A language/action perspective on the design of cooperative work

  • Authors:
  • Terry Winograd

  • Affiliations:
  • Computer Science Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

  • Venue:
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Year:
  • 1987

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Abstract

In creating computer-based systems, we work within a perspective that shapes the design questions that will be asked and the kinds of solutions that are sought. This article introduces a perspective based on language as action, and explores its consequences for system design. We describe a communication tool called The Coordinator, which was designed from a language/action perspective; and we suggest how further aspects of coordinated work might be addressed in a similar style. The language/action perspective is illustrated with an example based on studies of nursing work in a hospital ward and contrasted to other currently prominent perspectives.