Cognition and communication at work

Description

This book brings together contributions from researchers within various social science disciplines who seek to redefine the methods and topics that constitute the study of work. They investigate work activity in ways that do not reduce it to a ''psychology'' of individual cognition or to a ''sociology'' of societal structures and communication. A key theme in the material is the relationship between theory and practice. Mindful practices and communicative interaction are examined as situated issues at work in the reproduction of communities of practice in a variety of settings including: courts of law, computer software design, the piloting of airliners, the coordination of air traffic control, and traffic management in underground railway systems This book brings together contributions from researchers within anthropology, psychology, communications, sociology, and cognitive science who are interested in redefining the methods and topics that constitute the study of work. They investigate work activity in ways that do not reduce it to a ''psychology'' of individual cognition or to a ''sociology'' of societal structures and communication (whether ''micro'' or ''macro''). A key theme of the book is the relationship between theory and practice. This is not treated as an abstract problem of interest merely to social scientists. Instead, it is discussed as an issue that working people address when they attempt to understand a task and communicate its demands. Mindful practices and communicative interaction are examined as situated issues at work in the reproduction of communities of practice in a variety of work settings including courts of law, computer software design, scientific laboratories, repair and maintenance of advanced manufacturing systems, the piloting of airliners, air traffic control, baggage handling, and traffic management in underground railway systems.  Read more... Introduction : studying work as mindful practice / Yrjö Engeström and David Middleton -- Distributed cognition in an airline cockpit / Edwin Hutchins and Tove Klausen -- Constituting shared workspaces / Lucy Suchman -- Seeing as situated activity : formulating planes / Charles Goodwin and Marjorie Harness Goodwin -- Convergent activities : line control and passenger information on the London Underground / Christian Heath and Paul Luff -- Users and designers in mutual activity : an analysis of cooperative activities in systems design / Susanne Bødker and Kaj Grønbœk -- System disturbances as springboard for development of operators' expertise / Leena Norros -- Expert and novice differences in cognition and activity : a practical work activity / Edith A. Laufer and Joseph Glick -- The tensions of judging : handling cases of driving under the influence of alcohol in Finland and California / Yrjö Engeström -- Talking work : argument, common knowledge, and improvisation in teamwork / David Middleton -- The collective construction of scientific genius / Chandra Mukerji -- Experience and the collective nature of skill / Harley Shaiken -- Working together : symbolic interactionism, activity theory, and information systems / Susan Leigh Star -- On the ethnography of cooperative work / Arne Raeithel