Social and Community Informatics: Humans on the Net

Citation

Ferguson, S. (2007), "Social and Community Informatics: Humans on the Net", Library Review, Vol. 56 No. 4, pp. 345-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530710743624

Informatics, as the introductory text points out, has developed from its early emphasis on data processing and software development to focus on people's use of information and communication technologies and the impact of these ICTs on their working and private lives. In this book, Gunilla Bradley outlines a theoretical perspective on the relationship between ICTs and the “psychosocial and organizational life environment”; the development of ICTs; their impact on both the workplace and the home; ongoing changes in communities; ICTs and “psychosocial communication”; ICTs and stress; and her plan for how we might “achieve the good ICT society”.

As we are informed, Bradley's account draws on many years of multidisciplinary research, even to the point of providing summaries of previous books. Herein lies one of the strengths and weaknesses of this publication – her research output is considerable and for those interested in the field this will be an essential read. On the other hand, however, one wonders, reading this book, whether anyone other than Bradley and a few other Swedish researchers has done any significant research in the field. There is a lot of self‐reference, including accounts of 1980s’ research and even details of research design dating from the 1970s. Indeed, the bibliography contains some twenty‐two citations for publications by Bradley herself and a further seven from a Linda Bradley (any relation?), whereas Rob Kling, often attributed with inventing the term “social informatics”, merits only one mention – and that a 1980 publication.

At times one would appreciate greater reference to other research and other sources, particularly where Bradley makes what appear to be characteristically sweeping statements. Is it accepted as fact, for instance, that organizational structures are becoming increasingly flatter? Peter Drucker said it but is there empirical evidence that it is true. Since the book does deal with workplace issues, there are also areas of research and professional discourse that are notably absent from Bradley's community‐orientated account, such as the “socio‐technical” approach to systems development outlined, for instance, by Garrity and Sanders (Information Systems Success Measurement, 1998).

Another notable aspect of Bradley's research is that much of it is what she terms “normative research”. There is nothing wrong with the idea that researchers should attempt to factor human values into their research but the book keeps returning to rhetorical statements about what ICTs should do from a psychosocial perspective. While such comments may encourage those who are interested in the implementation of the humanistic values that Bradley promotes, there is a sense that they are abstract statements that demonstrate little or no sense of the harsh realities of political economy. What is more, her emphasis on Swedish research and case studies may provide a vision of what is possible – Sweden, she claims, will become the first “information society for all” – but it ignores the fact that most countries have not followed the Scandinavian social democratic road. Why should “Information Society” be any more just and equitable than any other societies, assuming, in the first place, that we are in some form of post‐industrial or post‐capitalist society? On this last issue, Bradley takes the middle ground, somewhere between Daniel Bell and Frank Webster, with her bald assertion that social development might appear as a “continuation”, in the short term, but that a “paradigm shift occurs” in “a market‐driven globalized world”.

Who should read this book? The blurb suggests that it will be of interest to students and academics studying social informatics, computing and MIS as well as organizational behaviour, sociology, psychology, and communications. This is too ambitious. It is certainly going to be of interest to those studying social informatics but it is a highly particularistic work (at times a strength but overall it becomes a limitation) and its main value is going to be in terms of the issues raised and, to a much lesser extent, the solutions proposed or, in some cases, implemented. Where the work falls down especially is in the lack of a rigorous and coherent argument and in the focus, in parts, on Bradley's own past research effort. It comes across as a somewhat self‐indulgent text, one that would have benefited from a firm editorial hand. The copy editing, as Bradley acknowledges, is sound but, as we all know, editing is not reducible to copy editing – or at least it should not be. Finally, as with so many books one sees these days, the publisher appears to have problems obtaining a good indexer.