Introducing DiDIY D3.2: Integrative Modelling (Work and Organization)

Integrative modelling is a term coined to describe a particular way of simulation modelling, where researchers take data from a wide variety of sources (e.g. interviews with experts, literature reviews, excerpts from statistical databases, or surveys of the public) in order to develop a detailed simulation model. Such a model could be said to "integrate" the available data.

One of the innovative aspects of the DiDIY project is the use of integrative simulation models to help investigate the impact of DiDIY on different parts of society. A central question arising from WP3 on work and organization is: "How will the work of a worker in a manufacturing firm be reshaped due to the influence of DiDIY?" Case studies show that DiDIY could allow workers to overcome the traditionally strict organizational hierarchies by having direct access to relevant information, e.g., the status of machines via real-time information systems implemented in the factory.

This deliverable introduces the simulation framework used to support the integrative modelling for the DiDIY Project. It briefly discusses the role and aims of such formal models (specified in a programming language) in comparison to the informal descriptions in natural language obtained from the empirical work in the rest of the project. The main part of this document outlines relevant results from WP3, e.g. the aforementioned case studies of four firms. This is followed by a plan for how these results will be investigated with an integrative simulation model.