Public Policy, Technology and Lived Experience

346 Pages·2007·1.75 MB·English

Public Policy, Technology and Lived
Experience: Three Case Studies of
Technology in Support of Urban Transport
Policies in London
by
Philip Inglesant
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
of the
University of London
Department of Computer Science
University College London
January 2007
First supervisor: M. Angela Sasse
Second supervisor: Helen Margetts
1
Declaration
I, Philip George Inglesant, hereby declare that the
following thesis is my own work.
Signed:

Date:

2
Abstract
High-quality public services can support policy outcomes in many areas of
government; this thesis focuses on public policy in transport. An essential factor,
often overlooked, is the usability of public services. Usability is crucial to
e-government, both because quality of service is a public value, and because poor
public perception of services may weaken policy acceptance.
However, usability, as developed in the Human-Computer Interaction research
tradition, has not been prominent in the theory or practice of public policy. This is a
critical shortcoming, since policy decisions inscribed in e-government systems have
implications for the lived experience of transport users.
Actualising this critique, the history of the HCI concept of usability is traced, and
related to research traditions which deepen understanding of the inter-relations
between technology and the social. This leads to a view that usability is meaningless
outside the lived experiences of system users. This goes beyond the “user
experience” with technology, because people live with technology as it becomes
increasingly intertwined with everyday situations.
This thesis makes its contributions from three case studies in urban transport. Semi-
structured, recorded interviews and focus groups with 126 transport users were held
alongside over 100 public policy documents and interviews with 25 key post-
holders, and laboratory and situated observations.
The insights of phenomenology, dialogism and pragmatic philosophy provide a
route to understanding experiences with technology. A qualitative analysis based on
Grounded Theory and Discourse Analysis is developed and used to illuminate these
lived experiences. The embodied-ness of inter-actions with technology is
investigated from an ecological perspective of affordances and genres.
As service users freely mix electronic and non-electronic artefacts to meet real-life
needs, the contingency of their actions calls into question a simple model of
cognitive or institutional schemata; this has profound implications for electronic
systems in support of public policy aims.
3
Acknowledgements
It is with great pleasure and appreciation that I am able to thank the many people
who have given their time, thought, and energy to helping me throughout my PhD
research.
The first word of thanks must go to my supervisor M. Angela Sasse, whose
persistent support has taught me so many lessons about research and academic life. I
would also like to thank my second supervisor, Helen Margetts, who provided a
contrasting viewpoint and whose insights and experience have been invaluable. The
third person in the trio who first interviewed and selected me is Janet McDonnell,
whose critical commentary was so useful in the early stages. I would like to thank
them all, along with the EPSRC, the Department of Computer Science and the
School of Public Policy at UCL, for choosing me for this studentship.
It would be easy to overlook my informants, many of whom gave their time freely
in interviews and other ways. In particular in this category I include members of
staff of Transport for London, London TravelWatch, the Greater London Authority,
the Lambeth Public Transport Group, the Association of London Government, and
others, whose openness is an example to all public service providers.
I am fortunate in counting as friends several who have trodden this path before. In
particular it gives me special pleasure to thank Stuart Gibson, who proof-read
several chapters as well as giving constant support and advice. I am also indebted to
my colleagues at UCL, for their willingness to comment on drafts and for informal
discussions across the desk. In no particular order, I am thinking particularly of
Simone Stumpf, Philip Bonhard, Hina Keval, Sven Lacqua, Jens Riegelsberger,
Hendrik Knoche, and Brock Craft, and Dave Elder-Vass at Birkbeck.
It has been many years since I relied on my parents for material support.
Nevertheless their example and hard work is the underpinning of all that I have
achieved since. I thank especially my late father, who was finally able, very late in
his life, to put his love of study into practice.
And above all I give my most heartfelt thanks to Christian Laflamme, for practical
help, from cooking and housework to proof-reading, and for support and
encouragement without which I could not have embarked on this road and certainly
would not have reached completion.
4
Table of Contents
Abstract .............................................................................................................3
Acknowledgements....................................................................................................4
Table of Contents ......................................................................................................5
List of Figures..........................................................................................................12
List of Tables ...........................................................................................................13
Chapter 1 Introduction: Public policy, Technology and Lived
Experience........................................................................................14
1.1 Living with technology....................................................................14
1.1.1 Technology and government.15
1.1.2 Motivation for this thesis: living with e-government........................16
1.2 The research questions....................................................................16
1.2.1 Usability in support of policy aims ...................................................18
1.2.2 Experiences with technology ............................................................19
1.3 Research contributions ...................................................................20
1.3.1 Theoretical contributions: Bringing together emerging strands
of thought ..........................................................................................20
1.3.2 Methodological contributions: Situating the research in the HCI
and Information Systems traditions ..................................................21
1.3.3 Empirical research.21
1.3.4 Outcomes: Lessons for stakeholders and well-founded
hypotheses.........................................................................................22
1.4 Outline of research approach.........................................................22
1.4.1 An interpretative approach based on empirical data .........................23
1.4.2 Making sense of experience ..............................................................23
1.4.3 Focussed case studies........................................................................24
1.4.4 Research scope: addressing the transport crisis in London...............25
1.5 Overview of the thesis .....................................................................25
1.6 Conventions......................................................................................27
1.6.1 Notation for quoted text samples ......................................................27
1.6.2 Style conventions .28
1.6.3 Definitions.28
Part I: The Lived Experience with e-Government...............................................30
Summary of literature review ............................................................................30
Chapter 2 From human factors to lived experience.......................................37
2.1 Usability: the genealogy of a concept.............................................37
2.1.1 Constructing the user.........................................................................38
2.1.2 The human information processor ....................................................38
2.1.3 The socially situated user ..................................................................39
2.1.4 Users as human actors.......................................................................40
2.1.5 The usability movement.41
2.1.6 Defining usability.41
2.2 The changing computer ..................................................................42
2.2.1 The computer in context....................................................................42
5
2.2.2 Interfaces as borders..........................................................................43
2.2.3 Features of the interface as affordances ............................................43
2.2.4 Affordances between the social and the technical ............................45
2.2.5 Genres: technology as text ................................................................46
2.2.6 Ecologies of affordances, information, and genres...........................47
2.2.7 Artefacts as resources.48
2.2.8 Interfaces and everyday life ..............................................................49
2.3 Interacting with computers in the real world ...............................50
2.3.1 Users in socio-technical systems.......................................................50
2.3.2 The turn to practice ...........................................................................51
2.3.3 The phenomenological challenge to systems rationalism.................52
2.3.4 The artefact in practice......................................................................53
2.3.5 Appropriating artefacts.54
2.3.6 Overcoming problems in everyday life.............................................55
2.4 From practice to lived experience..................................................56
2.4.1 Felt experience .56
2.4.2 Perspectives on experience ...............................................................57
2.4.3 A pragmatist approach ......................................................................58
2.4.4 Technology as dialogue.60
2.5 Conclusions: towards an inclusive understanding of usability ...61
Chapter 3 e-Government: Information systems in support of public
policy ................................................................................................63
3.1 Technology in support of policy aims............................................63
3.1.1 Policy in action: changing citizen behaviour ....................................64
3.1.2 The tools of government ...................................................................65
3.1.3 Behavioural change in transport........................................................66
3.1.4 Policy in action: other policy objectives ...........................................67
3.2 e-Enablement and public services..................................................68
3.2.1 e-Government as transformed government? .....................................68
3.2.2 Empowering and engaging the e-citizen ...........................................69
3.2.3 e-Government centred on the citizen ................................................70
3.2.4 Openness and closure in public services...........................................71
3.2.5 e-Government as service provision...................................................72
3.2.6 From service provision to citizen satisfaction...................................72
3.3 Trust in public services ...................................................................75
3.3.1 The importance of trust .....................................................................75
3.3.2 Building trust.75
3.3.3 Trust in e-government .77
3.4 e-Government as social and technical system...............................78
3.4.1 Do technologies have politics?..........................................................78
3.4.2 Or do politics have technologies? .....................................................80
3.4.3 Politics ascribed to technologies: efficiency, convenience, and
performance ......................................................................................81
3.4.4 Citizens, customers, subjects.............................................................82
3.4.5 Equitable access to e-government .....................................................84
3.4.6 Bariers to take-up.84
3.5 Policy and usability in e-government.............................................85
3.5.1 Policy as experience.86
3.5.2 Usability maters .86
6
3.5.3 Transport policy and e-government ..................................................87
3.6 Conclusions from the literature reviews .......................................88
3.6.1 Achieving policy aims in practice ....................................................89
3.6.2 ... and in lived experience..................................................................90
Chapter 4 Methodology ....................................................................................92
4.1 The research questions....................................................................92
4.1.1 Unpacking the research questions.....................................................93
4.2 Understanding the lived experience...............................................97
4.2.1 Making sense of technology..............................................................97
4.2.2 Methodological implications.98
4.3 Phenomenological roots: mundane life as rich experience..........99
4.3.1 A case-study approach ....................................................................100
4.3.2 Taking the technology seriously: an ecological perspective...........101
4.3.3 Grounded Theory .101
4.3.4 Discourse and experience................................................................102
4.3.5 Understanding experience.103
4.4 From methodology to method: what was done...........................104
4.4.1 One policy area: transport. One city: London. Three case
studies in e-government ..................................................................104
4.4.2 Contrasting the case studies ............................................................105
4.4.3 Caveat and justification of approach...............................................106
4.5 Data.................................................................................................107
4.5.1 Research interviews and focus groups ............................................107
4.5.2 Interviews with key staff .................................................................108
4.5.3 Documentary texts .109
4.5.4 Observations.110
4.5.5 Sampling and recruitment of research subjects...............................111
4.6 Analysing the data around the research interests ......................112
4.6.1 Transcription and Coding................................................................112
4.6.2 Grounded Theory .113
4.6.3 Dialogue and discourse analysis .....................................................113
4.6.4 Theory building.114
4.7 Empirical validity ..........................................................................115
4.7.1 Quantity of data and saturation .......................................................116
4.7.2 Commonalities .116
4.7.3 Validity in Discourse Analysis........................................................117
4.7.4 Generalisability and replicability .117
4.8 Chapter summary..........................................................................118
Part II: Three Case Studies of e-government systems in urban transport......119
Chapter 5 Case study 1: The TfL Oyster smart card ..................................120
5.1 Research perspectives of this case study .....................................120
5.1.1 Background to the TfL Oyster smartcard........................................121
5.1.2 Phased introduction of the Oystercard ............................................122
5.1.3 The case study .................................................................................123
5.1.4 Data analysis .123
5.2 The ecology of the Oyster system.................................................125
5.2.1 Affordances at the borders of the Oyster system ............................125
5.2.2 Invisible affordances: stored value..................................................126
7
5.2.3 A barrier to online purchase............................................................128
5.2.4 Breakdowns in the affordance ecology ...........................................129
5.2.5 A graphical representation .130
5.3 Users’ experiences with the Oystercard ......................................130
5.3.1 Frustration for travellers..................................................................131
5.3.2 Flying blind: the opacity of the card ...............................................132
5.3.3 Complex practical problems ...........................................................133
5.3.4 Increasing fairness: the Daily Cap ..................................................133
5.3.5 Fairness promotes social inclusion..................................................135
5.4 Analysis: the inseparability of ends and means..........................136
5.4.1 Technomethodology, abstraction, and meaning..............................136
5.4.2 Oyster as means and end .................................................................137
5.4.3 Breakdowns in the composition of experience ...............................137
5.4.4 Sense-making with Oyster ..............................................................138
5.4.5 Layers of experience .......................................................................139
5.4.6 Experiences in practical use of Oyster ............................................140
5.5 Implications for policy ..................................................................140
5.5.1 Building the business case ..............................................................141
5.5.2 From business case to policy...........................................................141
5.5.3 From policy to affordance ecology .................................................142
5.5.4 Policy by design ..............................................................................143
5.5.5 Policy and lived experience with Oyster.........................................144
5.5.6 Continuing policy change: Auto Top-up and other recent
developments ..................................................................................145
5.6 Conclusions ....................................................................................146
5.6.1 Understanding simple and hidden affordances ...............................146
5.6.2 Ends and means in public policy.....................................................147
5.6.3 Unfinalisability for transport users and policy-makers...................147
5.7 Chapter summary..........................................................................148
Chapter 6 Case study 2: The Central London Congestion Charge ............151
6.1 The Central London Congestion Charge ....................................151
6.1.1 Paying the charge ............................................................................153
6.1.2 The case study .................................................................................154
6.1.3 Data Analysis .155
6.2 Affordances for interaction in the CLCC ...................................156
6.2.1 Electronic licences in the CLCC.....................................................156
6.2.2 Marking the boundaries of the zone................................................157
6.2.3 Affordances of mobile payment......................................................158
6.3 Lived experiences of the CLCC ...................................................159
6.3.1 The process of payment is not the problem ....................................160
6.3.2 Uncertainty in virtual transactions ..................................................161
6.3.3 Staying beyond the boundaries .......................................................161
6.3.4 Fairness in enforcement: forgetting to pay......................................162
6.3.5 Changing driving behaviour: discourses of acceptance and
resistance.........................................................................................163
6.3.6 Affordances, experience, and antagonism in the CLCC .................164
6.4 Analysis: usability and policy in the CLCC................................165
6.4.1 Users’ experiences: bearing the responsibility................................165
6.4.2 Social inclusion in the CLCC..........................................................166
8
6.4.3 The appropriateness of payment channels of the CLCC.................166
6.4.4 Antagonism and practical reason ....................................................168
6.4.5 Felt experiences with the Central London Congestion Charge.......168
6.4.6 Embodiment and the burden of payment ........................................169
6.5 Policy as dialogue in the CLCC....................................................170
6.5.1 Usability as a policy consideration .................................................170
6.5.2 Politicians’ discourses: the hassle factor.........................................171
6.5.3 Policy change: pay-next-day ...........................................................172
6.5.4 Continuing policy change .173
6.5.5 Breakdowns, intentionality, and policy in the CLCC .....................173
6.5.6 Value rationality and practice in the CLCC....................................174
6.6 Conclusions ....................................................................................174
6.6.1 Usability and policy change ............................................................175
6.6.2 Usability as a tool of policy ............................................................175
6.7 Chapter summary..........................................................................176
Chapter 7 Case study 3: The Transport for London Journey Planner......179
7.1 The TfL Journey Planner .............................................................180
7.1.1 Aims of the TfL Journey Planner....................................................181
7.1.2 The case study .................................................................................181
7.1.3 Observations.181
7.1.4 Data analysis .182
7.2 The Journey Planner as information resource ...........................183
7.2.1 Grappling with affordances.............................................................183
7.2.2 Analysis of some informational objects..........................................184
7.3 Lived experience with the Journey Planner................................186
7.3.1 Peripheral encounters with information resources..........................186
7.3.2 Basic problems, and ways to overcome them .................................187
7.3.3 Joining information from different resources .................................189
7.3.4 Planning and ad hoc actions............................................................191
7.3.5 Knowing the system........................................................................192
7.3.6 Failing afordance ecologies .193
7.3.7 Making meaning in narrative and interaction .................................194
7.3.8 Information and social inclusion.....................................................195
7.4 Analysis: dialogical meaning making ..........................................196
7.4.1 Information resources as distributed cognition: “home-made”
genres ..............................................................................................197
7.4.2 Making meaning, making judgements ............................................198
7.4.3 Plans as resources for contingent action .........................................198
7.4.4 Overcoming routine troubles: reflective and unreflective action....200
7.4.5 Plans and background knowledge...................................................201
7.4.6 Autonomous problem-solving.201
7.5 Implications for policy ..................................................................202
7.5.1 Encouraging sustainable transport use ............................................203
7.5.2 Creating confidence in the system ..................................................204
7.5.3 Bringing users into public transport................................................204
7.6 Conclusions ....................................................................................205
7.6.1 Planners and skilled navigators.......................................................206
7.6.2 Dialogical meaning and the hard physicality of lived
experience .......................................................................................206
9
7.7 Chapter summary..........................................................................207
Part III: Commonalities across the case studies and lessons for
stakeholders ...................................................................................210
Chapter 8 Review and analysis of the three case studies.............................211
8.1 Review of the approach taken ......................................................211
8.1.1 A social and technical viewpoint: affordances and ecologies.........211
8.1.2 Genres and afordances .212
8.1.3 Encountering interfaces in daily life ...............................................212
8.1.4 Narratives of experience .................................................................213
8.1.5 Interactions as dialogical experiences.............................................214
8.2 Contrasts and comparisons between the cases ...........................215
8.2.1 Dealing with the complexity of the transport system:
abstraction and embodiment ...........................................................215
8.2.2 Ecologies of affordances and daily contingencies ..........................216
8.2.3 Design-in-context and bricolage .....................................................217
8.2.4 Making sense of the system ............................................................218
8.3 From affordances and genres to lived experience ......................219
8.3.1 Between means and ends ................................................................220
8.3.2 Interactions as aesthetic experiences...............................................220
8.3.3 Becoming and making meaning in dialogue...................................221
8.3.4 Values and volition with technology...............................................222
8.4 Lived experience and public policy revisited ..............................223
8.4.1 Technological change and new policy options ...............................223
8.4.2 Prosaic experience and the rhetoric of usability .............................224
8.4.3 How lived experience impacts on policy and ... .............................225
8.4.4 ... how policy impacts on lived experience .....................................226
8.4.5 Interpenetrating layers of imperatives: political, institutional,
technological ...................................................................................226
8.5 Wider implications ........................................................................228
8.5.1 Fairness and social inclusion...........................................................229
8.5.2 Wider policy outcomes ...................................................................231
8.5.3 Trust .232
8.5.4 Evaluating public value...................................................................234
8.6 Lessons from the studies ...............................................................236
8.6.1 Lessons for policy makers...............................................................236
8.6.2 Changing behaviour .237
8.6.3 Lessons for implementers ...............................................................238
8.6.4 Lessons for front-line staff and their managers...............................239
8.6.5 Lessons for transport users, and non-users .....................................240
8.7 Conclusions ....................................................................................241
Chapter 9 Review of the thesis and final contributions ...............................242
9.1 Contributions .................................................................................242
9.1.1 Revisiting the research questions ....................................................242
9.1.2 Summary of contributions...............................................................245
9.1.3 Theoretical development: encountering e-government in
practice and experience...................................................................246
9.1.4 Empirical studies: mundane interactions outside home and
workplace ........................................................................................247
10