ITWD

Question 1

What is our RQ and SQ

Answer 1

RQ
How does the air traffic control tower use cooperative artefacts in the day-to-day workflow?

And furthermore, try to answer the sub-question:

How does the individual navigate within the team and with the available artefacts?

Question 2

What will our study uncover?

Answer 2

The study will uncover how these artefacts influence work processes, communication, and overall coordination within the tower.

Question 3

What does it mean to do an ethnography research?

Answer 3

Short:
what are people actually doing (different in what people say they do, and what we can observe them doing)

Long quote
Ethnography is a way of developing a descriptive understanding of human activities. Insofar as such an understanding can be brought to bear on designing new technologies, its role as a mechanism for change must be considered. To greater and lesser degrees of new technologies always result in change for the communities into which they are introduced.”

(Blomberg et al. 2017) p. 5

Question 4

What are the four main principles that guide ethnographic work?

Answer 4

Natural settings:

• Ethnography is grounded in field work
• studie the activities of people in their everyday settings
• note down if the interviews are being done in some that could be characterised as not ‘natural’ - a meeting room or something like that.

Holism:

• the belief that behaviours can only be understood in the everyday context in which they occur - important not to have a isolated view going into fieldwork

Descriptive:

• descriptive understanding of the lifeways of the group studied
• describing whatever they do, and not coming into the fieldwork with a bias
• describe how people actually behave and not how they ought to behave

Members’ point of view:

• understanding the world from the point of view of those studied
• get as close to their point of view as possible

Question 5

What is CSCW?

Answer 5

Computer-Supported Cooperative Work: research field concerned with how cooperation unfolds and is supported by technology

Question 6

What is Articulation Work?

Answer 6

Articulation work is a practice where actors use verbal and non-verbal communication and everything in-between to document what they are doing, what they understand about that, and how this relates to others.

Articulation Work: the integration and connection of people, artefacts, and information
- Invisible to rationalized models of work

All the work that makes a job/ work possible

Ex when something breaks down at ITU, the teachers have to do something out of their official work description to ensure that they can continue their work as a teacher – teaching

Question 7

What is Invisible work?

Answer 7

To describework that goes unpaid, unacknowledged, and thus, unregulated—abounds in the workplace. The tasks included in a job, that might not be noticed or mentioned in the work description, but without it the would be a lot different (more messy) e.g. cleaning jobs

Question 8

What does workaround mean in the context of ITWD

Answer 8

It’s a way of dealing with a problem or making something work despite the problem, without completely solving it

Question 9

What is Collaborative Work?

Answer 9

Individuals mutually interdependent “working together with one or more people to complete a project or task or develop ideas or processes.”

Question 10

What is Center of coordination?

Answer 10

A group organized to coordinate the planning and operational aspects of a multi-center clinical trial - a good example is the flight tower coordinating airport traffic

• Actors coordinate a complex array of distributed activities
• Division of labour + coordination of complex array of simultanous tasks

Question 11

What is GDPR and what does it stand for?

Answer 11

General Data Protection regulation - GDPR governs the way in which we can use, process, and store personal data (information about an identifiable, living person.

Question 12

What is the five-stage model of skill acquisition

Answer 12

1. Novice
2. Advanced beginner
3. Competent
4. Proficent
5. Expert

Question 13

What is the ‘Of maps and scripts the status of formal constructs in cooperative work Schmidt (1999)’ teach us ?

Answer 13

It teaches us the crucial role of Artefacts in simplifying the coordination of activities

“More specifically, as far as coordinative protocols are concerned, such protocols convey a precomputation of task interdependencies which assists actors in reducing the complexity of coordinating their activities.”
(Schmidt 1999, p.144)

The text also substantiates a significant point regarding the role of artefacts as mediators. Artefacts in the workplace serve a bigger purpose than tools for carrying out tasks, they are essential facilitators of collaboration and coordination among team members.

Question 14

What is a mediator?

Answer 14

A person who attempts to make people involved in a conflict come to an agreement; a go-between.

Question 15

What is the text ‘Taking CSCW seriously: Supporting Articulation Work’ from Schmidt and Bannon (1992) about?

Answer 15

The text delves into the topic of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, and articulation work.

An important section of the text discusses how cooperative work involves the creation and maintenance of a shared information space.

It gives an example of when individuals meet face-to-face, they utilize the full advantages of in-person communication to achieve a mutual understanding of the discussed topics. However, someone who joins post-meeting is left with low communication, such as notes, and must interpret the discussion’s content from these clues.

Question 16

What is the text ‘Organizations and work’ in ‘Fieldwork for Design’ by Randall et al. (2007) about?

Answer 16

It delves into the transition to digital tools and how they often involve a transformation in the workplace, where digital artefacts become central to the coordination mechanisms.

They also address the important topic of how digital artefacts facilitate cooperative work, emphasizing that humans and objects are equal actors in system construction.

Question 17

What is the text ‘Design for unanticipated use…’ Robinson (1993) about?

Answer 17

It’s the theory of common artefacts and how critical the reliability and functionality of such tools are to collaborative workspaces.

“Common artefacts need to be predictable (and hence dependable) to the people using them.”

Question 18

What is the text Technology and social interaction: the emergence of ‘workplace studies by Heath et al. (2000) about

Answer 18

It delves into the limited understanding on how new technologies impact day-to-day organizational conduct.

The paper explores the interesting topic of how tools and technologies affect work and collaboration. It discusses these “workplace studies” and their implications for our understanding of organizational conduct, social interaction, and new technology

The most important concept from this text is center of coordination, this term, a reference to Suchman

Question 19

What is the text Intuitive, Deliberative, and Calculative Models of Expert Performance by Dreyfus (1997) about?

Answer 19

It enlightens us with the model of the 5 stages of acquisition
1. Novice
2. Advanced beginner
3. Competent
4. Proficent
5. Expert

Question 20

What is a semi-structured interview and why did we use this methode?

Answer 20

Where the researcher and participant set some broad parameters to a discussion

We did it because if the discussion moved away from the area we talked about, to issues more “relevant” to the respondents, we saw this as an opportunity to learn more, rather than a situation to be avoided

Question 21

What is the elemental methods as a coding strategy?

Answer 21

Elemental methodes are used under the open coding state, when you wanna start making text into codes. There are 3 diffrent kinds of Elemental methods.

Descriptive coding: summarises in a word or a short phrase, the basic topic of a passage of qualitative data.

In vivo coding: uses words or phrases from the participant’s own language in the data record as codes.

Process coding: uses gerunds to connote observable and conceptual action in the data.

Miles M.B., et. al(2018).

Question 22

What is Descriptive coding?

Answer 22

summarises in a word or a short phrase, the basic topic of a passage of qualitative data.

An example:
I worked at a hospital, I had many good people around me to support me in good and bad times throughout the workday… that’s how we do it at work. *

• Workplace

An example from our paper:

“Someone from tower comes into the kitchen and approaches the standby employee from Lower Floor - they talk about real estate” (Appendix 14). This was condensed into ‘non-work-related conversation’

Question 23

What is In vivo coding?

Answer 23

Uses words or phrases from the participant’s own language in the data record as codes.

An examaple:
text: I walked home from school, I gotta admit I hated that school*, but it was a good walk**

• Hated school
  ** Good walk

Question 24

What is process coding?

Answer 24

It uses gerunds to connote observable and conceptual action in the data.

gerunds = a verb form which functions as a noun, in English ending in -ing (e.g. asking in do you mind my asking you? ).

An example:
I walked over a long bridge at the way home, on a hot sunny day*. Had a few to many beers so was a bit tipsy.**

• Walking home
  ** Drinking beer / getting tipsy

An example from our paper

“but if it starts to affect one’s traffic and professionalism and level of service and security then of course it is also wrong to talk privately” (Appendix 2, translated). This sentence was summarized as, “Chatting is OK if work quality is good”.

Question 25

What is AFFECTIVE METHODS?

Answer 25

Affective methods in qualitative research focus on identifying and interpreting emotions, values, and judgments expressed by participants. These methods capture the emotional and attitudinal aspects of data, providing insight into participants’ experiences, beliefs, and perspectives .

Here are the diffrent kinds of coding.
*Emotion coding: labels the emotions recalled or experienced by the participant
Particularly appropriate for studies that explore interpersonal participant experiences and actions

*Values coding: reflects participants values, attitudes and beliefs representing perspectives or a worldview
Value: the importance we attribute to ourselves, another person, a thing or idea
Belief: part of a system that includes values and attitudes, personal knowledge, experience, opinions, prejudices, morals, and other interpretive perceptions of the social world

*Evaluation coding: judgements about the merit, worth or significance of programs or policy.

*Dramaturgical coding: appropriate for exploring intrapersonal participant experiences and actions in case studies, power relationships and the processes of human motives and agency.

Question 26

What is axial coding?

Answer 26

It’s the step after open coding.
You are sorting your codes into categories. This is to increase the level of abstraction, making associations and establishing relations between codes.

Question 27

What is SELECTIVE CODING?

Answer 27

It is when you are selecting the most predominant categories emerging in your data and creating an overarching concept
Moving from categories to key concepts,
What are your data a case of?

Question 28

What was the most vital ways of communication in general at the empire. ( page 22)

Answer 28

First and foremost, we noticed clear indicators of the many different communication systems, thus we observed how verbal communication seemed to be one of the most vital ways of communication. In our interview with Obi-Wan, he explained that during rush hours verbal communication increased in terms of work-related commands

Question 29

Jeopardy questions - “..used code language and their alphabet such as ‘bravo’ for a quick and effective communication”

Answer 29

What is the phonetic alphabet

Question 30

Screen 4 (left to right ) has a lot of information about gates, categorized in colors. What does the diffrent colors mean?

White, Grey, Light blue, Orange, Yellow, Light yellow

Answer 30

“White - Indicates that the information is not relevant.

Grey - Indicates that a parking space is occupied, possibly by a large vehicle or a plane, and it is not something that is about to move or transport.

Light Blue - Indicates readiness for action, as in the case of British Airways being ready to depart for London. It was specifically mentioned that this color indicates that the aircraft is ready if someone new, like another flight controller, takes over control, knowing immediately that it is ready.

Orange - Indicates a time to move or transport. For instance, it popped up to indicate to British Airways that it is their turn to transport, suggesting a change in slot time or immediate readiness for action.

Yellow - Indicates a fault or something broken, specifically when referring to an operational or technical issue that needs attention.’

Light Yellow - Indicates that a vehicle has recently arrived at the parking space, used to identify and hold information about the vehicle temporarily in case there are issues like the absence of stairs or other needs.”

Question 31

How do digital tools like electronic strips improve coordination and awareness in the workplace according to Randall et al. (2007)?

Answer 31

Randall et al. (2007) state that digital tools like electronic strips enhance coordination by making flight information more visible and accessible, allowing team members to stay aware of the situation without constant communication.

Question 32

Any problems with artifacts malfunctioning?

Answer 32

The screen in the far left corner malfunctioned.

The issues highlighted by Yoda underscore significant challenges related to outdated technology and its maintenance.
The struggle with the non-functioning screen is not just a technical issue but also impacts the workflow and communication within the control tower.

Question 33

who talks about the concepts Maps and scripts?

Answer 33

(Schmidt 1999).

Question 34

An example where you can see Dreyfus theory of experts in the text

Answer 34

Even though it, at first, did not look like the employees were conducting anything work related, this was not the case. Instead, they were constantly scanning the ground to look for potential changes and unexpected situations. A skill acquired through years of repetition, showing that every employee is an expert (Dreyfus 1997).

page 29

Question 35

How does Schmidt and Bannon’s theory of cooperative work apply to the workplace observed in the study?

Answer 35

Schmidt and Bannon’s theory shows that the workplace operates on mutual dependence, where employees coordinate and rely on each other’s expertise and timely actions to get their tasks done efficiently.

Question 36

How do methods of brightness control in control towers reflect Mike Robinson’s theory on common artefacts?

Answer 36

According to Robinson’s theory, common artefacts like brightness controls are integral to workflows and must be dependable. The simple rotary knob is effective for air traffic control because it allows rapid adjustments, whereas the complex, multi-step software approach highlights how poor design can hinder efficiency and response in high-pressure environments

Question 37

How does the color-coded system in control towers illustrate the theories of Randall et al. (2007) and Schmidt and Bannon (1992)?

Answer 37

The color-coded system mediates cooperative work by creating a shared information space, enhancing situational awareness and enabling quick decision-making, which aligns with Randall et al.’s emphasis on digital artefacts and Schmidt and Bannon’s concept of maintaining shared information.

Question 38

How do electronic strips in control towers serve as mediators of cooperative work according to Schmidt (1999)?

Answer 38

Electronic strips act as mediators by providing nonverbal interaction, visually displaying flight statuses, and reducing cognitive load, which aligns with Schmidt’s idea that artefacts play a crucial role in coordinating cooperative work.

Question 39

How does Yoda’s interaction with IT support illustrate Mike Robinson’s theory on common artefacts?

Answer 39

Yoda’s handling of faults highlights Robinson’s theory that common artefacts must be reliable and seamlessly integrated into operations. When these tools fail, they disrupt workflows, emphasizing the need for effective support mechanisms to maintain efficiency in collaborative workspaces.

Question 40

What is the role of the sequence manager in air traffic control, and why is its current placement problematic?

Answer 40

The sequence manager structures the flow of time-sensitive operational information, crucial for maintaining an orderly sequence of flights. Its current placement at the outbound position is problematic because it is more needed at the inbound position for managing incoming flights and updating clearances. This misplacement hinders efficient communication and operational efficiency.

Question 41

How does Suchman’s theory of ‘centres of coordination’ relate to Dreyfus’s ‘5 stages of skills acquisition’ in high-stakes environments?

Answer 41

Suchman’s theory of ‘centres of coordination’ aligns with Dreyfus’s concept of expertise, the final stage of his ‘5 stages of skills acquisition’. In high-stakes environments like air traffic control, only individuals at the expert stage, who can act on immediate intuitive response and handle complex tasks with precision, are present. This level of expertise is crucial for managing the critical responsibilities inherent in such centers.

Question 42

What are the key findings from the study of the ATC tower?

Answer 42

The key findings include the importance of structured tasks and clearly defined roles, extensive use of verbal communication and cooperation among ATCo’s, and the critical role of artefacts in facilitating nonverbal communication and situational awareness. Reliable and intuitive artefacts are crucial for maintaining operational efficiency, and outdated technology can lead to inefficiencies, highlighting the need for continuous updates and strategic placement of tools.

Question 43

What were the limitations acknowledged in the study

Answer 43

1. Lack of knowledge surrounding codes and context
2. Being a very noticeable fly on the wall
3. 5 students can’t fix these problems in 2 days

1.The study acknowledged difficulties in understanding the codes and context of the radiofrequency system, which complicated the note-taking process. This limited the ability to fully analyze and write about how ATCos use the radio and communicate with planes, affecting the depth and clarity of the analysis.

2. ATCos responded positively, appreciating the unique questions and the effort the researchers put into observing their workplace before formulating them. They found the questions more relevant and engaging compared to typical surveys. However, the challenge of being a passive observer was noted as ATCos occasionally wanted to explain their actions during the observation, which made us become an active observer.
3. Our assistance to the Empire’s workplace reconfigurations was limited to minor inconveniences, reflecting the already highly functional nature of air traffic controllers’ workspaces. Employee attention and expertise drove ongoing redesign processes, addressing most areas in need of improvement. Although routine sometimes obscured areas for enhancement, ethnographic research proved crucial in identifying opportunities for positive change.

Question 44

What is mutual dependencies

Answer 44

“Being mutually dependent in work means that ‘A’
relies positively on the quality and timeliness of ‘B’s
work and vice versa”

Question 45

What is Bjørn & Rødje, 2008
Triage Drift: A workplace study in a pediatric emergency department about?

Answer 45

At first sight everything seems as individual work, but it entails cooperation, coordination, overview
More complex and refined than one would think

Aim:
Show that focus on tacit and invisible work is important when designing technology  support the flexibility required

Question 46

What does (Crang, Cook, 2007 ‘Doing Ethnographies. Chapter 4 “Participant observation”, Chapter 5 “Interviewing”’) teach us?

Answer 46

Tips to an interview
- “What do you mean when you say …?”
- “Can you tell me more about how it can be that you do this, not that?”
- “How did you get involved, interested, enrolled?”

Recordings
Make sure equipment works (all voices can be heard)
Make scratch notes – non-verbal aspects can be noted during the interview
Seek informed consent + subject anonymity

Transcribing
Time consuming, if you do not have the time
- Write up/ sum up
- Examples by quoting
- Use time as an indicator

Question 47

what is Triage work

Answer 47

Triage is a form of process management that fast tracks incoming workflow by priority so the most critical work is attended to first. For example, it is how emergency rooms assess priority for patient care in hospitals. It also is used by companies needing faster workflows for projects under tight deadlines or based.

Question 48

What is explicit knowledge?

Answer 48

Knowledge that easily can be expressed, codified and/or recorded for people to understand. One does not necessarily need to be an expert nor proficient within the field to wither understand or further convey the knowledge

Question 49

What is Tacit work/knowledge?

Answer 49

Knowledge that most often experts or proficient personal have, and this knowledge that they have will be hard to explain to someone who is not an expert within the field. Moreover, will it be difficult to transfer the knowledge.

Question 50

What is Forsythe responses to these assumptions?

• Anyone can do it
• Being an insider qualifies
• Ethnography is no systematic methodology
• Just chat with people, and report what they say
• Just ask people
• Patterns exist, just gather them

Answer 50

• Anyone can do it (questioning the taken for granted)
• Being an insider qualifies (overlooks tacit assumptions)
• Ethnography is no systematic methodology (careful concious approach, reflexivity)
• Just chat with people, and report what they say (understanding and analysis)
• Just ask people (more than what people say they do)
• Patterns exist, just gather them (careful gathering of data + analysis)

Question 51

what is Cooperative Work?

Answer 51

Mutual dependent in work, people have to coordinate their activities, connects distributed tasks
-> cooperation needed in order to get work done

One relying positively on quality and timelines of anothers work and vice versa

Question 52

What is Deductive approach?

Answer 52

Knowing what we are looking for
Looking at things from the top down
Conclusion making from evidence and reflections on it
Testing theory data

From general to specific:
Research drawing from existing theories to analyze and verify hypothesis (based on known facts but not proved yet)

Theory -> Hypothesis -> Data Collection -> Results -> Confirm or reject hypothesis -> Revision of theory

Question 53

What is Inductive approach?

Answer 53

In this course, we primarily do inductive research -> conduct fieldwork and analyze impirical material to generate theories

What is going on here?
Looking at things from the bottom up
Explainatory and emergent enterprise
Decisions and discoveries made as you go
New comulative learnings provide evidence and build a case
From the specific to the general
Developing theories from data

Can be done with both qualitative and quantitative data:
We primarly analyze qualitative data, from observations and interviews

Observations (data) -> Analysis (results) ->Hypothesis (theory)

Question 54

What is ‘Plans and Situated Action (SUCHMAN ,1987) About?

Answer 54

She studied people using/ failing to use copy machines featuring big screen buttons on them

Result: the design of the copiers “user friendly” interface made to “know” what the users were trying to do, was fundamentally flawed

The goal oriented and plan-based models of human conduct, which form basics for HCI + cognitice science has shortcomings
- Diminish the importance of immediate context of conduct

Meaning of plans, scripts, rules: dependent on the circumstances in which they are invoked

Formalism: subject to the contingencies arising in actual ‘practical situations of choice’ – ruling plans, scripts, etc. Depending: on ordinary common-sense abilities and reasoning of individuals for their deployment and intelligibility

We can only understand tech, and their various actions involved by considering how they work with practical action and with regard to circumstances (in which mundane activities are produced)

Question 55

What is Suchmans view on Maps and Scripts?

Answer 55

Plans don’t dictate our actions step by step, they guide us helping us to use our surroundings to our advantage and avoid potential problems through immediate action

Question 56

What is ‘Layers of Silence, Arenas of Voices: The Ecology of Visible and Invisible Work (Star, Strauss, 1999)’ about?

Answer 56

Invisible Work
Visibility of invisible work can lead to more surveillence and paperwork

What counts as work does not depend on a set of indicators, instead it depends on the definition of the situation

Things that might look like ‘not real work’ while actually it is practices that make this real work function more smoothly

Breakdown situation
This is where invisible work becomes visible

Creating a non-person
The product of work is visible but the person is invisible
Disembedding background work
The workers are visible, but the work they perform is invisible or related to a background of expectations

Abstraction and manipulation of indicators
Both people and work might be defined as invisible

Two cases

1 – when productivity is quantified through a series of indirect indacators

2 – the products of work are commodities purchased at a distance from the setting of the work

Relationship between visible and invisible
Ask what is work and to whom it might be visible/invisible

Question 57

What is Schmidt, 1999s Critique of Suchman

Answer 57

Disagree with statement: that plans don’t dictate action

• We follow the general rules of the protocol, without searching for reason not to do so or negotiating whether we should

Kanban system: determines action in a far stronger sense than the map of a traveler (determines travelers movements)
- Says its more like a script than a map

Lack of empirical evidence in Suchman’s statement
-> introducing that organizational construct can either function as a map (Suchman) or as a script

Question 58

What is Tuchman and Schmidt view on a checklist?

Answer 58

Suchman: Checklists guide actions in sequence and standardize procedures, reducing individual control.

Schmidt: While checklists provide structure, they must be flexible for different contexts and unforeseen events. Reducing local control is necessary for safety but should be balanced with adaptability and integration with other tools.

Question 59

Dreyfus mentions GOFAI - What is it?

Answer 59

“Good Old Fashioned Artificial Intelligence”

The mind works with mental presentations of the world
- More facts = larger immage gallery (used to make sense of the world)

Reasoning: made up by rules on how the mind and the world should be matched, formalized into logic

Question 60

What is ‘Suchman, 2002 Located Accountabilities in Technology Production’ about?

Answer 60

The text is about Lucy Suchman’s 2002 work, “Located Accountabilities in Technology Production,” which discusses the role and responsibilities of social scientists and designers in the creation and implementation of technology.

Key Points:

• Workflow Influence: Social scientists bring their own perspectives, affecting how workflows are understood and designed, based on their learned knowledge.
• Design Approaches:
  
  • Design from Nowhere:
    The idea of creating technical systems that are meant to be universally applicable and detached from specific contexts.
  • Design from Somewhere:
    Advocates for design that is context-sensitive and acknowledges the specific settings where the technology will be used.
• Detached Intimacy: Designers are engaged closely with corporate goals but remain distanced from the actual sites of technology use.
• Located Accountability: Emphasizes the responsibility of designers and social scientists to account for their own perspectives and the specific contexts in which technology is produced and used.
• Construction and Communication: Highlights the need to understand and convey the social relations and user interactions involved in technology use, ensuring that recommendations are effectively communicated to and implemented by those who need them.

Question 61

What is Randalls critique towards suchmans 1980 view

Answer 61

While Suchmans work is focused on things going wrong/ not working

Randall suggest the importance of observe/ analyse when things go according to plan
- observing how things work normally, allow us to see how work is planned and organized

Question 62

What is Sequences of action by ‘Design for unanticipated use’ (Robinson, 1993)?

Answer 62

(Today more likely seen as algorithms, or systems) – like a spam filter for your mail

The text provides different empirical evidence from other cases where computal systems implemented was not valued by the users, they would rather control this themselves
- also highlighting how ‘fancy’ functions proved to be ignored by the users, as they prefered simplicity of a task

Ex. The spam filter
The users did not trust it, and would rather a function where they themselves could filter their mail in different folders/ categories

Question 63

What is Implicit communication?

Answer 63

Much communication is mediated through/by the material it works on
- like reading states of work objects as signs

Ex. FLIGHT STRIPS!!!
Flight progress strips contain information on each flight – not pads but not personal ones.  we mostly saw it in the change of color and information on the strips, and the possibility to move them around on the screen depending on status

Question 64

Lecture 11 the debate. What was it about?

Answer 64

The four papers are part of a discussion from 1990s

The papers are discussing ‘The Coordinator’
- a computer program which is being built to help teams understand communication within a workplace

A tool for interorganizational comunication (like email)
- sends conflict notifications/reminders
- filters and visualize current ongoing conversations

System for: managing action, grounded theory of linguistic commitment + completion of conversations

Seen as an instructor, monitoring one’s actions, keeping track of temporal relations, and warning of potential breakdowns

Question for debate:
“Should the coordinator be implemented in workplaces?”

Question 65

What is Suchman, 1994 opinion in the coordinator and speech Act Theory?

Answer 65

She is against the coordinator and the speech act theory as she is concerned that this will categorize people based on whoever gets to decide this categorization. People categorize others differently, and can end up in a situation where the tool is misused to discipline people. Highlights that we force predefined systems instead of guiding technology lightly while it follows its own course.

Question 66

What is Winograd, 1994
Categories, Disciplines, and Social Coordination
Creator of the Speech Act Theory, opinion on the coordinator and Speech Act Theory?

Answer 66

Argues that Suchman misunderstands the goal of the theory, and that it is not implemented to negatively discipline, but rather to structure the adaption/ how people interpret whatever people find in their environment – people already reproduce existing social structure. He highlights that it not a matter if this technology should be used, but rather how to use it in the right way to understand and keep track on interactions.

Question 67

What is Ethnography and design (Grudin, Grinter, 1995)’s view on the coordinator?

Answer 67

They are very neutral in the case by agreeing to both ealier texts. However they imply that there is no way to know if this is a good or bad technology before trying it out (try and error). Design of technology is evolving, and we are starting to incorporate social knowledge. This could be a learning experience, and has great possibilities  together this could work, it is open to reconfigurations and no technology will be helpful or fully understood in the initial stages of implementing it.

Question 68

What is ‘Categories: Concept, Content and Context (Orlikowski, 1995)’s view on the coordinator?

Answer 68

Another neutral text, but it disagrees more with both Suchman and Winograd. It shreds light on the duality of categorization and how it both contraints and allows for certain actions. However these constraints/ enablings can be perceived differently by different users, and their different roles. Also before we as Suchman directly conclude that The Coordinator would be used for control, we might consider the users options of neglecting, adjusting, etc. the category system.

Question 69

Why Using Dreyfus and Heath et. al for individual exam?

Answer 69

Could be interesting to look into, however a deep dive would make more sense if we had the opportunity to follow trainees in the process of becoming an Air Traffic Controller. Since we only had a brief interaction with one of these on the first day. But it would be silly not to mention this theory because it is presumably very very rare to have a workplace with actors that only consists of level 5 expertise - Experts

Question 70

Why using Blomberg, Giacomi, et al, 1993 for oral exam?

Answer 70

Ethnographic field methods study how people work together by observing them naturally. They use theories like CSCW to understand group dynamics, with strategies involving both passive and active observation. Ethnography focuses on what people actually do in real-life settings.

• how can this be interpret in relation to our report?

On our first day of observation, we intended all observations to be passive or “fly on the wall.” However, we ended up combining passive observation with participant observation. This may have resulted in uneven responses, where some observations adhered to the ethnographic principle of “Description – prescription,” focusing on what people actually do rather than what they are supposed to do (ideal vs. manifest behavior).

Question 71

Why using Data work: Bossen et al, 2019 for oral exam?

Answer 71

Agency:

The tool taking part in structuring: what to do, when to do it, and in what order

Lists, tables, plans, paper, computer screens, whiteboards, etc.

Organize work, enabling handling of complex cooperation of distributed actors

Data Ecosystem:

• Any human activity related (or labour of) to creating, collecting, managing, curating, analyzing, interpreting, and communicating data
• I.e. the process from when a plane announces it is ready to leave early, to the ATCo analyzing and process this data on the screen and communicating this (Through another screen) to the service in brussels that then communicate with the end destination airport. After all of this the data is then transmitted back and it is decided whether or not approval for early departure is given.
• YODA Said it like this “Data samles omkring kapacitet og luftfart som siger hey, hvis nu der er nogle andre, bliver forsinket. Der skal til London, så er British Airways har vist København klar til at få den tid, så derfor så kan der faktisk være, at den dér tid lige nu må man starte 9 47 det kunne være den blev.”

Question 72

Why using Triage work Bjørn & Rødje, 2008 for oral exam?

Answer 72

Triage Work: Triage isa form of process management that fast tracks incoming workflow by priority so the most critical work is attended to first. For example, it is how emergency rooms assess priority for patient care in hospitals. It also is used by companies needing faster workflows for projects under tight deadlines or based.

• Triage work is like managing an airport control tower, where staff must decide which planes get the runway. They have a schedule which they follow but they must be somewhat adaptable/flexible if there is a emergencies landing.
  
  • Also, something as simple as a small plane being allowed to cut in line in front of a big plane can happen because there is a rule that you are not allowed to fly 2 minutes after a big plane takes off. Therefore, they can prioritize a small airplane taking off in front.

Question 73

Why using Sequence of action - Robinson (1993): for oral exam?

Answer 73

This is maybe a far reach, but..

• In the case of the centre of coordination we observed, one of the employees emphasized how they believed that their work process - the verbal-communication - would be replaced with a non-verbal communication. As we have emphasized throughout the assignment through the observations, is that verbal-communication is one of their main tools for operation and one of the main ways that they are communicating. However, with the evolution of modern technology, their main work could replaced with more technical technology and maybe the incorporation of AI systems.
• How does this correlate with Robinsons idea of ‘Sequence of action’
• Unanticipated use: in each case the designers has specific ways of operation in mind, but when the users took in into their own use, they reconstructed in to match their actual work
• Emphasizing that a practice is better conceptualized when put into use by the actual users, not only by information from analysis and practice
  
  • maybe correlating this with how the designers had “good” ideas for the architectural design of the building, however that the idea had shown only to course problems and they had to design artefacts that could help them solve these problems
• The auto-bin system - people dismissed the idea, they lost overview over their data, they wanted control over what they did not see and what they had the ability to see.

Question 74

Give an example of Located accountability in technology production - Suchman:

Answer 74

An example of a system that caused issues was created by an engineer. Users had to log in and look away from the window, which interfered with their job of needing to look out the window. On the other hand, a successful technology production was the gate screen and microphone built by an ATC. The system worked perfectly as intended. The microphone had two built-in buttons – one for all radio channels and one for only. The gate screen had a perfect color-coded system that made it easy to understand, and when the shift ended the new employee could quickly get an overview of the situation.