As organizations grow larger and more distributed, the problems of maintaining
corporate awareness and effective communication channels escalate. The clinical
domain poses particular challenges to maintaining good corporate communications
because users have limited time to access information and often have negative
technology perceptions. This article highlights how a screen saver application,
initially designed to increase privacy and security, developed into a new
communication medium improving corporate communication across the organization.
An ethnographic study of the application within a hospital setting, analysed
using grounded theory methods, details the iterative and organic development of
the design through ‘community of practice’ involvement. This
application and the evolutionary process through which it was developed were
found to not only increase awareness of resources, activities and hospital
changes but also positively influence users’ perceptions of,
involvement in and ownership of general IT developments. User involvement also
raised the importance, for the designers, of application usability, quality and aesthetics.
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