Conceptual modelling for technology assessment of IT systems - smart cards and health information systems

A method peculiar to sociocybernetics as a paradigm is dynamic simulation. In the case of information technological (IT) systems, which are socio-technical systems, a qualitative (conceptual, cognitive) approach is more appropriate than a quantitative one. Already intermediate results of conceptual work aimed at a computer model have been found useful. Illustrates this via three case studies from IT in health care, in which the sociocybernetic problem-functionalist conceptual (SPC) modelling technique was used. Two studies are from the ''EUROCARDS Concerted Action on Extending the Use of Patient Data Cards''; the third concerns the development of health information systems in the Aral Basin. In all cases, a wide variety of information and materials was needed for modelling. To keep track of this, proposes a sociocybernetic standard variable number (SC-SVN).