The Information Work Research Group (IWRG), centered in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin, is interested in information work broadly conceived, including work that employs information technologies as well as work that builds information technologies. The IWRG's interest spans for-profit as well as non-profit sectors of the economy, whether the work is done by IT workers or by others.

Topics currently of interest to IWRG faculty include, among others:

• software development (including free and open source software)
• offshoring and outsourcing (more generally, the distribution of information workers)
• education and training for information workers
• gender, racial, and ethnic issues in the information workforce
• integration of information work and information technology into various application domains, e.g. the auto industry or science
• computer-supported cooperative work
• social media and work
• the trajectory of information work careers
• professionalization, ethics, and information work

IWRG faculty members have expertise in the social sciences, including sociology, organizational studies, communication studies, science and technology studies, political science, public policy, and history. The faculty educates graduate students at the doctoral and master's levels (typically through joint advising of students), organizing lecture series, participating in reading groups, and conducting joint research projects.

IWRG Director:

Diane Bailey

Bailey recently led a ten-year study of the role of advanced IT, including sophisticated computational software, in engineering analysis and design, resulting in publications in top organizational studies, engineering, and communication journals. With an expertise in organizational ethnography, she favors large-scale empirical studies, often involving multiple occupations, countries, and researchers. Her current research investigates remote occupational socialization, or how, via IT, individuals learn and perform occupations far from communities of similar practitioners.

BS, MS, and PhD industrial engineering and operations research University of California, Berkeley

Principal Investigators:

William Aspray

Aspray has co-authored two major national studies on IT work: The Supply of Information Technology Workers in the United States (Computing Research Association, 1999) and Globalization and Offshoring of Software (ACM, 2006). He is interested in the supply and demand of IT workers, US politics of information work and workers, offshoring and outsourcing, regional advantage, and health information work. His current research involves the politics of offshoring.

BA mathematics, philosophy Wesleyan University; MA mathematics Wesleyan University; MA, PhD history of science Wisconsin-Madison

Lecia Barker

Barker conducts research in attracting, retaining, and advancing groups underrepresented in professional information technology careers; these studies focus on social climate, identity and belonging, faculty adoption of alternative teaching and curricular practices, and sustainable organizational change. She applies this research in her role as Senior Research Scientist for the National Center for Women & Information Technology. Barker has just received a grant to study faculty adoption of teaching practices shown by research to retain women undergraduates in computing.

BA linguistics, Spanish, and Portuguese; MBA marketing; PhD communication

Nathan Ensmenger

In his recent book, The Computer Boys Take Over: Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise (MIT Press, 2010), Ensmenger explored the history of computer-related work in American corporations during the early decades of electronic computing. He has also written about the gender dynamics of computer programming. His current research focuses on work practices within the artificial intelligence community.

BSE engineering/operations research Princeton University; PhD history & sociology of science University of Pennsylvania

James Howison

Howison's research examines the impact of information technology on the organization of work. Work is increasingly imbued with information; not only is it facilitated by information technologies but the objects being worked on are themselves made up of information (e.g., software; designs; media; financial products and customer information). Howison's work examines how work is, or can be, restructured by these changes, examining phenomena such as open source software, Wikipedia, corporate crowd-sourcing, and new types of scientific collaboration. His current projects include studying the organization of software development in science and the motivational power of mutually visible work.

B. economics (social sciences) hons University of Sydney; PhD information science and technology Syracuse University

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