The Praxeological Research Programme of Socio-Informatics - the Siegen School

Abstract

This paper introduces the praxeologically grounded research programme on socio-informatics developed at the University of Siegen and the International Institute for Socio-Informatics in Germany. We outline our methodological framework of grounded design, guiding and binding together a variety of different engagements in practice which we call design case studies (DCS). While grounded design is applied to a broad variety of different areas, in this paper we deal specifically with our engagements in support of communities and political activists. To exemplify our approach, we present one DCS: It focuses on the participatory development of a computer club in the High Atlas as a facilitation infrastructure to support public community participation in the process of modernization and social transformation in the Maghreb. Insights into the project context, the objectives and methodology and the depiction of some of its first findings lays the ground for the discussion of socio-informatics research principles.