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Technology and social interaction: the emergence of ‘workplace studies’
Author(s) -
Heath Christian,
Knoblauch Hubert,
Luff Paul
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
the british journal of sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.826
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1468-4446
pISSN - 0007-1315
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-4446.2000.00299.x
Subject(s) - situated , sociology , ethnography , social media , public relations , work (physics) , social relation , knowledge management , social science , political science , computer science , engineering , mechanical engineering , artificial intelligence , anthropology , law
Despite the substantial body of literature concerned with the ways in which digital media are transforming contemporary society and institutional life, we have relatively little understanding of the ways in which new technologies feature in day to day organizational conduct and interaction. There is however a growing corpus of empirical research which places the situated and contingent character of new technologies at the heart of the analytic agenda, but as yet, these studies are relatively little known within sociology. They include ethnographies of command and control centres, financial institutions, the news media, and the construction industry. They address the ways in which tools and technologies, ranging from paper documents through to complex multimedia systems, feature in work and collaboration. In this paper, we discuss these so‐called ‘workplace studies’ and consider their implications for our understanding of organizational conduct, social interaction and new technology.