Talking about distributed communication and medicine: on bringing together remote and local actors

Authors:
Teun Zuiderent;Brit Ross Winthereik;Marc Berg
Affiliations:
Department of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus MC-University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands;Department of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus MC-University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands;Department of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus MC-University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, TheNetherlands
Venue:
Human-Computer Interaction
Year:
2003

Citing 9
Cited 2

Representations of work

Communications of the ACM
Making work visible

Communications of the ACM
Layers of Silence, Arenas of Voice: The Ecology ofVisible and Invisible Work

Computer Supported Cooperative Work - Special issue: a web on the wind: the structure of invisible work
Health in the New Communications Age

Health in the New Communications Age
The Camera as an ActorDesign-in-Use of Telemedicine Infrastructure inSurgery

Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Visual information as a conversational resource in collaborative physical tasks

Human-Computer Interaction
Fractured ecologies: creating environments for collaboration

Human-Computer Interaction
Ceci n'est pas un objet? talking about objects in E-mail

Human-Computer Interaction
Making the organization come alive: talking through and about the technology in remote banking

Human-Computer Interaction

Introduction to this special issue on talking about things in mediated conversations

Human-Computer Interaction
Collaboration Within Different Settings: A Study of Co-located and Distributed Multidisciplinary Medical Team Meetings

Computer Supported Cooperative Work

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Abstract

In this commentary we reflect on the articles in this special issue on computer-mediated communication (CMC) "about things." We do this from our perspective as researchers of the sociotechnical practices of developing, using, and evaluating information technologies for health care work. The relevance of the articles for a medical setting is evaluated, and we also indicate that the material embeddedness of CMC should be "unpacked." By focusing on the materiality of CMC in its working practice, we can see the otherwise invisible work that performs the ecology needed to "make a CMC work." Only when seeing these activities, and when realizing the risks of possible miscommunications, can we assess the desirability and feasibility of (telemedicine) CMC projects.