Formal tools (i.e., those tools that operate on circumscribed input using rules and that
contain a model of the workplace in which they are supposed to function) are attributed
central roles in organizing work within many modern workplaces. How should one
comprehend the power of these tools? Taking the (electronic) medical record as an
example, this article builds on recent calls to overcome the dichotomy between the formal
and the informal and proposes an understanding of the generative power of such tools
that does not attribute mythical capacities to either tool or human work. To do so, it is
important to look both at the history offormal tools and to their real-time use in concrete
work practices. These steps toward a sociology of the formal are crucial for a more
comprehensive understanding and evaluation offormal systems in practice.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Agre, P.E.1994. Surveillance and capture: Two models of privacyThe Information Society10:101-27.
2.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language1976. New York: Dell.
3.
Berg, M.1996. Practices of reading and writing: The constitutive role of the patient record in medical workSociology of Health and Illness18:499-524.
4.
—. 1997. Rationalizing medical work: Decision support techniques and medical practicesCambridge: MIT Press.
5.
—. Forthcoming. Heidegger® Inc. and the Garfinkel⇓Copier: What use for social theory in designing technology?
6.
Berg, M., and G. Bowker.Forthcoming. The multiple bodies of the medical record: Towards a sociology of an artefactSociological Quarterly .
7.
Bijker, W. E., and J. Law, eds. 1992. Shaping technology—Building society: Studies in sociotechnical change.Cambridge : MIT Press.
8.
Bowers, J.1992. The politics of formalism In Contexts of computer mediated communication, edited by M. Lea, 232-62. Hassocks, UK: Harvester.
9.
Bowker, G.1994. Science on the run: Information management and industrial geophysics at Schlumberger, 1920-1940Cambridge: MIT Press.
10.
Button, G., ed. 1993. Technology in working order: Studies of work, interaction, and technology.London: Routledge.
11.
Button, G., and R.H.R. Harper.1993. Taking the organisation into accounts In Technology in working order: Studies of work, interaction, and technology, edited by G. Button, 98-107. London : Routledge.
12.
Casper, M.1994. At the margins of humanity: Fetal positions in science and medicineScience, Technology, & Human Values19:307-23.
13.
Clarke, A. E., and J. H. Fujimura, eds. 1992. The right tools for the job: At work in twentieth-century life sciences.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
14.
Collins, H.M.1990. Artificial experts: Social knowledge and intelligent machinesCambridge: MIT Press.
15.
Dick, R. S., and E. B. Steen, eds. 1991. The computer-based patient record: An essential technology for health care.Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
16.
Dodier, N.1995. Les hommes et les machinesParis: Métailié.
17.
Dreyfus, H.1992. What computers still can't do: A critique of artificial reasonCambridge: MIT Press.
18.
Engeström, Y.1990. When is a tool? Multiple meanings of artifacts in human activity In Learning, working and imagining , edited by Y. Engeström, 171-95. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit Oy.
19.
Engeström, Y., and V. Escalante.1996. Mundane tool or object of affection? The rise and fall of the postal buddy In Context and consciousness: Activity theory and human-computer interaction, edited by B. Nardi, 325-73. Cambridge: MIT Press .
20.
Garfinkel, H.1967. Studies m ethnomethodologyEnglewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
21.
Gasser, L.1986. The integration of computing and routine workACM Transactions on Office Information Systems4:205-25.
22.
Haraway, D.J.1991. Simians, cyborgs, and women: The reinvention of natureNew York: Routledge.
23.
Henderson, K.1991. Flexible sketches and inflexible data bases: Visual communication, conscription devices, and boundary objects in design engineeringScience, Technology, & Human Values16:448-73.
24.
Hughes, J.A., and J. King.1992. Paperwork. CSCW report, COMIC-LANCS-4-1Lancaster, UK: COMIC-LANCS Project.
25.
Hutchins, E.1995. Cognition in the wildCambridge: MIT Press.
26.
Jordan, K., and M. Lynch.1992. The sociology of a genetic engineering technique: Ritual and rationality in the performance of the "plasmid prep." In The right tools for the job: At work in twentieth-century life sciences, edited by A. E. Clarke and J. H. Fujimura, 77-114. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
27.
Kidder, T.1981. The soul of a new machineLondon: Allen Lane.
28.
Latour, B.1987. Science in actionMilton Keynes, UK : Open University Press.
29.
-. 1994. The "pédofil" of Boa Vista: A photo-philosophical montageCommon Knowledge4:144-87.
30.
-. 1996. Social theory and the study of computerized work sites In Information technology and changes in organizational work, edited by W. J. Orlikowski, G. Walsham, M. R. Jones, and J. I. DeGross, 295-307. London: Chapman & Hall.
31.
Lave, J.1988. Cognition in practiceCambridge, UK : Cambridge University Press.
32.
Law, J., and A. Mol.ForthcomingOn hidden heterogeneities: The design of an aircraft.
33.
Luff, P., C. Heath, and D. Greatbatch.1992. Tasks-in-interaction: Paper and screen-based documentation in collaborative activity In Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work , edited by J. Turner and R. Kraut, 163-70. New York: ACM.
34.
Markussen, R.1994. Dilemmas in cooperative design In PDC'94: Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference , edited by R. Trigg, S. I. Anderson, and E. Dykstra-Erickson. Palo Alto, CA: Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility .
35.
Noble, D.F.1984. Forces of productionNew York: Knopf.
36.
Ritzer, G.1992. The McDonaldization of society: An investigation into the changing character of contemporary social lifeThousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge.
37.
Robinson, M.1994. Intimacy & abstraction & maps & terrainsPaper presented at "Locating Design, Development and Use," 13-18 May, Oksnoen, Norway.
38.
-. Forthcoming. "As real as it gets ... ": Taming models and reconstructing procedures In Social science, technical systems, and cooperative work, edited by G. Bowker, L. Gasser, L. Star, and B. Turner. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum .
39.
Rotman, B.1994. Ad infinitum...: The ghost in Turing's machineStanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
40.
Singleton, V. and M. Michael.1993. Actor-networks and ambivalence: General practitioners in the U.K. cervical screening programmeSocial Studies of Science23:227-64.
41.
Star, S.L.1989a. Layered space, formal representations and long-distance control: The politics of informationFundamenta Scientiae10:125-54.
42.
-. 1989b. The structure of ill-structured solutions: Boundary objects and heterogeneous distributed problem solving In Distributed artificial intelligence, Vol. 2, edited by M. Huhns and L. Gasser, 37-54. London: Pitman.
43.
-, ed. 1995. Ecologies of knowledge: Work and politics in science and technology.New York: State University of New York Press.
44.
Suchman, L.1987. Plans and situated actions: The problem of human-machine communicationCambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
45.
-. 1993. Technologies of accountability: Of lizards and aeroplanes In Technology in working order: Studies of work, interaction, and technology, edited by G. Button, 113-26. London : Roudedge.
46.
-. 1994. Working relations of technology production and useComputer Supported Cooperative Work2:21-39.
47.
Suchman, L., and R.H. Trigg.1993. Artificial intelligence as craftwork In Understanding practice: Perspectives on activity and context, edited by S. Chaiklin and J. Lave, 144-78. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
48.
Weizenbaum, J.1976. Computer power and human reason: From judgment to calculationSan Francisco: Freeman.
49.
Wilkinson, B.1983. The shopfloor politics of new technologyLondon: Heinemann Educational Books.
50.
Wood, D.1992. The power of mapsNew York: Guilford.
