Abstract
Ethnography is now one of the key approaches usedwithin the CSCW community to specify the role ofcomputer based systems in work practice. Yet whatethnography involves as a program of inquiries is onlydiscussed in a piecemeal way in the literature. Thispaper attempts to make up for that absence bydescribing one fieldwork program (or programme)developed over a number of projects in whichethnography has been allied with computer systems andwork practice design. The discussions will be ofinterest to both expert practitioners of ethnographyand novices.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, R.J. (1992): Representations and Requirements: The Value of Ethnography in System Design. Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 9, pp. 151–182.
Anderson, R.J. (1994): Beating the Bounds: Who's the Community? What's the Practice? Human-Computer Interaction. Special Issue on Context in Design, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 42–46.
Anderson, R.J. (1997): Work, Ethnography and System Design. Encyclopaedia of Microcomputing, vol. 20, pp. 159–183.
Anderson, R.J., J.A. Hughes and W.W. Sharrock (1989): Working for Profit: The Social Organisation of Calculation in an Entrepreneurial Firm. Aldershot: Avebury.
Atkinson, P. (1990): The Ethnographic Imagination, Textual Constructions of Reality. London: Routledge.
Bannon, L. and K. Schmidt (1992): Taking CSCW Seriously: Supporting Articulation Work. Computer Supported Cooperative Work: An International Journal, vol. 1, no. 1–2, pp. 7-40.
Blau, P. (1955): The Dynamics of Bureaucracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Blomberg, J., J. Giacomi, A. Mosher and P. Swenton-Hall (1992): Ethnographic Methods and their Relation to Design. In D. Schuler and A. Namioka (eds): Participatory Design: Principles and Practices. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Button, G. and R.H.R. Harper (1996): The Relevance of 'Work-Practice' for Design. Computer Supported Cooperative Work: An International Journal, vol. 4, pp. 263–280.
Clifford, J. and G.E. Marcus (eds) (1986): Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Dalton, M. (1950): Men Who Manage. New York: Wiley.
Davenport, T.H., R.G. Eccles and L. Prusak (1992): Information Politics. Sloan Management Review, Fall, pp. 53–65.
Feyerabend, P. (1975): Against Method. London: New Left Books.
Geertz, C. (1973): The Interpretation of Cultures. USA: Basic Books.
Glasser, L. (1986): The Integration of Computing and Routine Work. ACM Transactions on Office Systems, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 205–225.
Goffman, E. (1959): The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Hammondsworth: Penguin Books.
Goffman, E. (1961): Asylums. Chicago: Aldine.
Grudin, J. and R. Grinter (1995): Ethnography and Design. Computer Supported Cooperative Work: An International Journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 55–59.
Hammersley, M. and P. Atkinson (1983): Ethnography: Principles in Practice. London: Tavistock.
Harper, R.R., J.A. Hughes and D.Z. Shapiro (l989a): Working in Harmony: An Examination of Computer Technology in Air Traffic Control. Proceedings of the First European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Gatwick, pp. 73–87.
Harper, R.R., J.A. Hughes and D.Z. Shapiro (1989b): The Functionalities of Flight Data Strips. Kingsway, London: CAA.
Harper, R.H.R. (1991a): Review of 'The Ethnographic Imagination: Textual Constructions of Reality'. Sociology, the Journal of the British Sociological Association, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 140–141.
Harper, R.H.R. (1991b): The Computer Game: Detectives, Suspects and Technology. British Journal of Criminology, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 292–307.
Harper, R.H.R. (1996): Why People Do and Don't Wear Active Badges: A Case Study. Computer Supported Cooperative Work: An International Journal, vol. 4, pp. 297–318.
Harper, R.H.R., K. O'Hara and A.J. Sellen (1996): Documents in Action: A Case Study of Anaesthetists at Papworth Hospital. Confidential: Rank Xerox and Papworth Hospital Trust.
Harper, R.H.R. (1998): An Ethnography of Documents. Technology and Organisational Action. London, San Diego: Academic Press.
Harper, R., J. Hughes, D. Randall, D. Shapiro and W. Sharrock (in press): Order in the Skies: Sociology, CSCW, and Air Traffic Control. London: Routledge.
Hochey, J.C. (1986): Squaddies: Portrait of a Subculture. Exeter: Exeter University Press.
Hughes, J.A., D.Z. Shapiro, W.W. Sharrock, R.R. Anderson, R.H.R. Harper and S. Gibbons (1988): The Automation of Air Traffic Control, SERC/ESRC Grant No. GR/D/86157.
Hughes, J.A., D. Randall and D. Shapiro (1993a): From Ethnographic Record to System Design: Some Experiences from the Field. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, vol. 1.
Hughes, J., V. King, J. Mariani, T. Rodden and M. Twidale (1993): Paperwork and its Lessons for Data Base Systems. Proceedings of the 12th Schaerding International Workshop on Design of Computer Suported Cooperative Work and Groupware Systems, 1–3 June 1993.
Hughes, J., V. King and T. Rodden (1994): Moving Out of the Control Room: Ethnography in Systems Design. CSCW '94. Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, October 1994. Chapel Hill, NC: ACM Press, pp. 429–440.
Jirotka, M., N. Gilbert and P. Luff (1992): On the Social Organisation of Organisations. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, vol. 1, nos. 1–2, pp. 95-119.
Jordon, B. (1996): On Ethnography. In D. Shaprio, M. Tauber and Trauanmuellwem (eds): The Design of Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Groupware Systems. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Latour, B. and S. Woolgar (1986): Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts, 2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Latour, B. (1987): Science in Action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Latour, B. (1988): The Pasteurization of France, translated by A. Sheridan and J. Law. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Lofland, J. (1971): Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Luff, P., N. Gilbert and D. Frohlich (eds) (1990): Computers and Conversation. London: Academic Press.
Lynch, M. (1982): Technical Work and Critical Inquiry: Investigations in a Scientific Laboratory. Social Studies of Science, vol 12, pp. 499–534.
Lynch, M. (1985a): Art and Artifact in Laboratory Science. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Lynch, M. (1985b): Discipline and the Material Form of Images: An Analysis of Scientific Visibility. Social Studies of Science, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 36–37.
Lynch, M. (1988): The Externalized Retina: Selection and Mathematization in the Visual Documentation of Objects in the Life Sciences. Human Studies, vol. 11, pp. 201–234.
Nardi, B. (1993): A Small Matter of Programming: Perspectives on End User Computing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Norman, D. (1998): The Invisible Computer. Boston: MIT Press.
Plowman, L., Y. Rogers and M. Ramage (1995): What are Workplace Studies for? ECSCW '95. Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Stockholm, Sweden, 10–14 September, 1995. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 309-324.
Pycock, J. and J. Bowers (1996): Getting Others to Get it Right: An Ethnography of Design Work in the Fashion Industry, CSCW '96. Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, Boston, MA, USA, 16–20 November 1996. Chapell Hill: ACM Press, pp. 219-228.
Randall, D., M. Rouncefield and J. Hughes (1995): Chalk and Cheese: BPR and Ethnomethodologically Informed Ethnography on CSCW. ECSCW '95. Proceedings of the Conference on European Computer Supported Cooperative Work, pp. 325–340.
Randall, D., M. Twidale and R. Bentley (1996): Dealing with Uncertainty-Perspectives in the Evaluation Process. In P.J. Thomas (ed): CSCW Requirements and Evaluation. London: Springer, pp. 141–155.
Rouncefield, M., J. Hughes and T. Rodden (1994): Working with 'Constant Interruption': CSCW and the Small Office. CSCW'94. Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Chapel Hill, NC: ACM Press.
Ryle, G. (1958a): Thinking and Reflecting. In: Collected Papers.
Ryle, G. (1958b): The Thinking of Thoughts. In: Collected Papers.
Ryle, G. (1963): Concept of the Mind. London, Hammondsworth: Penguin.
Shapiro, D.Z., J.A. Hughes, D. Randall and R. Harper (1991): Visual Re-representation of Database Information: The Flight Data Strip in Air Traffic Control. Proceedings, of the 10th Interdisciplinary Workshop on 'Informatics and Psychology': Cognitive Aspects of Visual Language and Visual Interfaces, Scharding, Austria, May 1991.
Shapiro, D. (1994): The Limits of Ethnography: Combining Social Sciences for CSCW. In: CSCW '94. Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, October 1994. Chapel Hill, NC: ACM Press, pp. 417–428.
Skolnick, J. (1966): Justice Without Trial: Law Enforcement in a Democratic Society. New York: Wiley.
Suchman, L. and E. Wynn (1984): Procedures and Problems in the Office. Office: Technology and People, vol. 2, pp. 133–154.
Van Maanen, J. (1988): Tales from the Field. On Writing Ethnography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Van Maanen, J. (ed) (1995): Representation in Ethnography. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Wieder, D.L. (1974): Language And Social Reality: The Case of Telling The Convict Code. The Hague: Mouton.
Wittgenstein, L. (1993): Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough. Translated by A. Miles. Harleston, Norfolk: Brymill Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harper, R.H.R. The Organisation in Ethnography –A Discussion of Ethnographic Fieldwork Programs in CSCW. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 9, 239–264 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008793124669
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008793124669