192 Were researchers at universities with fewer resources disadvantaged by the requirement to use FastLane? Researchers at historically black colleges and universities did experience relatively more obstacles due to lack… Click to show full abstract
192 Were researchers at universities with fewer resources disadvantaged by the requirement to use FastLane? Researchers at historically black colleges and universities did experience relatively more obstacles due to lack of access to technology. Sponsored Research Offices (SROs) were also better resourced at some schools than others, although none of the offices were forced to increase staff size to deal with FastLane. Overall, interviews suggest that both principal investigators and research administrators were positive about FastLane, although they also made recommendations for improvement. Chapter 6 examines NSF staff as “legacy” users. Although the shift to the electronic office reduced the volume of mail sent to NSF—which had justified an NSF zip code—proposals continued to be managed primarily on paper for several years after FastLane launched. The internal-facing grants management program, e-Jacket, was less well-resourced and developed more slowly than external-facing aspects of FastLane. While NSF did not eliminate any staff with the transition to electronic media, work roles changed in ways that some found to be dissatisfying. A concluding chapter examines legacies, lessons, and prospects for FastLane, noting that “Computers change society, and it is because social, cultural, and institutional values can be embedded in them that the details of computing matter so deeply” (p. 162). This book serves as a model for historians who study the entanglement of such values with information infrastructures and other complex technological systems.
               
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