An Ethnographic Study of Distributed Problem Solving in Spreadsheet Development

In contrast to the common view of spreadsheetsas "single-user" programs, we have found that spreadsheetsoffer surprisingly strong support for cooperative development of a wide variety of applications. Ethnographic interviews with spreadsheetusers showed that nearly all of the spreadsheetsusedin the work environments studied were the result of collaborative work by people with different levels of programming and domain expertise. Cooperation among spreadsheet users was spontaneous and casual; users activated existing informal social networks to initiate collaboration.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1990
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Bonnie A. Nardi, James R. Miller
• Keywords: Common View, CSCW 1990, Ethnographic Interviews, Informal Social Networks, Social Sciences