A practice-oriented paradigm for end-user development

Abstract

What is end-user development (EUD) and when does a user become an end-user developer? Since the concept of EUD encompasses methods as well as practices of appropriating technology, it is not easy to answer these questions and several researchers already dealt with these issues. Within our chapter we suggest to conceptually extend our understanding of both EUD and the end user (developer). We draw on experiences we gained from past research exploring EUD in practice. We reflect upon the concepts of "gentle slope of complexity," "tailoring languages" and "appropriation" which we situate within the broader concept of "infrastructuring." We claim that EUD is given whenever an end user starts modifying the permanent aspects of an application (soft- or hardware) and, thus, starts climbing the tailorability mountain - or in our words, the tailorability staircase - and switching to a higher level to perform a specific practice. In our newly developed terminology this very moment, called "point of infrastructure," is characterized by a break-down in the current practices which leads an end user to becoming an end-user developer.