Yrjö Engeström, David MiddletonCambridge University PressEdition: New Ed, 8/21/2008EAN 9780521645669, ISBN10: 0521645662Paperback, 360 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.9 cmLanguage: EnglishThis book brings together contributions from researchers within various social science disciplines who seek to redefine the methods and topics that constitute the study of work. They investigate work activity in ways that do not reduce it to a 'psychology' of individual cognition nor to a 'sociology' of societal structures and communication. A key theme in the material is the relationship between theory and practice. This is not an abstract problem of interest merely to social scientists. Rather, it is discussed as an issue that working people address when they attempt to understand a task and communicate its demands. Mindful practices and communicative interaction are examined as situated issues at work in the reproduction of communities of practice in a variety of settings including: courts of law, computer software design, the piloting of airliners, the coordination of air traffic control, and traffic management in underground railway systems.1. Introductionstudying work as mindful practice Yrjö Engeström, David Middleton2. Distributed cognition in an airline cockpit Edwin Hutchins, Tove Klausen3. Constituting shared workspaces Lucy Suchman4. Seeing as situated activityformulating planes Charles Goodwin, Marjorie Harness Goodwin5. Convergent activitiesline control and passenger information on the London Underground Christian Heath and Paul Luff6. Users and designers in mutual activityAn analysis of cooperative activities in systems design Susanne Bødker, Kaj Grønbæk7. System disturbances as springboard for development of operators' expertise Leena Norros8. Expert and novice differences in cognition and activityA practical work activity Edith A. Laufer9. The tensions of judginghandling cases of driving under the influence of alcohol in Finland and California Yrjö Engeström10. Talking workargument, common knowledge and improvisation in teamwork David Middleton11. Scientific 'genius' and laboratory signatures Chandra Mukerji12. Experience and the collective nature of skill Harley Shaiken13. Working togetherSymbolic interactionism, activity theory and distributed artificial intelligence Susan Leigh Star14. On the ethnography of cooperative work Arne Raeithel.
