Situated Action

Workflow modeling and analysis assist systems engineers in understanding the work to be supported in context to identify the relationships between task/business process elements and the flow of activities, information, and control.  Modeling workflow assists engineering managers capture what works in the current process – and why – before making changes that may disrupt an operational capability.  Workflow models identify performance issues to uncover barriers and bottlenecks in the task/organizational process.  Modeling and analysis of current and proposed workflow help engineers and managers to define the potential sources of error and opportunities to improve performance effectiveness.

When looking out across the intellectual landscape of HCI, how do we make sense of it? More impor- tantly, how do we evaluate what constitutes legitimate investigation? As an interdisciplinary field, HCI faces challenges in incorporating sometimes conflicting intellectual approaches. While new approaches enrich our view of interaction, they can also lead to conflicting notions of methodology and validity, whose resolution remains murky without explicit discussion of their underlying epistemological commit- ments. Informal histories of HCI commonly identify two major intellectual waves that have formed the field: the first orienting from engineering and human factors with its focus on optimizing man-machine fit, and the second stemming from cognitive science, with an increased emphasis on theory and on what is happening not only in the computer but, simultaneously, in the human mind. HCI also draws on a wide variety of apparently disparate approaches, such as participatory design, si...

Resumen
¿Por qué privilegiar una entrada por las situaciones de vida tanto en la redacción de los programas de estudio como en la pedagogía? ¿Será para transmitir mejor los saberes disciplinares, contextualizándolos en las situaciones de vida ordinaria de los alumnos, lo que les permite dar sentido a lo que aprenden; o será para hacer de la experiencia de vida de los alumnos el punto de inicio de las situaciones de enseñanza/aprendizaje? En este texto, se presentan los argumentos en favor de la segunda hipótesis. La experiencia en acción —la experiencia que yo realizo en contraste con la que yo sufro— es el motor del desarrollo de una persona y de todas sus dimensiones. Todo aquello que se ha aprendido se conserva en y por esta experiencia. Todo aquello que tiene que aprender depende de esta experiencia. Toda nueva posibilidad de acción, todo nuevo recurso (cognitivo, conativo, corporal u otro) viene a intensificar la experiencia y le otorga un poder ampliado de hacer malabares con las situaciones y los contextos (acción ingeniosa). Esta experiencia también se amplía por la contribución de los recursos externos (materiales o sociales). Para una persona, ningún contexto, ningún saber, ninguna tarea, ningún problema, ningún aprendizaje… en fin, ninguna situación puede tomar sentido fuera de su experiencia en acción. En educación, un enfoque que se dice situado no puede más que basarse en la experiencia en acción de la persona.
Résumé
Pourquoi privilégier une entrée par les situations de vie, dans la rédaction des programmes d’études aussi bien que dans la pédagogie? Pour mieux transmettre des savoirs disciplinaires en les contextualisant dans les situations de la vie courante des apprenants, ce qui permet à ces derniers de donner du sens à ce qu’ils apprennent? Ou pour faire de l’expérience de la vie des apprenants le point de départ des situations d’enseignement/ apprentissage? Dans ce premier chapitre, nous présentons des arguments en faveur de la seconde hypothèse. L’expérience en action – l’expérience que je fais par contraste avec celle que je subis – est le moteur du développement d’une personne et de toutes ses dimensions. Tout ce qui est appris se conserve dans et par cette expérience. Tout ce qui est à apprendre dépend de cette expérience. Toute nouvelle possibilité d’action, toute nouvelle ressource (cognitive, conative, corporelle ou autre) vient épaissir l’expérience et octroie à l’apprenant un pouvoir élargi de jongler avec des situations et des contextes. Cette expérience s’élargit aussi par la contribution des ressources extérieures (matérielles ou sociales). Pour une personne, aucune situation, aucun contexte, aucun savoir, aucune tâche, aucun problème, aucun apprentissage… ne peut prendre sens en dehors de son expérience en action. En éducation, une approche dite située ne peut que se fonder sur l’expérience en action de la personne.

"[From back cover] The development of computing technologies have from the very beginning been tightly interwoven with the development of cooperative work. Over the last couple of decades, computing technologies are also and increasingly being developed and used for coordinative purposes, as means of regulating complex activities involving multiple professional actors, in factories and hospitals, in pharmaceutical laboratories and architectural offices, and so on. The economic importance of the applications of these coordination technologies is enormous but their design often inadequate. The problem is that our understanding of the coordinative practices, for which these coordination technologies are being developed, is quite deficient, leaving systems designers and software engineers to base their system designs on rudimentary technologies.
The research reflected in this book addresses these very problems. The book contains a series of articles that has played an important role in establishing the conceptual foundations of the research area of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). These articles are complemented by three new chapters in which CSCW’s research program is subjected to critical examination and clarification."

In response to the claim that our sense of will is illusory, some philosophers have called for a better understanding of the phenomenology of agency. Although I am broadly sympathetic with the tenor of this response, I question whether the positive-theoretic blueprint it promotes truly heralds a tenable undertaking. Marshaling a Schopenhauerian insight, I examine the possibility that agency might not be amenable to phenomenological description. Framing this thesis in terms of Charles S. Peirce’s semiotic framework, I suggest a way to integrate the idea of streaming experiences with that of bodily strivings, which, owing to their primitive structure, can never be represented.

Pourquoi privilégier une entrée par les situations de vie dans la rédaction des programmes d’études aussi bien que dans la pédagogie? Pour mieux transmettre des savoirs disciplinaires en les contextualisant dans les situations de la vie courante des apprenants, ce qui permet aux apprenants de donner du sens à ce qu’ils apprennent? Ou pour faire de l’expérience de la vie des apprenants le point de départ des situations d’enseignement/apprentissage? Dans ce chapitre, des arguments sont présentés en faveur de la seconde hypothèse. L’expérience en action —l’expérience que je fais par contraste avec celle que je subis— est le moteur du développement d’une personne et de toutes ses dimensions. Tout ce qui est appris se conserve dans et par cette expérience. Tout ce qui est à apprendre dépend de cette expérience. Toute nouvelle possibilité d’action, toute nouvelle ressource (cognitive, conative, corporelle ou autre) vient épaissir l’expérience et lui octroie un pouvoir élargi de jongler avec des situations et des contextes. Cette expérience s’élargit aussi par la contribution des ressources extérieures (matérielles ou sociales). Pour une personne, aucune situation, aucun contexte, aucun savoir, aucune tâche, aucun problème, aucun apprentissage… ne peut prendre sens en dehors de son expérience en action. En éducation, une approche dite située ne peut que se fonder sur l’expérience en action de la personne.

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[From back cover] The development of computing technologies have from the very beginning been tightly interwoven with the development of cooperative work. Over the last couple of decades, computing technologies are also and increasingly being developed and used for coordinative purposes, as means of regulating complex activities involving multiple professional actors, in factories and hospitals, in pharmaceutical laboratories and architectural offices, and so on. The economic importance of the applications of these coordination technologies is enormous but their design often inadequate. The problem is that our understanding of the coordinative practices, for which these coordination technologies are being developed, is quite deficient, leaving systems designers and software engineers to base their system designs on rudimentary technologies.
The research reflected in this book addresses these very problems. The book contains a series of articles that has played an important role in establishing the conceptual foundations of the research area of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). These articles are complemented by three new chapters in which CSCW’s research program is subjected to critical examination and clarification.

Our current understanding of the role of the social environment in crime causation is at best rudimentary. Guided by the theoretical framework of Situational Action Theory, and using data from the ESRC financed Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+), this paper aims to propose how we can better theorise and study the role of the social environment, particularly the person and place interaction, in crime causation. We will introduce, and illustrate the usefulness of, a space–time budget methodology as a means of capturing people’s exposure to settings and describing their activity fields. We will suggest and demonstrate that, combined with a small area community survey and psychometric measures of individual characteristics, a space–time budget is a powerful tool for advancing our knowledge about the role of the social environment, and its interaction with people’s crime propensity, in crime causation. Our unique data allows us to study the convergence in time and space of crime propensity, criminogenic exposure and crime events. As far as we are aware, such an analysis has never before been carried out. The findings show that there are (a) clear associations between young people’s activity fields and their exposure to criminogenic settings, (b) clear associations between their exposure to criminogenic settings and their crime involvement, and, crucially, (c) that the influence of criminogenic exposure depends on a person’s crime propensity. Having a crime-averse morality and strong ability to exercise self-control appears to make young people practically situationally immune to the influences of criminogenic settings, while having a crime-prone morality and poor ability to exercise self-control appears to make young people situationally vulnerable to the influences of criminogenic settings.

This intervention contributes to recent work in urban geography that integrates the conceptual frameworks of assemblages and actor-network theory by highlighting two additional directions that require a more rigorous and detailed theorization. The first direction concerns the relationship between contingency and necessity in urban assemblages and actor-networks and this paper delineates four specific propositions as a starting point for further reflection. The second direction suggests that urban assemblages and actor-networks require a more explicit vocabulary for thinking about competition and cooperation within and between cities. To this end, the paper introduces a new concept – delayed asymmetric counterforces – that can foster a better understanding of competition-induced urban change and destabilization. The novel concept is developed in conjunction with a typology of delays in competitive urban dynamics, which helps illuminate how delayed asymmetric counterforces are both a cause and an effect of the complexity inherent in the urban realm.

By definition, elder abuse research touches upon topics also covered by criminological theories. However, up until now, attempts to apply criminological theories to this field of research are scarce and the potential of criminological theory to enhance the understanding of elder abuse phenomena appears underdeveloped. The paper explores potentials and limitations of applying both theories and their related concepts from

Abstract
Ongoing action, that is, what a patient in situation actually does to treat certain symptoms, can be distinguished from the technical knowledge whereby action is codified, that is, rendered as text (images, words, schemas, speech, videos, etc.) that the patient is taught in therapeutic education courses. This distinction suggests two different approaches to therapeutic education, one focused on the acquisition of techniques and the other on the development of action. Methods: The two approaches are elucidated through an analogy between learning how to swim (outside the water or in the water) and learning how to manage one’s diabetes (in a therapeutic education course or in everyday life). The first approach presupposes the efficacy of technical and scientific knowledge and favours a type of therapeutic education in which the primary objective is to transmit that knowledge to the patient. It remains questionable, however, just to what extent the acquisition of such knowledge affects the real actions of the patient in her everyday life. An alternative to the technical-scientific approach is the enactive approach, which focuses on the diabetic as a whole person who evolves in the process of acting in situation, that is, by actively dealing with her real-life situations. Results: The authors propose the ASKAR method — the term ASKAR is an acronym referring to the five components of experience: Action, Situation, Knowledge, Attitude and Resource — as a tool to help the diabetic person, with the support of her caretakers, to enrich and enlarge her experience so that she may become increasingly responsible for managing her life and consequently her diabetes. From this perspective, the aim of patient therapeutic education stretches beyond that of self-care and self-management to embrace true self-realization.

Résumé
L’action en cours, ce que fait effectivement le patient en situation pour traiter certains symptômes, se différencie du savoir technique, c’est-à-dire de l’action codifiée, mise en texte (images, mots, de schémas, paroles, vidéos, etc.) qu’il apprend dans des cours d’éducation thérapeutique. Méthodes : Deux approches de l’ETP en découlent : l’approche techniciste et l’approche énactive (en action). Les deux approches sont contrastées à partir d’une analogie entre l’apprentissage de la natation (en dehors de l’eau et dans l’eau) et l’apprentissage de la gestion du diabète (dans les cours d’éducation thérapeutique et dans la vie quotidienne). L’approche techniciste prête foi en l’efficacité des savoirs techniques et scientifiques et privilégie une formation thérapeutique qui se donne pour objectif de les transmettre au patient. On peut se demander jusqu’à quel point l’acquisition de ces savoirs techniques influent sur les actions réelles du patient dans sa vie quotidienne. L’alternative à l’approche techniciste est l’approche énactive : elle est centrée sur la personne diabétique qui évolue en faisant face aux situations de la vie quotidienne dans et par l’action. Résultas : Une méthode ASCAR — acronyme formé de la première lettre des cinq concepts suivants : Action, Situation, Connaissance, Attitude et Ressource — est proposée avec pour objectif de permettre à la personne diabétique, accompagnée des soignants-éducateurs, d’enrichir et d’élargir son expérience afin de progresser vers une prise en charge de sa vie et conséquemment de son diabète. Dans cette perspective, la finalité de l’ETP devient, au-delà des autosoins et de l’autoadaptation, la réalisation de soi.

ABSTRACT: I argue that embodied cognition research exhibits a striking imbalance of experimental progress and theoretical clarification. In particular, the concept of grounding—now one of the theoretical cornerstones of the embodied cognition movement—remains unilluminated. A major lacuna of Pecher & Zwaan's (2005) volume, 'Grounding Cognition', as a whole, is that it fails to articulate just what the grounding relation actually is. Subsequently, this volume exemplifies the need for a new direction in embodied cognition. Now more than ever, concepts like EMBODIMENT and GROUNDING are in dire need of some plain old-fashioned conceptual analysis.

Embodiment is a multifaceted concept. We contribute to a clearer understanding of embodiment theories by suggesting three broad distinctions useful for comparing different approaches: whether they aim for experiential or objective accounts, focus on the body or the context, and whether emphasis lies on cognitive structure or practice.

Activity theory as a supportive framework in design of navigation equipment This study reports on the use of Activity Theory as a supportive framework in a design process. Crews on Fast Patrol Boats in the Royal Norwegian Navy were observed during high-speed navigation in coastal waters. The unit of analysis was the navigation team of five persons in their work.

The received understanding of the status of formal organizational constructs in cooperative work is problematic. The paper shows that the empirical evidence is not as strong as we may have believed and that there is evidence from other studies that contradicts what we may have taken for granted for years. This indicates that the role of formal constructs is more differentiated than generally taken for granted. They not only serve as ‘maps’ but also as ‘scripts’.

Institutional theory has proven to be a central analytical perspective for investigating the role of larger social and historical structures of Information System (IS) adaptation. However, it does not explicitly account for how organizational actors make sense of and enact IS in their local context. We address this limitation by showing how sensemaking theory can be combined with institutional theory to understand IS adaptation in organizations. Based on a literature review, we present the main assumptions behind institutional and sensemaking theory when used as analytical lenses for investigating the phenomenon of IS adaptation. Furthermore, we explore a combination of the two theories with a case study in a health care setting where an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system was introduced and used by a group of doctors. The empirical case provides evidence of how existing institutional structures influenced the doctors’ sensemaking of the EPR system. Additionally, it illustrates h...

Kreplak Yaël, 2017, « Voir une œuvre en action. Une approche praxéologique de l’étude des œuvres », Cahiers du CAP, n° 5, p. 189-213.

Fondé sur une enquête ethnographique réalisée au service des collections contemporaines du Musée national d’art moderne, cet article voudrait mettre en lumière quelques-unes des caractéristiques du travail de la conservation des œuvres dites complexes de la collection. Plus spécifiquement, je m’intéresse à la façon dont les œuvres sont constituées en objet d’étude par les professionnels amenés à les prendre en charge dans différentes situations, et aux multiples comptes rendus que ces derniers produisent, sous des formes diverses (rapports, notes, propos échangés...). L’étude des œuvres, abordée à la fois comme activité située et comme production documentaire, est alors investie comme une modalité observable des différentes formes d’attention qui sont portées aux œuvres dans l’institution. Trois analyses de cas (Takis, Rauschenberg et Ben) me permettent d’argumenter en faveur d’une approche écologique des œuvres, qui consiste à aborder de manière dynamique les relations qui se nouent entre les œuvres, les professionnels et l’institution.

Mots-clé : œuvres complexes, conservation, dossier d’œuvre, sociologie de l’art, écologie de l’art.

Notre recherche s’interesse a un objet d’etude original : les ambiances sonores cinematographiques. Intuitivement, l’expression « ambiance sonore » d’un film ou d’un moment d’un film peut volontiers exprimer une sensation globale apportee conjointement par l’ensemble des elements de la bande sonore. Ce serait alors comme une atmosphere qui par le sonore creerait un climat particulier, penetrerait les images, envahirait le film et deviendrait presente a l’esprit du spectateur. Mais dans le cas qui nous concerne, l’ambiance, meme si elle entretient des liens certains avec le sens commun d’un ressenti et d’une impression d’ensemble (comme decrit ci-dessus), est a considerer differemment. L’ambiance sonore qui concerne nos travaux de recherche est moins difficile a cerner et a circonscrire ; elle est plus simplement l’un des quatre elements constitutifs de la bande sonore. En effet, dans le son d’un film l’ambiance est mise en association avec les voix, les musiques et les bruits. Cette...

The situated action perspective, which embraces a diversity of views, challenges several of the fundamental assumptions of the symbolic information-processing framework underlying cognitive science and artificial intelligence. In this paper, we consider the following issues: symbolic representations, plans and actions, distributed cognition, and the transfer of learning. We evaluate each of these issues in terms of research and theories in clinical cognition and examine the implications for education and training, and for the integration of intelligent systems in medical practice. We argue for a reconceptualization of the symbolic framework in terms of the way the role of internal representations and cognitive activities are perceived. However, symbolic representations are integral to medical cognition and should continue to be central in any theoretical framework. A re-examination of cognitive science in medicine in terms of the relationship among physicians, technology, and the workplace could prove to be constructive in bridging the gap between theory and practice.

Families approaching the turn of the century are faced with a variety of economic forces that confront their very existence. This thematic issue of the Journal of Family and Economic Issues explores some of these critical factors and the types of adaptive strategies that families have or can incorporate. This article addresses how qualitative microanalysis, especially as informed through symbolic interaction theory, might help us better investigate, describe, analyze, understand, build theory about, and provide appropriate interventions for all families, especially those at risk. This article also highlights the contribution made by each author in this thematic issue.

The received understanding of the status of formal organizational constructs in cooperative work is problematic. The paper shows that the empirical evidence is not as strong as we may have believed and that there is evidence from other studies that contradicts what we may have taken for granted for years. This indicates that the role of formal constructs is more differentiated than generally taken for granted. They not only serve as 'maps' but also as 'scripts'.

This paper illuminates the potential of diversely embodied sporting cultures to challenge ableism, the ideology of ability. Ableism constructs the able body as conditional to a life worth living, thus devaluing all those perceived as ‘dis’-abled. This hegemonic ideology develops into a ‘logic of practice’ through a cultural appropriation of body’s lived complexity, by reducing it to symbolic dichotomies (able/disabled). The path to challenge ableism is then to restore body’s complexity, by turning attention toward its lived embodied existence. Drawing upon an ethnographic study of a sitting volleyball (SV) community, we condense multiple data sources into a sensuous creative non-fiction vignette to translate the physical embodied culture of the sport. In exploring SV physicality through the ethnographic vignette, it is our intention to activate the readers’ own embodiment when interpreting and co-creating this text. By placing the reader in the lived reality of playing SV, we hope t...