5.5 ORGANIZATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION

I want to return to the examples I used in chapter 4 from a perspective of implementation strategies. I will look at LAD and Prototyping.  Before doing so let me go back to chapter 4's example. We have every classroom equipped with a TV (all are CRT), VCR's and in some cases a DVR/CDROM player. However, these TV's and media boxes will need to upgrade since the contract between Menomonie and "Channel One", the company that purchased the TV's for us ends in January 09 and we have a new HD broadcast issues.

So as I said we need to replace the VHS players, the DVD players and the TV's. The TV's are easy. We will need to add digital projectors (push of new technologies) since the cost is comparable to a new HD TV that can accept the HD signals that will come in January. To connect to it we can repurpose our teachers' laptops since every teacher has one assigned to them. In this case we eliminate the tuner if we use a web browser to show recorded TV content and Movies on DVD. To do this we have chosen to use Open Source tools to eliminate the need to purchase new VHS/DVDR's in classrooms and libraries.

However, in doing so we will change the way our organization records, disseminates and archives the new digital content. For those interested in the tool we have chosen to use MythTV to do that.

However, as is pointed out on page 89:

"Over the past decades ICT (Information Communication Technology) has become an important trigger for organizational change. Although social systems cannot be designed and imposed, attempts can be made to influence and realize the way organizational objectives are achieved through clever interventions and strategies. To do so, it is important to have knowledge of the process of change. The focus is on human behavior, organizational culture, the stimulation of change, hierarchies and an awareness that organizational change is a continuous process."

In deed, as you can imagine, our traditional Library Media Specialists (Librarians) feel both both skeptical and threatened. However, while I did not understand it at the time, I used Prototyping since we understood that our "(u)sers have a hard time making their needs and requirements explicit." In my case they used the head in the sand approach and just ignored the challenges. But a strict Linear Application Development model would, in fact, have given us built-in obstacles that would impede our success. As is pointed out: "In order to improve the quality of the design, various validation steps and feedback loops..." need to be designed to make sure the transition from an analog, front-of-the-room-single-box approach, to a networked, streaming-media approach needs to be developed. We have developed a prototype and have been collecting input from two of our Library Media Specialists to help with developing deployment strategies.

Therefore, the importance of understanding importance of organizational culture and the impact that these new technologies will have on those is vital to the success of this project specifically, but ICT in general. As it written in the conclusion: "Implementation can be interpreted in a broad as well as a narrow sense." As it should be. The big idea for me has to do with understanding the impact new ICT will have in acting as a "trigger" for change. In my case, the way Librarians will need to do their jobs in the next six years. An if you have never worked with this group of educators, this is no small job.