schools, private schools, colleges and tutoring organizations. Exciting new theories of how knowledge is constructed by groups (Stahl, 2006), how teachers contribute to collaborative learning (reference to another book in the series) and the application of socio-technical scripts for learning is explicated in book length works on CSCL. Book length empirical work on CSCW is widespread, and CSCL book length works are beginning to emerge with greater frequency. We distinguish CSCL at Work from prior books written under the aegis of training and development, or human resources more broadly. The book aims to fill a void between existing works in CSCW and CSCL, and will open with a chapter characterizing the emerging application of collaborative learning theories and practices to workplace learning. CSCL and CSCW research each make distinct and important contributions to the construction of collaborative workplace learning.

Knowledge management (KM) is more a nd more recognized as a key factor of success for organisations: not only stru ctured companies, but also virtual enterprises, networks of organisations or ev en virtual communities. These organisations of differentki nds, are becoming increasingly aware of the need to collect, organise, mobilise, increase, in sum manage, the knowledge characterising their ability to stay alive, adapt and evolve in a turbulent context. Through various organisationaland t echnological approaches, KM aims at improving knowledge access, sharing and reuse as well as new knowledge creation. KMIA 2008 highlights problems, requirements and solutions that are derived from actual, concrete experiences. The fourteen papers accepted at KMIA 2008 give various answers to the following questions: What organisational strategies can enable to enact and promote KM within organisations? How to link these organisational strategies withth e ICT technology? Organisational strategies can be related to the evolution of the organisation itself or to its environment: intra organisational and inter organisational strategies can thus bedi stinguished. Some papers emphasize the importance of collaboration and knowledge transfer for team work and collaborative projects that may be intra organisational or inter organisational (e.g. intero rganisational outsourcing relationships). Strategies for designing and manufacturing innovative products are recognised as crucial for enterprises that operate in competitive sectors. Networkso forg anisations can help to improve the competitiveness of these organisations: KM can thus enhance competency management in such networks and help an organisation to find relevant costumers, suppliers, or cooperation partners.

Virtualitiit ist zu einem der Schlagworte des beginnenden 21. Jahrhunderts geworden. Vieles von dem, was heute als virtuell bezeichnet wird, ist dabei realer als die meisten glauben. Eine Vielzahl von virtuellen Konzepten wie etwa die virtuelle Hochschule, das virtuelle Shopping Center oder die virtuelle Organisation basieren auf realen Dienstleistungen. Als virtuell wird in der Regel der tiber die Nutzung von Informationstechnologie (IT) realisierte Zugang zu diesen Dienstleistungen charakterisiert. Virtualitiit ist also hiiufig eine Frage der Qualitiit der Schnittstelle zwischen einem Kunden und einem Anbieter. In virtuellen Organisationen findet sich diese Schnittstelle gleich mehrfach zwischen Einheiten, welche die Organisation bilden und untereinander Kunden-Anbieter-Beziehungen realisieren. Wesentliches Merkmal dieser Schnittstelle ist, im Vergleich zu "alten," bereits lange etablierten virtuellen Konzepten wie etwa dem Fernsehen, ihre Interaktivitiit. Der Austausch von Informationen erlaubt die Kommunikation und Kooperation der Beteiligten. Der Gestaltung dieser Schnittstelle kommt bierbei eine tiberragende Bedeutung bei der Umsetzung virtueller Konzepte zu. Der Begriff der Virtualitiit hat eine lange Tradition in der Informatik. Eine erste Verwendung erfuhr der Begriffim Zusammenhang mit virtuellem Speicher, einem Konzept, die Speicherkapazitiit des Arbeitsspeichers durch die temporiire Nutzung des groJ3en, aber langsamen Hintergrundspeichers auszuweiten. Leistungsfiihigere Systeme sowie neue Ein- und Ausgabemedien ermoglichten zum Ende der 80er Jahre hin die Entwicklung der virtue lien Realitiit, welche erfolgreich im Bereich der Simulation sowie fUr komplexe Planungsaufgaben (z. B. in der Arcbitektur) eingesetzt wird. Virtuelle Maschinen, wie die "JAVA virtual machine," markieren den Beginn einer Entwicklung hin zu plattformunabhiingigen Programmier sprachen."

Computer-unterstutztes kooperatives Lernen ist ein zunehmend an Bedeutung gewinnendes interdisziplinares Forschungsfeld. Das Buch prasentiert die Proceedings der ersten deutschsprachigen Tagung zum Thema. In einem qualitatsorientierten Auswahlprozess wurden 15 Beitrage ausgewahlt, die einen hervorragenden Einblick in den Stand der Diskussion im deutschen Sprachraum geben."

Das Buch bietet die Voraussetzungen fur das Gelingen von Zusammenarbeit in modernen Kommunikationsnetzen, insbesondere Groupwaresystemen. Der Gebrauch einzelner Funktionen von Groupware fuhrt immer dann zu Konflikten zwischen Nutzern, wenn Einzelne sich dadurch in ihren Interessen beeintrachtigt fuhlen. Da sich die beteiligten Nutzer in der Regel nicht zur selben Zeit am selben Ort aufhalten, bedarf die Regelung solcher Konflikte technischer Mechanismen. Dazu werden technische Konfliktregelungsmechanismen vorgestellt, die auf Verhandlung beruhende Loesungen zwischen den Konfliktparteien ermoeglichen. Mittels einer dazu entwickelten Szenariotechnik werden diese Mechanismen empirisch evaluiert. Moeglichkeiten zu ihrer flexiblen Implementierung werden dargestellt. Abschliessend wird gezeigt, wie mit Hilfe dieser Mechanismen Konflikte bei Groupware angemessen geregelt werden koennen.

Innovative research solutions increasingly require deep engagement with practitioners to manage the complex problems they are attempting to solve. This often project-based research is equipped with finite resources over a limited period without much thought into future-proofing the practice. These projects must face questions of what happens when a product comes to an end and whether there are any lasting positive effects once the IT systems are no longer being actively developed. From a computing perspective, the challenge is to design IT artifacts that contribute to improving the user's work and everyday life in a sustainable way, thereby also contributing to social and ecological sustainability. Future-Proofing: Making Practice-Based IT Design Sustainable documents the experiences made by several leading research groups in Europe, North America, and South Africa. It describes their efforts to achieve sustainable design results, the difficulties that barred the way but also the strategies they adopted to achieve the goal of sustainability. The analysis of these cases has inspired thinking about how to more systematically address and possibly overcome the impediments to sustainability. This book develops a strong future-oriented perspective that conceptualizes sustainability as a complex and highly variegated issue and formulates insights and recommendations with a view to help researchers to better design for sustainability.

The book is an exploration of the theoretical, conceptual and methodological foundations of human-centred design. Specifically, it critically examines the notion of 'practice' and argues for an understanding of the concept which emanates from engagement with design problems rather than simply from social scientific theory. The contributors to the book in their various ways all subscribe to a systematic account of how practice- oriented studies can inform design. Using the perspective of 'grounded design', it pursues a long term view of the design process, arguing for user engagement from the very earliest stages of design policy, including methods for understanding user practices to inform initial design policies up to and including processes of appropriation as technologies are embedded in contexts of use. Grounded design is a perspective which also deals with the vexed problem of appropriate generalization in design studies and the kinds of cross-comparison that can usefully be done. The book contains a number of case studies which exemplify these themes, some of which are rooted in the use of technology in organizational contexts, others of which deal with design in contexts such as care of the elderly, firefighting and multicultural education.

Cell Interactions in Atherosclerosis covers the scientific foundations of the most important disease inflicting the developed world today. It presents a collection of topical aspects on the general theme of cell interactions in atherosclerosis, providing authoritative, up-to-the-minute accounts of how new developments in cell biology have advanced our understanding of these cellular interactions. The book is amply illustrated with electron micrographs and light micrographs incorporating modern cytochemical procedures.
Cell Interactions in Atherosclerosis will interest all medical and scientific professionals dealing with atherosclerosis and heart disease.