"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them" (Whitehead, 1911)
🔍 What Digital Coordination Encompasses Digital coordination includes: Task allocation: Assigning roles and responsibilities. Temporal coordination: Synchronizing activities in time. Information sharing: Ensuring access to timely and relevant data. Workflow orchestration: Structuring the order and logic of actions across actors or systems. Standardization vs. improvisation: Balancing formal rules with situated judgment. Boundary-spanning communication: Bridging diverse teams, systems, or contexts. Coordination artifacts: Use of digital tools like shared dashboards, workflow software, or version control systems. In platform-based or algorithmically mediated work (e.g., gig work, open-source platforms, or AI-enabled environments), coordination becomes increasingly digitally embedded in infrastructure and delegated to algorithms or code. 📚 Prominent Theories in IS and Related Fields 1. Coordination Theory (Malone & Crowston, 1994) Definition: Coordination is managing dependencies between activities. Key idea: Focuses on identifying and categorizing types of dependencies (e.g., prerequisite, shared resource, simultaneity) and coordination mechanisms (e.g., scheduling, communication protocols). Use in IS: Commonly used to analyze business processes, workflow systems, and software development coordination. 2. Orchestration and Modularity (in Platforms) Platform ecosystems often rely on modular architectures and orchestrators that coordinate complementors. Digital coordination is handled through APIs, standards, governance mechanisms, and boundary resources. 3. Sociotechnical Systems Theory Emphasizes the mutual shaping of social and technical aspects in organizing coordination (e.g., joint optimization of tools and teamwork). Important in understanding work system design and collaborative technologies. 4. Coordination through Artifacts (Schmidt & Wagner, 2002) Draws from CSCW and practice theory to study how digital artifacts (e.g., shared documents, code repositories) mediate coordination. Highlights emergent, negotiated coordination in knowledge work settings. 5. Temporal Coordination Theories E.g., Orlikowski & Yates (2002) on temporal structuring and calendars in distributed teams. Looks at rhythms, cycles, and routines in digitally mediated work. 6. Algorithmic Coordination / Algorithmic Management Newer stream focusing on how algorithms structure and control work coordination (e.g., in gig platforms or call centers). Tensions around visibility, control, and autonomy (e.g., Kellogg et al., 2020). 🧭 Emerging Themes Coordination as embedded in infrastructure: Especially in digital platforms and open-source. Coordination in distributed and hybrid teams: With increasing reliance on digital traces and tools. AI and Coordination: How agents/bots participate in or mediate coordination. Ethical and power dynamics: Around who controls coordination and with what visibility.
https://is.theorizeit.org/wiki/Media_synchronicity_theory
-> TODO : extract in a (jupyter?) notebook? (short video demos, including a shared coding session)
TODO : how can digital technology become more situationally aware (Benlian)
In small groups (2-3),
https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/#smart-note-taking-in-meetings https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/#types-of-meetings