A Case Study of the Failure of Digital Communication to Cross Knowledge Boundaries in Virtual Construction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20508451 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gina Neff (0000-0001-9090-924X, University of Washington, corresponding author), Brittany Fiore-Silfvast (University of Washington), Carrie Sturts Dossick (0000-0003-0925-4579, University of Washington) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 556-573 |
| Publication date | 2010-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Information Communication & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1369-118X • E-ISSN: 1468-4462 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13691181003645970 |
| OpenAlex | W2076959069 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 22 |
When can digital artefacts serve to bridge knowledge barriers across epistemic communities? There have been many studies of the roles new information and communication technologies play within organizations. In our study, we compare digital and non-digital methods of inter-organizational collaboration. Based on ethnographic fieldwork on three construction projects and interviews with 65 architects, engineers, and builders across the USA, we find that IT tools designed to increase collaboration in this setting instead solidify and make explicit organizational and cultural differences between project participants. Our study suggests that deeply embedded disciplinary thinking is not easily overcome by digital representations of knowledge and that collaboration may be hindered through the exposure of previously implicit distinctions among the team members’ skills and organizational status. The tool that we study, building information modelling, reflects and amplifies disciplinary representations of the building by architects, engineers, and builders instead of supporting increased collaboration among them. We argue that people sometimes have a difficult time overcoming the lack of interpretive flexibility in digital coordinating tools, even when those tools are built to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration
Discipline · Engineering ethics · Ethnography · Knowledge management · Management · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Engineering · Information Systems Theories and Implementation · Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social Development · Team Dynamics and Performance
Human-computer interaction and sociological insight
Engineering the revolution? Imagining the role of new digital technologies in infrastructure work futures
Learning from documents
Lessening the negative effect of two cultural values on the performance of global virtual teams
Platformization in the built environment
Before Stabilization
Boundary Crossing and Boundary Objects
Work/place’ media
From Fringe to Formalisation
The Ethnographer as Community Manager
Life in the Trading Zone
A Pragmatic View of Knowledge and Boundaries
Sharing Meaning Across Occupational Communities
Capturing the Complexity in Advanced Technology Use
Transferring, Translating, and Transforming
The Discovery of Grounded Theory
Mutual Shaping of Users and Technologies in a National Virtual Community
Institutional Ecology, `Translations' and Boundary Objects
Knowledge Practices in Design
Flexible Sketches and Inflexible Data Bases
Between Narrative and Number
Assemblage
Why Do People Reject New Technologies and Stymie Organizational Changes of Which They Are in Favor? Exploring Misalignments Between Social Interactions and Materiality
Object Lessons
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,67 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2025 (15) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |