What to Do with all those Traces People Leave behind: Computing, Culture, and (Bits of) Context?

Abstract

As organizations produce ever-larger torrents of text, images, sounds and numbers we find an increased attention to how researchers and organizational members alike can gain insights from these traces of social practices. Those issues have gained attention in the popular press and funding agencies alike. But, how do we best study traces of social practices left behind by organizational members? This fishbowl session aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines (such as HCI, CSCW, Organizational Studies, Information Systems, Library & Information Sciences, etc.) to brainstorm about the different approaches they have used (or, are planning to use) in studying trace data and documents, and to become aware of different types of methodological approached to trace data that are pursued in other research communities. The session will be followed by short focused interviews with selected participants that summarize important themes from the session, which will subsequently be made accessible online.