The Mystery of the Missing Referent: Objects, Procedures, and the Problem of the Instruction Follower

Keywords

referential practice, gesture, workplace studies

Abstract

The 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 following procedures are foundational to that organization. This paper is intended to provide method and vocabulary for studying and describing such matters.

Original Publication Citation

Koschmann, T., LeBaron, C., Goodwin, C., & Feltovich, P. (November 2006). The mystery of the missing referent: Objects, procedures, and the problem of the instruction follower. Paper presented at the 20th Annual Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Work, Banff, Canada.

Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2006

Publisher

Computer Supported Cooperative Work Conference

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Marketing

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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