1994 TheMarksAreontheKnowledgeWorker

(Kidd, 1994) ⇒ Alison Kidd. (1994). “The Marks Are on the Knowledge Worker.” In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ISBN:0-89791-650-6 doi:10.1145/191666.191740

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Cited By

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Author Keywords

Knowledge workers, information appliances, writing, memory.

Abstract

A study of twelve knowledge workers showed that their defining characteristic is that they are changed by the information they process, Their value lies in their diversity - companies exploit the fact that these people make different sense of the same phenomena and therefore respond in diverse ways. Knowledge workers do not carry much written information with them when they travel and rarely consult their filed information when working in their offices, Their desks are cluttered and seemingly function as a spatial holding pattern for current inputs and ideas. My explanation is that once informed (ie, given form) by some written material, these workers have no particular need to retain a copy of the informing source. However, if a piece of written material has not yet informed them, then they cannot sensibly tile it anyway because its subsequent use or role in their world is still undetermined, I conclude that the valuable marks are on the knowledge worker rather than on the paper or on the electronic file and suggest how computer support for knowledge work might be better targeted on the act of informing rather than on passively filing large quantities of information in a “disembodied” form.

Introduction

…

Characteristics of Knowledge Workers

The results of the study suggest that the defining characteristic of knowledge workers is that they are themselves changed by the information they process.^[1] So, the workers interviewed saw their value to an organisation being to understand a body of knowledge and generate new information from this understanding which changed either the organisation or its customer in a direct way. Consequently, they all described their personal work objectives in direct relation to the objectives of their company. These results seem to validate and refine Drucker’s original concept [5], …

Going beyond the work of Drucker, I identified three particular characteristics of knowledge workers which challenge established views on computer support for office work. ^[2]

Diversity of Output

Companies value knowledge workers for their diversity, Faced with the same phenomena, each knowledge worker provides a different output and it is this variation which is their key benefit to the company. …

References

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	Author	volume	Date Value	title	type	journal	titleUrl	doi	note	year
1994 TheMarksAreontheKnowledgeWorker	Alison Kidd			The Marks Are on the Knowledge Worker				10.1145/191666.191740		1994

↑ To some extent, this is true of any humsn being, What distinguishes knowledge workers is that this is their primary motivation and the job they are paid to do.
↑ In the rest of this section, wherever I say “knowledge worker”, I strictly mean only the small set I sampled. However, I am choosing to take the risk of generalizing to all knowledge workera aa the behaviour described flows naturally from their primary characteristic of being changed by the information they process, I am on the look out for counter-evidence.

[1] To some extent, this is true of any humsn being, What distinguishes knowledge workers is that this is their primary motivation and the job they are paid to do.

[2] In the rest of this section, wherever I say “knowledge worker”, I strictly mean only the small set I sampled. However, I am choosing to take the risk of generalizing to all knowledge workera aa the behaviour described flows naturally from their primary characteristic of being changed by the information they process, I am on the look out for counter-evidence.

[1]

[2]