Analyzing Work in Project-based Organizations: An Examination of Email as an Empirical Source for Activity-based Reflections

Abstract

University of Washington Abstract Analyzing Work in Project-based Organizations: An Examination of Email as an Empirical Source for Activity-based Reflections Richard Douglas Divine Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Mark Zachry Human Centered Design & Engineering This research explores and exposes how work email with associated attachments can be mined and analyzed to offer reflective assistance in the personal growth of individual workers and the collaborative projects on which they work. Through proper scaffolding of email related data and traditional project artifacts, organized against a theoretical backdrop of Activity Theory, one can illuminate naturally occurring contradictions resulting from collaborative activity systems and provide project workers with reflective tools that offer insights on collaborative networks, activity-based learning, and personal development. Using multi-method techniques including an archival study, a semi-structured interview, document analysis, and an in-situ case study, this research seeks to provide an assessment of workplace email and attachments in the hope of providing a repeatable process to structure, reflect, discuss, and learn from episodic content generated throughout the project lifecycle. Results from this research will offer new opportunities in the exploration of project worker data generated daily through email. It will help inform the development of tools for individual reflection on project work, provide qualitative assessments of the potential impacts such tools might have on a worker’s development throughout project lifecycles, and provide a deeper understanding of design interventions needed to support individual project workers through collaborative practices.