WikiCED manual: Difference between revisions

= Considerations for introducing technology change =

People have very good reasons to be hesitant about change. It's always a good idea to wait and see what other organizations similar to yours, are doing. If you're going to try to leap ahead, make sure you have solid partners and that you are not compromising the organization (i.e.: changing the organization's focus or making participation more difficult for some).

Computer systems can yield tremendous efficiencies but they can also force people to work in ways that may be difficult to adapt to. There's always a question of individuals adapting to technology (tech) versus the tech adapting to the person. Good technology will consider the user experience and impact just as important as the potential gain. This can be recognized by learning about successful uses of the technology and the kind of background and processes that went into its development. Many companies and projects (potential components of your innovation) are very technically driven. Whatever clever “invention” a technical person managed to come up with becomes the focus. This may be a good model for ultra competitive commercial enterprise but it's not so good for social organizations. Signs of a good service provider are multidisciplinary teams that include, where practical, designers, content experts, and end user representation, as well as those focusing only on the technology (hopefully with some interest in the context).

Ultimately, however, individuals and the organization will have to adapt to the way the technology works. No technology is completely flexible so with past procurement and training some processes will need to be changed, information constrained to a system, and systems interfaced. As an individual, you'll have to consider how your innovation can be integrated (or not - [[wp:Loose coupling | loosely coupled]] system are often considered the most robust).

For example, consider the idea of organizing information. Today, it takes weeks for an information request to be processed by the city, and what you'll get is a photocopy of a document that can't be easily re-used. Many organizations have incredible struggles classifying and describing information (developing ontologies). If an organization has thousands of documents, relevant content can be more easily found in a well designed system, and individuals can serve themselves. International organizations using shared ontologies can match documents and develop sophisticated linked systems that allow consistent communications and access to information. Yet defining and restraining content to ontologies perfectly is a problem that has existed for thousands of years due to differences in individual and cultural perceptions. It's best not to get caught up in these kinds of "wild goose chases" unless it's a core requirement and the expertise or cues are available.

Sometimes, change can mean completely changing the way things are (i.e.: replacing factory workers with machines) but it's often better to think of '''augmentation''' of people's roles particularly when it comes to today's imperfect computer systems. In a clinic, a new system can cause patient harm if a system loses a record but having a receptionist who recognizes patients and expects events can lead to a richer system that is safe and personal and has added utility.

When looking at technical implementations today, there is an "artificial line that views such technologies as assistive rather than normal options; products are designed for or against certain users." (http://asyourworldchanges.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/using-the-curb-cuts-principle-to-reboot-computing/)

As many are aware, navigating the world as a person with disabilities often results in frustration or complete denial to everyday services. Resolving these problems yields unexpected benefits. When a curb is cut for wheelchairs, navigation is also made easier for those with baby strollers, bicycles (where permitted), and inattentive walkers. The same is true of ramps and elevators - making a change for disabled persons improves the situation for everyone. This leads to a shift in thinking towards [[wp:universal design]] - the idea that instead of treating accessible design as an afterthought it is a way to lead overall design. This provides benefits including greater access to employment, education, culture, citizenship, and information in general.

Using technology, this is enabled by the fact that most information is stored in one way or another in text format. Email is text and most organization content has a text basis. The low level format of Web pages is HTML, which accommodates accessible features. Suddenly, individuals with mobility, cognitive or vision disabilities (estimated to be [http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/facts.shtml 650 million people around the world], or [http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/071203/dq071203a-eng.htm one in seven Canadians] - not including the elderly) are on a more equal footing with everyone else - they're tremendously enabled.

Consider a well implemented Web page: behind the scenes, presentation is separated from content; headings are used to indicate sections; and multimedia content has a text summary. A person with vision disabilities, whether it's very common colour blindness, contrast problems, or acute focus problems, can use a variety of techniques to access this information. They can change the font size in their browser, they can replace colours. They can use a screen reader, which reads the document using text to speech, treats headings as a table of contents, and allows the individual to easily scan the page rather than forcing them to "read" it top to bottom.  

There are no mysteries involved in why this happens. People like "Flashier" content, and companies will often hire designers specifically to create "sexy" first impressions, meanwhile using outdated or unrounded approaches to low level design. It's important to look past first impressions to make sure your content works well for everyone and that it is future friendly. [http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php WCAG] is an international standard for accessible web page design.

The most important risk to consider when implementing technology is privacy. Collecting masses of personal information in one place presents an incredible risk if not managed carefully. Policies and training for any individuals with access to this data must ensure it is kept off networks as much as possible and always encrypted when not possible.  

The second risk is around "intellectual property." It is an unfortunate fact that many organizations, including public and social organizations, create "proprietary databases" featured in grant applications and for other purposes. This results in silos that can be developed using public funds for social benefit and yet are territorially protected from re-use. The benefits of protecting this "property" versus the benefits of sharing or building on information with other organizations must be managed legally, and using technical means, particularly considering cases where information may be published without clear terms of use.

The times are changing. Governments have a mandate to provide more low level access to information, and semantic content, shared methodologies and metrics, and more sophisticated programs that enable very high level information of re-use across organizations.

As an example, in 2004 for a project, detailed information on Member of Parliament voting records was required. After research, it turned out the easiest way to retrieve this information was to "scrape" it from the Parliament web site. In 2009, faced with a similar requirement, we prepared to "scrape" it again, but a last second email to the Parliament Web team yielded all the information we needed in an easily reusable format. A week later Parliament formally announced public availability of this data. (http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/17/canadian-members-of.html) This follows trends in the US and UK that yield very real benefits in transparency and accountability.

A third risk is content lock in. Over time, governments, large business, and organizations have pushed for the need for standard formats for data. This prevents over-reliance on a vendor and permits information re-use. If your information is hosted, make sure you have local copies of readable data.

|Personal, work group - information is not published online, is kept personally or exchanged via email.

|Individuals and groups are used to using tools such as MS Word, and they provide easy facilities to create formatted data