ABSTRACT
Systems for tracking people are, by definition, sociotechnical: they involve both people and technology, whose interaction impacts how the system behaves. This chapter considers the relevance of lessons from the field of sociotechnical systems design for the development of electronic monitoring (EM) systems for criminal justice, or child and patient protection contexts. Reviewing case studies taken from other chapters in the book, it highlights that the design of tracking systems is layered and complex, involving different people at different stages. Predicting how these people may use or misuse a technology in the future is difficult, but the field of sociotechnical systems design offers a variety of tools for anticipating potential problems. This chapter reviews some of the recommendations from this field, and highlights how applying these tools to the development of tracking technologies is ripe for exploration. It highlights the importance of taking a sociotechnical perspective and the challenges involved in doing so without making prescriptions for design.
