Maps, Mirrors, and Participants: Design Lenses for Sociomateriality in Engineering Organizations

Abstract

When you use a computer it also uses you, and in that relationship forms a new entity of melded agencies, a "centaur" inseparably human and nonhuman. Networks of interaction in an organization similarly form "organizational centaurs", melding humans, technologies, and organizations into an inseparable sociomateriality. By developing a convex optimization toolkit for conceptual engineering we sought to shape these centaurs. How do organizations go from a high-level concept ("let's make an airplane") to a "design", and in that process what blurred lines between humans and computers bring opportunities for research? We present three metaphors that have been useful lenses across our field sites: considering design models as maps shows how centaurs apportioned legitimacy; looking at design models as mirrors illuminates how they sought validation in their perspectives; and treating design models as participants recognizes their opinions and agency as equivalent to other entities in these centaurs.