Assignment 5: Joyce Lee (jl579)

Orlikowski’s mention of technological frames and training regards the perceiving of new technologies by means of old ones. For example, we may see this very blogger as an online, non-physical embodiment of a pen-and-paper journal, combined with a word-processor program to make it easy to use, if it’s a personal blog, or if it’s a public one, we may see it as a virtual display board where people go up to it and staple on their individual articles. It also plays a large role in how to introduce Facebook to an audience of 40-60-year-olds, because while we want them to relate Facebook to technologies they are familiar with as not to make the system seem daunting, we do not want them to relate so much so that they wouldn’t see the Facebook at all.

I would personally explain Facebook as more than just a way to ‘keep in touch’, because if that’s all that was said, the audience may think that email, snail mail, or phone calls would suffice, being that those are the basic technologies they are already aware of, and do not need to put additional time into to use (drawing on Grudin’s discussion of return on investment.) As a result, I would emphasize the features of Facebook that the aforementioned technologies do not have, such as the picture-sharing and tagging capabilities, the ability to update status, the use of notifications, and the handful of individual applications, that users can install and play games on, etc. These ‘new technologies’ would require some, but not too much explaining. Picture sharing and games, for example, have technological frames built for them already, that an adult would be aware of. Notifications would be like virtual post-it notes, so that the can see messages immediately as they are sent, and the ability to update status can take the place of many back-and-forth phone calls to check up on each other.

My explanation as well as my ‘training’ for Facebook would emphasize these new facilities, as well as mention how the site can bring all their old technologies (email, etc.) together in one place, stressing emphasis. It would ‘save them time’ if they put in the time to learn it, and since there are many comparisons between already-existing technological frames and the features of the site, ‘learning’ would not seem too complicated. In addition, users would also be able to connect with more people that they don’t already know, by means of finding out who has shared interests, etc. For individuals in the 40-60 age range, time to go out and ‘meet people’ is not as plentiful, and this may prove to be useful for them.