Duguid, Paul 1954–

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Duguid, Paul 1954–

PERSONAL:

Born 1954, in Wallasey, England. Education: Bristol University, B.A., 1972; Washington University, M.A., 1980.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of Information, University of California, Berkeley, 203A South Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-4600. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Granville Publishing, London, England, senior editor, 1981-87; Institute for Research on Learning, Palo Alto, CA, research scientist, 1987-90; University of California, Berkeley, research specialist in social and cultural studies in education, 1992-2004, adjunct professor in School of Information, 2005—. Xerox Corporation, consultant, 1988-2001; Copenhagen Business School, visiting professor in organizational and industrial sociology, 2002-03; Santa Clara University, visiting fellow at the Center for Science, Technology, and Society, 2005-06; Queen Mary, University of London, professorial research fellow, 2005—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Collaborative grant, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1995-98; research award, Fundação Luso-American, 1995-98; Center for the Public Domain fellow, 2001-02; Maître de Recherche at Centre du Recherche en Gestion, École Polytechnique, 2003; Newcomen-Harvard Article Award, Harvard Business School, 2005, for "Networks and Knowledge: The Beginning and End of the Port Commodity Chain, 1703-1860"; Economic and Social Research Council, visiting fellow, 2004-05, and grant, 2006-09.

WRITINGS:

(With John Seely Brown) The Social Life of Information, Harvard Business School Press (Boston, MA), 2000.

Also author of article "Networks and Knowledge: The Beginning and End of the Port Commodity Chain, 1703-1860," Business History Review, 2005. Contribu- tor to books, including (with J.S. Brown) Automation for Usability, edited by P. Adler and T. Winograd, 1992; The Future of the Book, edited by G. Nunberg, 1996; (with J.S. Brown) Web-Weaving: Intranets, Extranets, and Strategic Alliances, edited by P. Lloyd and P. Boylan, 1998; Contradictions et Dynamique des Organisations, edited by H. Dumez, 2005; and Organizing for the Creative Economy: Community, Practice, and Capitalism, edited by Ash Amin and Joanne Roberts, 2008.

Contributor to periodicals, including Across the Board, Aegis le Libello, California Management Review, Educational Technology, Education Researcher, Edu-cause, Enterprise and Society, European Management Review, First Monday, Harvard Business Review, Human-Computer Interaction, Industry Standard, Information Society, Liberal Education, Management Learning, Nation, O Douro, Organization Science, Release 1.0, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Review of Books, Scandinavian Economic History Review, Sloan Management Review, Times Higher Education Supplement, Times Literary Supplement, and Training.

SIDELIGHTS:

For many years Paul Duguid has done research and published articles on learning, working, and design. The Social Life of Information, which he wrote with John Seely Brown, the director of Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center, brings together a number of ideas that developed over those years. "The authors' main focus," according to Mary Timney in the Public Manager, "is on the ways that humans use information." They dwell on the importance of context, maintaining that social connection adds value to information, and they debunk a number of myths about how technology was expected to change the world. Melinda Knight, reviewing the book for the Journal of Business Communication, deemed it "well-written" and stated that it "teaches us how and why information has a life consisting of networks that are more interpersonal than interterminal."

The book drew a few criticisms, as from Martha Farnsworth Riche in Issues in Science in Technology, who remarked on the authors' "frequent shrillness" and felt that they should have focused on "what people want, rather than what the new technology lacks." A Publishers Weekly reviewer described the book as "an intellectual gem in which the authors have polished some facets and, annoyingly, left others uncut." Science writer Bruce R. Schatz found that "lack of structure prevents these experts from producing the classic book on the new paradigm that they could have," although he also pointed out their clear writing, thoughtful style, and some "particularly insightful" analyses.

Many critics, on the other hand, had no reservations. Writing in Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Robert Scott Gassler stated: "I am hard pressed to find bad points about this book…. [It] was so fascinating that I put everything else aside to read it." Meredith Weisberg in the Business Communication Quarterly highlighted the authors' "fresh perspectives" and described the work as "refreshingly readable," "readily comprehensible," and "rich with anecdotes and observations that not only serve to clarify abstractions, but also enliven the book." Many recommended The Social Life of Information for educators, businesspeople, information professionals, economists, and lay people. Acknowledging that "the authors do not claim to offer solutions to the intellectual mess we are in," Michael Gorman in Library Resources and Technical Services commented that "they do offer a way of looking at that mess that may well lead to solutions."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Australian Academic and Research Libraries, March, 2001, Roxanne Missingham, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 66.

Business and Society Review, spring, 2001, Jane Fedorowicz, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 103.

Business Communication Quarterly, September, 2001, Meredith Weisberg, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 110.

Choice, December, 2000, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 745.

Chronicle of Higher Education, June 23, 2000, Florence Olsen, review of The Social Life of Information, p. A49.

Economist, April 15, 2000, "Predictions about Technology," p. 4.

Electronic Business, May, 2000, Tam Harbert, "Hey, Technology—Get a Life!," p. 146.

Harvard Educational Review, spring, 2001, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 151.

I.D., June, 2000, Judith Donath, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 103.

Inc., March, 2000, "Why Stuff Happens," p. 119.

Information Management Journal, January, 2001, Barbara E. Nye, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 52.

Information Today, October, 2007, Barbara Quint, "Who the Heck Is Tristram Shandy? or What's Not Wrong with Google Book Search?," p. 7.

Issues in Science and Technology, fall, 2000, Martha Farnsworth Riche, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 84.

Journal of Business Communication, January, 2001, Melinda Knight, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 92.

Journal of Marketing, October, 2002, Terry Clark, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 124.

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, February 15, 2002, An-Chi Hoh Dianu, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 320.

Library Quarterly, January, 2001, Charles A. Seavey, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 94.

Library Resources and Technical Services, January, 2001, Michael Gorman, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 63.

Link-Up, July, 2000, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 17.

New York Review of Books, August 16, 2007, Simon Head, "They're Micromanaging Your Every Move," p. 42.

Public Manager, winter, 2000, Mary Timney, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 62.

Publishers Weekly, February 14, 2000, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 187.

Science, November 17, 2000, Bruce R. Schatz, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 1304.

Sloan Management Quarterly, spring, 2000, Judith Maas, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 101.

Systems Research and Behavioral Science, January, 2001, Robert Scott Gassler, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 91.

Technology Review, July, 2000, Wade Roush, "Swatch Beat," p. 115.

Times Literary Supplement, May 26, 2000, Luciano Floridi, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 30.

Whole Earth, spring, 2001, Joel Garreau, review of The Social Life of Information, p. 17.