Technological intersubjectivity in computer supported intercultural collaboration
Proceedings of the 2009 international workshop on Intercultural collaboration
Is representational guidance culturally relative?
CSCL'09 Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Computer supported collaborative learning - Volume 1
Towards a Theory of Socio-technical Interactions
EC-TEL '09 Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning: Learning in the Synergy of Multiple Disciplines
Explaining culture: an outline of a theory of socio-technical interactions
Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Intercultural collaboration
Cultural influences in collaborative information sharing and organization
Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Intercultural collaboration
Intra- and Inter-Cultural Usability in Computer-Supported Collaboration
Journal of Usability Studies
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This dissertation investigates two specific research questions related to the effects of culture on appropriation of affordances and on technological intersubjectivity. Socio-technical affordances are conceptualized as action-taking possibilities and meaning-making opportunities in a socio-technical system relative to an actor. Technological intersubjectivity (TI) is a technology-mediated interactional social relationship between two or more participants. The basic premise of this research is that social affordances of technologies vary along cultural dimensions. To empirically evaluate this premise, an experimental study was conducted. The experimental study design consisted of three independent groups of dyads from similar or different cultures (Anglo-American, Chinese) doing collaborative problem-solving in a knowledge-mapping learning environment. Participants interacted through an asynchronous computer interface providing multiple tools for interaction (diagrammatic workspace, embedded notes, threaded discussion) as they worked on an intellectually challenging problem of identifying the cause of a disease outbreak. The analytical focus of the experimental study was to determine the influence of culture on the appropriation of affordances by individual participants in an online learning environment. The theoretical objective of the study was to inform the notion of technological intersubjectivity. Based on theories of culture and empirical findings in cultural psychology documenting cross-cultural variations in behavior, communication and cognition, several research hypotheses were advanced. Empirical data were collected using demographic, culture and usability instruments; participants' self-perception and collaborative peer-perception instruments; screen recordings and software logs of experimental sessions. Statistical results showed that members of different cultures appropriated the resources of the interface differently in their interaction, and formed differential impressions of each other. For example, on average, Anglo-American participants of the experimental study created more evidential relation links, made more individual contributions and were more likely to explicitly discuss information sharing and knowledge organization strategies than their Chinese counterparts. The primary contributions of this dissertation is a preliminary empirical demonstration of a systemic cultural variation in the phenomena of technological intersubjectivity and appropriation of affordances in socio-technical environments, an empirically informed notion of technological intersubjectivity, and a methodological approach for the systematic study of appropriation of affordances.