The Role Concept as a Basis for Designing Community Systems

Abstract

Abstract. This paper describes the sociological concept of roles as a basis for designing computer-supported community systems (CSCS). The goal is the systematic analysis of roles and role-development from a sociological point of view to enhance socio-technical community-systems. In system theory social structures are expectational structures and roles identify these expectations [22]. Roles explain how actors interact, collaborate and work together to cultivate knowledge exchange. The role concept in social science assumes that people interact with respect to their social roles and take certain roles as a basis for their social interaction and communication. Persons ’ activities and interaction is shaped by roles and vice versa. In contrast, the role concept of computer science focuses on the management of access rights and access control models, and should be clearly differentiated from the sociological understanding. This paper presents the sociological perspective of the term “role ” and explores it in more detail. Then, we present an explorative study of role-development in a web-based learning environment. We conclude by giving examples and making proposals for the technical support of roles. We pay special attention to role-taking, role-making, assigning roles, defining roles and changing roles.