Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart

About this book

A call for informed responsible engagement with information technology at the local level. The common rhetoric about technology falls into two extreme categories: uncritical acceptance or blanket rejection. Claiming a middle ground Bonnie Nardi and Vicki ODay call for responsible informed engagement with technology in local settings which they call information ecologies. An information ecology is a system of people practices technologies and values in a local environment. Nardi and ODay encourage the reader to become more aware of the ways people and technology are interrelated. They draw on their empirical research in offices libraries schools and hospitals to show how people can engage their own values and commitments while using technology.