Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Of Maps and Scripts (1997)

The Status of Formal Constructs in Cooperative Work

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Cooperative Work and Coordinative Practices

Part of the book series: Computer Supported Cooperative Work ((CSCW))

  • 958 Accesses

Abstract

Thanks to impressive CSCW systems such as TeamWorkStation (Ishii, 1990), GroupDesk (Fuchs et al., 1995), wOrlds (Fitzpatrick et al., 1996), and TeamRoom (Roseman and Greenberg, 1996), to name but a few, it is by now widely accepted that computer artifacts can provide effective support for cooperative work by offering a ‘shared space’ through which actors can interact directly, i.e., by means of generic competencies such as talking, gesturing, pointing, monitoring etc., without other restraints than the constraints of limited bandwidth and so on.

Kjeld Schmidt: “Of maps and scripts: The status of formal constructs in cooperative work,” in S. C. Hayne and W. Prinz (eds.): GROUP’97: Proceedings of the ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work, 16–19 November 1997, Phoenix, Arizona, ACM Press, New York, 1997, pp. 138–147.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    This does not mean that the distinction between following a rule and breaking a rule is obliterated. ‘To do so would be to violate an essential feature of a rule; i.e., that it be possible to determine whether or not the rule was correctly applied. [This] determination is left to persons whose task it is to decide such matters.’ (Zimmerman, 1966, p. 155).

  2. 2.

    Standard operating procedures are, of course, instrumental in defining what constitutes an ‘error’ in a particular setting and how to detect whether or not there is an error and what kind of error it might be. The point I want to make here, however, is that a procedure may work quite differently under routine conditions and under breakdowns.

  3. 3.

    The term ‘protocol’ is used here to denote a formal organizational construct which regulates the coordination of cooperative work.

  4. 4.

    For discussions of Wittgenstein’s analysis of the use of rules, cf. Lynch (1993) and Shanker (1987a)

References

  • Bittner, Egon: ‘The concept of organization’, Social Research, vol. 32, no. 3, Autumn 1965, pp. 239–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, John M.: ‘The politics of formalism’, in M. Lea (ed.): Contexts of Computer-Mediated Communication, Harvester, New York, NY, 1992, pp. 232–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, John M.; Graham Button; and Wes W. Sharrock: ‘Workflow from within and without: Technology and cooperative work on the print industry shopfloor’, in H. Marmolin; Y. Sundblad; and K. Schmidt (eds.): ECSCW’95: Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, 10–14 September 1995, Stockholm, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1995, pp. 51–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bucciarelli, Louis L.: ‘Engineering design process’, in F. A. Dubinskas (ed.): Making Time: Ethnographies of High-Technology Organizations, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1988b, pp. 92–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carstensen, Peter H.; Carsten Sørensen; and Tuomo Tuikka: ‘Let’s talk about bugs!’, Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, vol. 7, no. 1, 1995b, pp. 33–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carstensen, Peter H.: Computer Supported Coordination, Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde, 1996. – Risø-R-890(EN).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dourish, Paul, et al.: ‘Freeflow: Mediating between representation and action in workflow systems’, in G. M. Olson; J. S. Olson; and M. S. Ackerman (eds.): CSCW’96: Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, 16–20 November 1996, Boston, MA, ACM Press, New York, NY, 1996, pp. 190–198.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Dubinskas, Frank A.: ‘Cultural constructions: The many faces of time’, in F. A. Dubinskas (ed.): Making Time: Ethnographies of High-Technology Organizations, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1988, pp. 3–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzpatrick, Geraldine; Simon M. Kaplan; and Tim Mansfield: ‘Physical spaces, virtual places and social worlds: A study of work in the virtual’, in G. M. Olson; J. S. Olson; and M. S. Ackerman (eds.): CSCW’96: Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, 16–20 November 1996, Boston, MA, ACM press, New York, NY, 1996, pp. 334–343.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, Ludwin; Uta Pankoke-Babatz; and Wolfgang Prinz: ‘Supporting cooperative awareness with local event mechanisms: The GroupDesk system’, in H. Marmolin; Y. Sundblad; and K. Schmidt (eds.): ECSCW’95: Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, 10–14 September 1995, Stockholm, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1995, pp. 245–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goody, Jack: The Logic of Writing and the Organization of Society, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goody, Jack: The Interface Between the Written and the Oral, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grinter, Rebecca E.: ‘Supporting articulation work using software configuration management systems’, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): The Journal of Collaborative Computing, vol. 5, no. 4, 1996a, pp. 447–465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harper, Richard H. R.; John A. Hughes; and Dan Z. Shapiro: The Functionality of Flight Strips in ATC Work: The report for the Civil Aviation Authority, Lancaster Sociotechnics Group, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, January 1989b.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heritage, John C.: Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology, Polity Press, Cambridge, MA, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchins, Edwin L.: ‘Mediation and automatization’, Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition [University of California, San Diego], vol. 8, no. 2, April 1986, pp. 47–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ishii, Hiroshi: ‘TeamWorkStation: Towards a seamless shared workspace’, in T. Bikson and F. Halasz (eds.): CSCW’90: Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, 7–10 October 1990, Los Angeles, CA, ACM Press, New York, NY, 1990, pp. 13–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kreifelts, Thomas; Elke Hinrichs; and Gerd Woetzel: ‘Sharing to-do lists with a distributed task manager’, in G. De Michelis; C. Simone; and K. Schmidt (eds.): ECSCW’93: Proceedings of the Third European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, 13–17 September 1993, Milano, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1993, pp. 31–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman, Donald A.: ‘Cognitive artifacts’, in J. M. Carroll (ed.): Designing Interaction: Psychology at the Human-Computer Interface, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1991, pp. 17–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, Yvonne: ‘Coordinating computer-mediated work’, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): An International Journal vol. 1, no. 4, 1993, pp. 295–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, Kjeld: ‘Riding a tiger, or computer supported cooperative work’, in L. J. Bannon; M. Robinson; and K. Schmidt (eds.): ECSCW’91: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, 24–27 September 1991, Amsterdam, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1991a, pp. 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selznick, Philip: ‘Foundations of the theory of organization’, American Sociological Review, vol. 13, 1948, pp. 25–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shanker, Stuart G.: Wittgenstein and the Turning-Point in the Philosophy of Mathematics, Croom Helm, London and Sydney, 1987a.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Suchman, Lucy A.: ‘Office procedure as practical action: Models of work and system design’, ACM Transactions on Office Information Systems, vol. 1, no. 4, October 1983, pp. 320–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suchman, Lucy A.: Plans and Situated Actions: The Problem of Human-Machine Communication, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suchman, Lucy A.: ‘Technologies of accountability: On lizards and airplanes’, in G. Button (ed.): Technology in Working Order. Studies of Work, Interaction, and Technology, Routledge, London and New York, NY, 1993b, pp. 113–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Symon, Gillian; Karen Long; and Judi Ellis: ‘The coordination of work activities: Cooperation and conflict in a hospital context’, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): The Journal of Collaborative Computing, vol. 5, no. 1, 1996, pp. 1–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trevor, Jonathan; Tom A. Rodden; and Gordon Blair: ‘COLA: A lightweight platform for CSCW’, in G. De Michelis; C. Simone; and K. Schmidt (eds.): ECSCW’93: Proceedings of the Third European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, 13–17 September 1993, Milano, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1993, pp. 15–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wynn, Eleanor H.: Office Conversation as an Information Medium, PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman, Don Howard: Paper Work and People Work: A Study of a Public Assistance Agency, PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 1966.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Organization, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Kjeld Schmidt

Authors
  1. Kjeld Schmidt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer-Verlag London Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Schmidt, K. (2008). Of Maps and Scripts (1997). In: Cooperative Work and Coordinative Practices. Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84800-068-1_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84800-068-1_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-84800-067-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-84800-068-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation