Technology in Action

by Christian Heath , Paul Luff

• ISBN13: 9780521560337
• ISBN10: 0521560330
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-07-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Despite the extraordinary advances in digital and communication technology over recent years, we know very little about the way these complex systems affect everyday work and interaction. This book seeks to explore these issues through a series of video-based field studies. It begins by discussing the introduction of basic information systems in general medical practice and ends with an exploration of interpersonal communication in advanced media spaces; in the process also looking at news production, the control room of London Underground and computer aided design in architectural practice. Social interaction forms a particular focus of these studies as they explore the way individuals use various tools and technologies and coordinate their actions and activities with each other. The authors also show how video-based field studies of work and interaction can inform the design, development and deployment of new technology, in this valuable new resource for academics, researchers and practitioners.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Technology and social action	1	(30)
Computers and situated conduct	8	(4)
Technological innovation and collaborative work	12	(3)
Naturalistic studies of work and technology	15	(4)
Technologies and social interaction	19	(4)
A note on an analytic orientation	23	(4)
Observing a case	27	(3)
Summary	30	(1)
Documents and professional practice: `bad' organisational reasons for `good' clinical records	31	(30)
Introduction	31	(3)
The traditional medical record card	34	(2)
The mapping of category items	36	(2)
Descriptive economies: interclass defeasibility	38	(1)
The description as a whole	39	(1)
Intra-entry defeasibility	40	(2)
The computerisation of clinical records in general practice	42	(3)
Some unanticipated consequences of the system	45	(3)
Medical records and the interaction between patient and doctor	48	(6)
Formalising the `informal'	54	(3)
Discussion	57	(4)
Animating texts: the collaborative production of news stories	61	(27)
Introduction	61	(2)
The setting	63	(3)
Giving voice to the news	66	(4)
Apostrophic readings	70	(3)
Viewing stories together	73	(4)
Forestalling a rendition	77	(4)
Discussion: texts in interaction	81	(7)
Team work: collaboration and control in London Underground line control rooms	88	(37)
Introduction	88	(3)
The technology in the control room	91	(3)
Assessing the service	94	(2)
`Monitoring' and discriminating action	96	(6)
Rendering activities visible	102	(3)
The production of convergent activities	105	(11)
The co-ordination and mutual visibility of conduction	116	(3)
Technology and collaboration in action	119	(6)
The collaborative production of computer commands	125	(30)
Introduction	125	(3)
The setting: scheduling trains and dealing with problems on the line	128	(4)
Transforming calls into commands	132	(4)
Discriminating calls' relevancies	136	(4)
Concurrent participation in multiple activities	140	(4)
The collaborative production of a command	144	(3)
Intervention	147	(4)
Discussion	151	(4)
`Interaction' with computers in architecture	155	(24)
Introduction	155	(2)
Technologies in architectural work	157	(1)
The manipulation of objects	158	(5)
Navigating the design: preserving coherence	163	(5)
Interweaving resources	168	(7)
Discussion	175	(4)
Reconfiguring the work space: media space and collaborative work	179	(38)
Introduction	179	(2)
Organisational form and technical innovation	181	(2)
Disembodied conduct	183	(16)
Enriching the work space	199	(16)
Summary	215	(2)
Organisational interaction and technological design	217	(35)
Introduction	217	(1)
Interaction and organisational conduct	218	(10)
The analysis of workplace activities and the design of technology	228	(17)
Methods, cases and design	245	(3)
Summary	248	(4)
References	252	(15)
Index	267