Hughes-etal1993

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Hughes-etal1993
BibType ARTICLE
Key Hughes-etal1993
Author(s) John A. Hughes, Dave Randall, Dan Shapiro
Title From ethnographic record to system design: some experiences from the field
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Workplace studies, Air traffic control, Command and control, CSCW, Ethnography, HCI, Interdisciplinary design, Social organisation of work, Sociality of technology, System design, Teamwork
Publisher
Year 1993
Language
City
Month
Journal Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Volume 1
Number 3
Pages 123–141
URL Link
DOI 10.1007/BF00752435
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

This paper explores the issues involved in moving from ethnographic explorations of work in context to a practical contribution to system design. It does so using the example of an interdisciplinary research project involving sociologists and computer scientists in the domain of air traffic control systems. It forms a pair with another paper (Sommerville et al., 1992) exploring these questions from the perspective of our computer science partners. We characterise ethnography as a research method, and consider the differences between undertaking it for strictly sociological or anthropological purposes by contrast with interdisciplinary and design purposes. We summarise some of our results in ethnographic explications of the work of air traffic controllers, and the sociality which it manifests. We describe the dialogues involved in rendering these observations ‘informative’ for systems design, and the mutual translations implied in attempting to reconcile sociological with software engineering questions about supporting the work. We conclude by specifying some features of cooperative work which an engineering approach is in danger of overlooking; the ways, and limits, in which ethnographers can form a ‘bridge’ between users and designers; and some of the conflicts of interest entrained in generating technical change.

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