Copyright (c) 2009 Sheffield Hallam University All rights reserved. http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session11/track_c Recent Events in Society en-us Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:27:34 PDT 3600 http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session11/track_c/2 http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session11/track_c/2 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:00:00 PDT In this paper, we present a taxonomy for understanding designs and designing of Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) in the field of 'Social Action'. We use the term 'Social Action' to refer to activities of individuals and organisations in civil society, which are oriented towards social (rather than primarily economic) goals. We then apply the term e-Social Action to refer to the application of ICT in these activities. This definition incorporates a wide range of initiatives, varying from: trade-unions logging safety inspections on ships, Age Concern York organising volunteers to place on-line supermarket orders on behalf of housebound elderly people; the International Red Cross using logistics software to deliver emergency aid; and Martus.org providing technology to enable victims of human-rights abuse to report their experience whilst protecting their anonymity and thus avoiding reprisals. To study designing in this broad space, it is necessary to understand key dimensions of the settings where designing takes place. The aim of this paper is to examine how information and communication technologies in social action can be understood, classified and distinguished, to allow for more refined explorations of designing in this space. Keywords: e-SocialAction, Taxonomy, design and society Andy Dearden http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session11/track_c/1 http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session11/track_c/1 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:30:00 PDT This paper describes a fluid and responsive design process identified among certain practitioners involved in solving social problems or inspiring social change. Their practice is both user-centred and participative in its approach and addresses the shortcomings of many top-down initiatives. These people work tactically to weave together policy knowledge, funding opportunities, local initiative and ideas for improving social and environmental conditions, acting as connectors, activists and facilitators in different contexts at different times. Although their activities are recognisably related to more conventional designing practices, the materials they use in finding solutions are unusual in that they may include the beneficiaries themselves and other features of the social structure in which they are effecting change. We present an ethnographic study of practices in designing that focuses on social initiatives rather than the tangible products or systems that might support them. We explore the how design practices map to the process of winning local people's commitment to projects with a social flavour. To situate the discussion in a political context we draw on de Certeau's distinction between strategic and tactical behaviour and look at how our informants occupy a space as mediators between groups with power and a sense of agency and those without. Keywords: Social Change; Ethnographic Action Research; Discourse Analysis; Designing In The Wild Ann Light