Configuring Awareness

  • Authors:

  • Christian Heath;Marcus Sanchez Svensson; Jon Hindmarsh; Paul Luff; Dirk vom Lehn

  • Affiliations:

  • Work, Interaction and Technology Research Group, The Management Centre, King's College London, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, UK;Work, Interaction and Technology Research Group, The Management Centre, King's College London, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, UK;Work, Interaction and Technology Research Group, The Management Centre, King's College London, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, UK;Work, Interaction and Technology Research Group, The Management Centre, King's College London, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, UK;Work, Interaction and Technology Research Group, The Management Centre, King's College London, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, UK

  • Venue:
  • Computer Supported Cooperative Work
  • Year:
  • 2002

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Abstract

The concept of awareness has become ofincreasing importance to both social andtechnical research in CSCW. The concept remainshowever relatively unexplored, and we stillhave little understanding of the ways in whichpeople produce and sustain `awareness' in andthrough social interaction with others. In thispaper, we focus on a particular aspect ofawareness, the ways in which participantsdesign activities to have others unobtrusivelynotice and discover, actions and events, whichmight otherwise pass unnoticed. We consider forexample how participants render visibleselective aspects of their activities, how theyencourage others to notice features of thelocal milieu, and how they encourage others tobecome sensitive to particular events. We drawexamples from different workplaces, primarilycentres of coordination; organisationalenvironments which rest upon the participants'abilities to delicately interweave a complexarray of highly contingent, yet interdependentactivities.