Confessions of a gardener: a review of information ecologies

ABSTRACT

This review of Information Ecologies places the text in the mediating tradition that seeks a middle ground between rigid technological determinism and indifferent value neutrality. The biological metaphors for situated technology use make interesting reading,but the stories may not be compelling evidence that users really can shape technological change from the local level.

REFERENCES

• 1: Doheny-Farina, S. (1992). Rhetoric, innovation, technology: Case studies of technical communication in technology transfers. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• 2: Andrew Feenberg, Critical theory of technology, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, 1991
• 3: Robert R. Johnson, User-centered technology: a rhetorical theory for computers and other mundane artifacts, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY, 1998
• 4: Shoshana Zuboff, In the age of the smart machine: the future of work and power, Basic Books, Inc., New York, NY, 1988

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)

Keywords:
information ecology, participation, technical communication, technology theory, user-centered design