Rob Kling
Biographic Data
| ID | 212097 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rob Kling |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rob |
| FAMILY NAME | Kling |
| SIGNATURE | KLING R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Irvine |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 57 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 177 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 56 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1974 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning
What Is Social Informatics and Why Does It Matter
Network Organizations: Symmetric Cooperation or Multivalent Negotiation
The network model of organization plays a central role in recent sociological accounts of the information economy. This model is also often presented in organization and information and communication technologies (ICT) literature with an air of enthusiasm that underscores its advantages—flexibility, cooperative culture, innovativeness, and knowledge and technology intensity. Such themes are usually based on a “networking logic” that assumes the t…
Letter from Rob Kling, Editor-in-Chief and Guest Editors Kenneth L. Kraemer and Jason Dedrick
Group Behavior and Learning in Electronic Forums: A Sociotechnical Approach
The term community is widely and often uncritically used to characterize groupings of people who meet in electronic forums (e-forums). The research reported here shows how the casual use of the term community to characterize these groups can actually undermine their transformation into forms of social organization that are justifiably characterized as communities. This article examines how transforming a group into a community is a major accompli…
Social Informatics: A New Perspective on Social Research about Information and Communication Technologies
Social informatics is the body of research that examines the design, uses and consequences of information and communication technologies in ways that take into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts. This article draws upon some 25 years of systematic, analytical and critical research about information and communication technologies (ICTs) and social change to illustrate key ideas from social informatics research
Learning About Information Technologies and Social Change: The Contribution of Social Informatics
Social Informatics is the body of research that examines the design, uses, and consequences of information and communication technologies in ways that take into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts. This article serves as a brief introduction to social informatics. Examples such as computer networks, scientific communication via electronic journals, and public access to the Internet are used to illustrate key ideas f…
IT and organizational change in digital economies: A Socio-Technical Approach
article Free Access Share on IT and organizational change in digital economies: a socio-technical approach Authors: Rob Kling Indiana University Indiana UniversityView Profile , Roberta Lamb Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve UniversityView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGCAS Computers and SocietyVolume 29Issue 3September 1999 pp 17–25https://doi.org/10.1145/572183.572189Published:01 September 1999Publication History 62cita…
Students' frustrations with a Web-based distance education course
Many advocates of computer-mediated distance education emphasize its positive aspects and understate the kind of work that it requires for students and faculty. This article presents a qualitative case study of a Web-based distance education course at a major U.S. university. The case data reveal a taboo topic: students' persistent frustrations in Web-based distance education. First, this paper will analyze why these negative phenomena are not fo…
"Can the ''Next-Generation Internet" Effectively Support ''Ordinary Citizens
L'Internet-deuxieme generation, voulue par le president Clinton, ne pourra pas s'adresser effectivement aux citoyens ordinaires, a cause- mais ce n'est pas la seule cause- de la complexite de la technologie. C'est pourquoi il serait necessaire de prevoir un budget important pour des recherches en matiere sociale
Assessing Anonymous Communication on the Internet: Policy Deliberations
Anonymous communication on the Internet offers new opportunities but has ill-understood risks. This article helps to ground the policy debates by examining some fundamental aspects of anonymous social behavior and current controversies over anonymous communications. It is a companion to the article in this issue, "Anonymous Communication Policies for the Internet: Results and Recommendations of the AAAS Conference." It examines the social charact…
Human centered systems in the perspective of organizational and social informatics
article Free Access Share on Human centered systems in the perspective of organizational and social informatics Authors: Rob Kling Indiana University Indiana UniversityView Profile , Susan Leigh Star University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGCAS Computers and SocietyVolume 28Issue 1March 1998 pp 22–29https://doi.org/10.1145/277351.277356Published:01 March 1998Pub…
The Internet for Sociologists
Within the last five years, many sociologists have discovered electronic mail (e-mail) discussion lists (such as LISTSERVs) and the World Wide Web (WWW)-- services, that are associated with a network of computer networks popularly referred to as "the Internet." Over the last twenty years, academics in certain disciplines, especially the lab sciences, have found computer networking to be a viable means for sharing data, organizing professionals di…
Beyond outlaws, hackers and pirates
invested enormous amounts of time and energy in it), 2) the ACM membership department staff(who don't even send new members a copy of the Code, let alone ask them to sign an agreement to comply with it), and 3) whatever Code enforcement procedure there is (which Rob argues is essentially nonexistent)
Synergies and Competition Between Life in Cyberspace and Face-to-Face Communities
This article questions three common assumptions: that (a) electronic forums will necessarily strengthen preexisting face-to-face territorial (and other intact) communities, (b) electronic forums will replace them with comparably prosocial forms, and (c) "market forces" will naturally foster prosocial electronic forums. It proposes a strong research program that examines how the social design/organization of electronic forums strengthens or weaken…
Letter from Rob Kling-Editor-in-Chief
The Information Society
Letter from Rob Kling—editor‐in‐chief
Controversies about electronic journals and scholarly communication: An introduction
Les journaux electronique ne cessant de se developper dans les milieux scientifiques, ils sont donc l'objet de nombreuses controverses. Certains pensent que ces journaux electroniques permettent une meilleure communication, alors que d'autres ne s'interessent encore qu'aux journaux papier. Cet article est une introduction a un dossier sur les journaux electroniques et la communication scientifique
Electronic journals and legitimate media in the systems of scholarly communication
While the number of electronic scholarly journals is growing steadily, these journals have not yet been accepted as legitimate publication outlets by the scholarly communities. This article examines how moving from paper to electronic distribution alters the legitimacy and perceived quality of journals. It also examines the prospects for creating diverse high‐quality electronic journals in the next two decades
The Electronic Eye: The Rise of the Surveillance Society
Part I: Situating Surveillance:. 1. Introduction: Body, Soul and Credit Card. 2. Surveillance in Modern Society. 3. New Surveillance Technologies. 4. From Big Brother to the Electronic Panopticon. Part II: Surveillance Trends:. 5. The Surveillance State: Keeping Tabs on You. 6. The Surveillance State: From Tabs to Tags. 7. The Transparent Worker. 8. The Targetted Consumer. Part III: Counter--Surveillance:. 9. Challenging Surveillance. 10. Privacy…
Sigcas' crisis and its role in advancing social analysis in computer science
article Free Access Share on SIGCAS' crisis and its role in advancing social analysis in computer science Author: Rob Kling University of California, Irvine University of California, IrvineView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGCAS Computers and SocietyVolume 24Issue 1March 1994 pp 10–18https://doi.org/10.1145/181878.181881Published:01 March 1994Publication History 2citation122DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations2Total Downloads122Last 12 Months10L…
Reading “all about” computerization: How genre conventions shape nonfiction social analysis
This paper examines unstated, but critical, social assumptions that underlie social analyses of computerization. It focuses on the popular, professional, and scholarly literature that claims to describe the actual nature of computerization, the character of computer use, and the social choices and changes that result from computerization. Many articles and books in this large and diverse literature are written within the conventions of specific g…
Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created, 1865-1956
Technology, ideology and social transformation: The case of computerization and work organization
The Mobilization of Support for Computerization: The Role of Computerization Movements
This paper describes how computerization is the byproduct of loosely organized movements rather than simply an industry selling products to an eager market. We briefly examine five “computerization movements”: urban information systems, artificial intelligence, office automation, instructional computing, and personal computing. These computerization movements share key ideological beliefs, which we also characterize. The main alternative normativ…
Learning About Information Technologies and Social Change: The Contribution of Social Informatics
Social Informatics is the body of research that examines the design, uses, and consequences of information and communication technologies in ways that take into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts. This article serves as a brief introduction to social informatics. Examples such as computer networks, scientific communication via electronic journals, and public access to the Internet are used to illustrate key ideas f…
Patterns Of Segmentation And Intersection In The Computing World
Differentiation of the computing world is discussed in terms of the major lines of segmentation and cleavage which generate sub-worlds within the larger computing world context. The relationship of one particular pattern of cleavages-the production system-is described vis-vis other lines of cleavage and segmentation. Patterns of intersection among sub-worlds generated by these lines of cleavage are also discussed, and the implications of these in…
Computerization and Social Transformations
This article examines the relationship between the use of computer-based systems and transformations in parts of the social order. Answers to this question rest heavily on the way computer-based systems are consumed -not just produced or dissemtnated. The discourse about computerezation advanced in many professional magazines and the mass media is saturated with talk about "revolution, " and yet substantial social changes are often difficult to c…
Audiences, Narratives, and Human Values in Social Studies of Technology
I am pleased to debate the nature of social studies of technology (SST) with a scholar who has helped pioneer important advances in our understanding the social epistemology of the laboratory sciences. Woolgar and Grint's comments give me an interesting opportunity to articulate some implicit assumptions of Computerization and Social Transformation (Kling 1991). Here I respond to Woolgar and Grint's (1991) commentary and also to Woolgar's (1991) …
The Social Dynamics of Technical Innovation in the Computing World
The 'computing world,' all those people and groups that collectively produce computers and computer-based services is an especially complex, dynamic and diffuse social world. Technical innovation is a dominant feature of the world. It is organized to provide a continuous flow of innovations from participants who specialize in innovation through many other participants to the final consumers of computer-based services. Technical innovations often …
What Is Social Informatics and Why Does It Matter
The Dynamics of Computerization in a Social Science Research Team: A Case Study of Infrastructure, Strategies, and Skills
This paper examines the dynamics of computerization in a PC-oriented research group through a case study. The time and skill in integrating computing into the labor processes of research are often significant "hidden costs" of computerization. The key role played by computing infrastructure in reducing these costs may be enhanced by careful organization. We illustrate computerization strategies that we have found to be productive and unproductive…
"Can the ''Next-Generation Internet" Effectively Support ''Ordinary Citizens
L'Internet-deuxieme generation, voulue par le president Clinton, ne pourra pas s'adresser effectivement aux citoyens ordinaires, a cause- mais ce n'est pas la seule cause- de la complexite de la technologie. C'est pourquoi il serait necessaire de prevoir un budget important pour des recherches en matiere sociale
Computing as an Occasion for Social Control
This paper examines three models of social control processes in computerized work settings. Two models, the management control model and the professional negotiations model, are derived from other analysts' conceptions. The third model, the institutional control model, is new. The models differ in their conception of the flexibility of norms, the proximity of social control agents to other participants, and the patterns of information flow in a s…
Group Behavior and Learning in Electronic Forums: A Sociotechnical Approach
The term community is widely and often uncritically used to characterize groupings of people who meet in electronic forums (e-forums). The research reported here shows how the casual use of the term community to characterize these groups can actually undermine their transformation into forms of social organization that are justifiably characterized as communities. This article examines how transforming a group into a community is a major accompli…
Synergies and Competition Between Life in Cyberspace and Face-to-Face Communities
This article questions three common assumptions: that (a) electronic forums will necessarily strengthen preexisting face-to-face territorial (and other intact) communities, (b) electronic forums will replace them with comparably prosocial forms, and (c) "market forces" will naturally foster prosocial electronic forums. It proposes a strong research program that examines how the social design/organization of electronic forums strengthens or weaken…
Controversies about computerization and the character of white collar worklife
The way that computerization changes white collar work is the subject of significant controversies in the research and professional communities. This paper examines some of the key controversies about the way that computerization influences patterns of coordination control in workplaces, including monitoring. It examines debates about upskilling and deskilling, and the role of organizational infrastructure in making computerized systems more usab…
More Information, Better Jobs: Occupational Stratification and Labor‐Market Segmentation in the United States’ information
This article examines the mix of good and bad jobs in the restructuring of United States’ labor markets for information work between 1900 and 1980. Is the information sector still growing relative to other occupational sectors? What is the relative proportion of good to bad jobs in the information sector today? Is the mix of good bad jobs within the information sector changing over time? To answer these questions, we examine changes in the relati…
Organizational analysis in computer science
Computer science in the United States is hard pressed to show broad utility to help justify billion dollar research programs and the value of educating well over 40,000 bachelor of science and master of science specialists annually in the United States. The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the U.S. National Research Council recently has issued a report, “Computing the Future” (Hartmanis & Lin 1992), which sets a new agenda for com…
Network Organizations: Symmetric Cooperation or Multivalent Negotiation
The network model of organization plays a central role in recent sociological accounts of the information economy. This model is also often presented in organization and information and communication technologies (ICT) literature with an air of enthusiasm that underscores its advantages—flexibility, cooperative culture, innovativeness, and knowledge and technology intensity. Such themes are usually based on a “networking logic” that assumes the t…
Assessing Anonymous Communication on the Internet: Policy Deliberations
Anonymous communication on the Internet offers new opportunities but has ill-understood risks. This article helps to ground the policy debates by examining some fundamental aspects of anonymous social behavior and current controversies over anonymous communications. It is a companion to the article in this issue, "Anonymous Communication Policies for the Internet: Results and Recommendations of the AAAS Conference." It examines the social charact…
Electronic journals and legitimate media in the systems of scholarly communication
While the number of electronic scholarly journals is growing steadily, these journals have not yet been accepted as legitimate publication outlets by the scholarly communities. This article examines how moving from paper to electronic distribution alters the legitimacy and perceived quality of journals. It also examines the prospects for creating diverse high‐quality electronic journals in the next two decades
Reading “all about” computerization: How genre conventions shape nonfiction social analysis
This paper examines unstated, but critical, social assumptions that underlie social analyses of computerization. It focuses on the popular, professional, and scholarly literature that claims to describe the actual nature of computerization, the character of computer use, and the social choices and changes that result from computerization. Many articles and books in this large and diverse literature are written within the conventions of specific g…
When Gunfire Shatters Bone: Reducing Sociotechnical Systems to Social Relationships
I am perplexed by much of Grint and Woolgar's (1992 [this issue]) commentary, since I share some of the positions that they argue that I should hold (e.g., that the capabilities of technologies, practices of using them, and the consequences of these usage practices are contingent and socially mediated). And they claim that I hold at least one position that I do not (self-acting guns). I am given limited space in which to reply to their interestin…
The Internet for Sociologists
Within the last five years, many sociologists have discovered electronic mail (e-mail) discussion lists (such as LISTSERVs) and the World Wide Web (WWW)-- services, that are associated with a network of computer networks popularly referred to as "the Internet." Over the last twenty years, academics in certain disciplines, especially the lab sciences, have found computer networking to be a viable means for sharing data, organizing professionals di…
The Electronic Eye: The Rise of the Surveillance Society
Part I: Situating Surveillance:. 1. Introduction: Body, Soul and Credit Card. 2. Surveillance in Modern Society. 3. New Surveillance Technologies. 4. From Big Brother to the Electronic Panopticon. Part II: Surveillance Trends:. 5. The Surveillance State: Keeping Tabs on You. 6. The Surveillance State: From Tabs to Tags. 7. The Transparent Worker. 8. The Targetted Consumer. Part III: Counter--Surveillance:. 9. Challenging Surveillance. 10. Privacy…
Reply to Woolgar and Grint: A Preview
issues-how shall we study computerization in society?-that went beyond those raised in the original article. In response, Kling has articulated some of the implicit assumptions of Computerization and Social Transformations and also debated a very different methodological approach advanced by Woolgar. His response was too long to serve as merely a reply. A further exchange is therefore planned, and a summary of some of Kling's main points is provi…
The struggles for democracy in an information society
Computers and social power
The following essay is an early draft of a major now in progress. The author would appreciate comments and criticism. In addition, the editors of Computers and Society welcome your correspondence on this article and will publish such public commentary in forthcoming issues
EFTS social and technical issues: What are EFTS
What Issues do They Raise
The Social Dynamics of Technical Innovation in the Computing World
The 'computing world,' all those people and groups that collectively produce computers and computer-based services is an especially complex, dynamic and diffuse social world. Technical innovation is a dominant feature of the world. It is organized to provide a continuous flow of innovations from participants who specialize in innovation through many other participants to the final consumers of computer-based services. Technical innovations often …
Six models for the social accountability of computing
This paper briefly examines six public policy strategies for including the "social accountability of computing". "Social accountability" denotes ways of organizing computer specialists, organized groups that develop, manufacture, sell or use computer-based systems, and their markets, so that the broader public is well served. The six models which are examined here include:1. Market arrangements2. Administrative authority3. Professional control4. …
Patterns Of Segmentation And Intersection In The Computing World
Differentiation of the computing world is discussed in terms of the major lines of segmentation and cleavage which generate sub-worlds within the larger computing world context. The relationship of one particular pattern of cleavages-the production system-is described vis-vis other lines of cleavage and segmentation. Patterns of intersection among sub-worlds generated by these lines of cleavage are also discussed, and the implications of these in…
Social Analyses of Computing: Theoretical Perspectives in Recent Empirical Research
article Social Analyses of Computing: Theoretical Perspectives in Recent Empirical Research Share on Author: Rob Kling Department of Information and Computer Science and Public Policy Research Organization, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California Department of Information and Computer Science and Public Policy Research Organization, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CaliforniaView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM Computi…
Passing the digital buck
Computing people
Value conflicts and social choice in electronic funds transfer system developments
During the last few years, computer-based systems which automate the transfer and recording of debits and credits have begun to be implemented on a large scale . These systems promise both financial benefits for the institutions that use them and potential conveniences to their customers . However, they also raise significant social, legal, and technical questions that must be resolved if full scale systems for Electronic Funds Transfer (LET) are…
Computer abuse and computer crime as organizational activities
article Free Access Share on Computer abuse and computer crime as organizational activities Author: Rob Kling University of California, Irvine, California University of California, Irvine, CaliforniaView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGCAS Computers and SocietyVolume 11Issue 4Fall 1981 pp 12–24https://doi.org/10.1145/957869.957871Published:01 September 1981Publication History 17citation1,523DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations17Total Downloads1,5…
Course description: Social Issues and Impacts of Computing
article Free Access Share on Course description: social issues and impacts of computing Author: Rob Kling University of California, Irvine, California University of California, Irvine, CaliforniaView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGCAS Computers and SocietyVolume 12Issue 4Fall 1982 pp 19–23https://doi.org/10.1145/958552.958559Published:01 September 1982Publication History 0citation303DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads303Last 12 …
Reading list for computing, organizations, society
No abstract available
Course syllabus & description: The Micro-Computer Revolution
article Free Access Share on Course syllabus & description: the micro-computer revolution Author: Rob Kling University of California, Irvine, California University of California, Irvine, CaliforniaView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGCAS Computers and SocietyVolume 12Issue 4Fall 1982 pp 16–18https://doi.org/10.1145/958552.958558Published:01 September 1982Publication History 0citation111DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads111Last 1…
Value conflicts in public‐oriented computing developments
This paper examines value conflicts engendered by computing developments in two different institutional settings: electronic funds transfer systems and instructional computing in primary and secondary schools. Different values are most critical in each setting and are explicitly identified. In each case, laissez‐faire technical deployment supports one set of values rather than others and hence is not neutral. In both banking and schooling, laisse…
Computing as an Occasion for Social Control
This paper examines three models of social control processes in computerized work settings. Two models, the management control model and the professional negotiations model, are derived from other analysts' conceptions. The third model, the institutional control model, is new. The models differ in their conception of the flexibility of norms, the proximity of social control agents to other participants, and the patterns of information flow in a s…
Books in review
The struggles for democracy in an information society
The Mobilization of Support for Computerization: The Role of Computerization Movements
This paper describes how computerization is the byproduct of loosely organized movements rather than simply an industry selling products to an eager market. We briefly examine five “computerization movements”: urban information systems, artificial intelligence, office automation, instructional computing, and personal computing. These computerization movements share key ideological beliefs, which we also characterize. The main alternative normativ…
Information systems, social transformations, and quality of life
article Information systems, social transformations, and quality of life Share on Author: Rob Kling Department of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, Ca Department of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, CaView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGCAS Computers and SocietyVolume 20Issue 3Oct. 1990 pp 76–85https://doi.org/10.1145/97351.97389Online:01 August 1990Publication History 3cit…
More Information, Better Jobs: Occupational Stratification and Labor‐Market Segmentation in the United States’ information
This article examines the mix of good and bad jobs in the restructuring of United States’ labor markets for information work between 1900 and 1980. Is the information sector still growing relative to other occupational sectors? What is the relative proportion of good to bad jobs in the information sector today? Is the mix of good bad jobs within the information sector changing over time? To answer these questions, we examine changes in the relati…
The Dynamics of Computerization in a Social Science Research Team: A Case Study of Infrastructure, Strategies, and Skills
This paper examines the dynamics of computerization in a PC-oriented research group through a case study. The time and skill in integrating computing into the labor processes of research are often significant "hidden costs" of computerization. The key role played by computing infrastructure in reducing these costs may be enhanced by careful organization. We illustrate computerization strategies that we have found to be productive and unproductive…
Reply to Woolgar and Grint: A Preview
issues-how shall we study computerization in society?-that went beyond those raised in the original article. In response, Kling has articulated some of the implicit assumptions of Computerization and Social Transformations and also debated a very different methodological approach advanced by Woolgar. His response was too long to serve as merely a reply. A further exchange is therefore planned, and a summary of some of Kling's main points is provi…
Computerization and Social Transformations
This article examines the relationship between the use of computer-based systems and transformations in parts of the social order. Answers to this question rest heavily on the way computer-based systems are consumed -not just produced or dissemtnated. The discourse about computerezation advanced in many professional magazines and the mass media is saturated with talk about "revolution, " and yet substantial social changes are often difficult to c…
A Tale of Three Belts: Sun, Snow, and Tight
Postsuburban California: The Transformation of Orange County since World War II
Journal Article Postsuburban California: The Transformation of Orange County since World War II. Ed. by Rob Kling, Spencer Olin, and Mark Poster. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. vi + 307 pp. $34.95.) Get access Postsuburban California: The Transformation of Orange County since World War II. Ed. by Kling Rob Olin Spencer Poster Mark. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. vi + 307 pp. $34.95.) Craig Hendricks Craig Hendr…
Computer Science (41 works) · Political science (31 works) · Sociology (27 works) · World Wide Web (15 works) · Law (13 works) · Business (12 works) · Public relations (12 works) · Engineering (11 works) · Information Systems Theories and Implementation (11 works) · Internet privacy (8 works)