A presentation given by TIHR Principal Researcher / Consultant Frances Abraham and Researcher / Consultant David Drabble to the Socio-Technical Systems (STS) Roundtable: ‘What’s Humane got to do with it?’, September 13th, 2012.
The presentation relates an account of experiences of studying and working with socio-technical systems from the perspective of two TIHR employees. It explores the theme of starting points, and how experiences and opinions are shaped by where we come from. The presentation demonstrates that organisational environments, the orientations of colleagues, the nature of task and the texts chosen can all influence what we think of STS. We find that a concern for the psycho-social at TIHR can give a different take on STS, in turn influencing what we consider ‘humane’ in STS.
The presentation is in two parts: first, David and then Fiddy relate their experiences and models of STS to the Roundtable. Second, Roundtable representatives summarise their group discussion, answering the presentation’s key questions: Does a concern for the psycho-social bring humanity to designing work? What other approaches do that? And how do your starting points shape your understanding of STS and how has that changed through your experience of it?