The mystery of the missing referent: objects, procedures, and the problem of the instruction follower

Authors:
Timothy Koschmann;Curtis LeBaron;Charles Goodwin;Paul Feltovich
Affiliations:
Southern Illinois University, Springfield, IL;Brigham Young University, Provo, UT;University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA;University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
Venue:
CSCW '06 Proceedings of the 2006 20th anniversary conference on Computer supported cooperative work
Year:
2006

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Abstract

An omni-relevant issue for workplace studies is how participants engaged in joint activity make sense of the objects that constitute their shared material environment. In this study we examine a surgery taped in a teaching hospital to explore how formal procedures make relevant certain sorts of objects and, at the same time, are constituted through them. We proceed by unpacking one particular strip of talk and demonstrate how its determinate sense rests upon a vernacular understanding of unfolding procedure. We treat surgical procedures as sequences of projected instructions. Competent design of technologies intended to support cooperative work must rest ultimately on an intimate understanding of that work's organization. The practices of instantiating objects and followintg procedures are foundational to that organization. This paper is intended to provide method and vocabulary for studying and describing such matters.