Posted by
Michael Agar on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ethnography-and-information-systems-tp519925.html
Ray's topic suggestions are good ones. Steve and I talked some about
another angle, applying the Sapir-Whorf hypthesis from ling anthro (that
language and habitual patterns of thought co-evolve) to "speakers" of
different computer languages and seeing how that plays out in project
teams.
I don't know this territory as well as I should, given my new life as a
planet in the FRIAM orbit, but from colleagues' stories way back when
I'm pretty sure the human/machine interface emphasis came out of the
pioneering use of ethnographers at Xerox PARC together with the infuence
of Latour's theories that technology must also be viewed as an actor in
a situation. John Seely Brown, the PARC-man who made this happen, tells
some of the stories in his book the Social Life of Information,
co-authored with Paul Duguid.
Mike
In a message dated 1/4/2005 2:15:08 PM Eastern Standard Time, "Raymond
C. Parks" <
[hidden email]> writes:
>Tom Johnson wrote:
>
>> All:
>>
>> At some point Friday past the discussion turned briefly to
ethnography
>> and information systems. I had recently seen the following citation
>> and attach the appropriate paper.
>>
>> *Ethnography of Information Systems -- Course Syllabus* paper
>> <PAPERS/STAR/LIS450EI.PDF>
>
> Looking at the attached syllabus reminded me of computer science
>coursework in systems analysis. The emphasis on human-machine
interface
>and cybernetics doesn't seem to be ethnography, in either the
>traditional or expanded sense (from Mike Agar's encyclopedia article).
>
> I would have thought the coursework would include more emphasis on
>the various cultures (traditional ethnography) of the cyber domain as
>well as subjects such as the problem of how a systems analyst
interprets
>user requirements through personal filters (expanded sense of
ethnography).
>
>--
>Ray Parks
[hidden email]
>IDART Project Lead Voice:505-844-4024
>IORTA Department Fax:505-844-9641
>
http://www.sandia.gov/idart Pager:800-690-5288
>
>
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