Embodied Practices of Engineering Work.

Suchman, L. (2000) Embodied Practices of Engineering Work. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 7 (1&2). pp. 4-18. ISSN 1074-9039

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

This article explores relationships between activity theoretic and ethnomethodological studies of work and its objects, with specific reference to the case of design practices in civil engineering. My starting point is the shared interest of activity theory and ethnomethodology in the place of artifacts in everyday working practice. I review briefly some basic premises of first ethnomethodological, then activity theoretic studies of artifacts-in-use. I then offer a preliminary account of computer-aided and paper-based design work in civil engineering, informed by both perspectives. My account emphasizes the multiplicity of media and associated objects involved in the work of engineering on the one hand, and their integration in practice into a coherent field of action on the other. The article concludes by returning to the question of relationships between ethnomethodology and activity theory, focusing on differences in their respective stances toward theory itself.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Mind, Culture, and Activity
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/libraryofcongress/hm
Subjects:
?? EDUCATIONLANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICSSOCIAL PSYCHOLOGYCOGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCECULTURAL STUDIESANTHROPOLOGYDEVELOPMENTAL AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGYHM SOCIOLOGY ??
ID Code:
19179
Deposited By:
Users 810 not found.
Deposited On:
28 Oct 2008 15:23
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
19 Sep 2023 23:55