Christian Heath

Collaboration and controlCrisis management and multimedia technology in London Underground Line Control Rooms

Despite technical advances over the past few years in the area of systems support for cooperative work there is still relatively little understanding of the organisation of collaborative activity in real world, technologically supported, work environments. Indeed, it has been suggested that the failure of various technological applications may derive from their relative insensitivity to ordinary work practice and situated conduct. In this paper we discuss the possibility of utilising recent developments within sociology, in particular the naturalistic analysis of organisational conduct and social interaction, as a basis for the design and development of tools and technologies to support collaborative work. Focussing on the Line Control Rooms in London Underground, a complex multimedia environment in transition, we begin to explicate the tacit work practices and procedures whereby personnel systematically communicate information to each other and coordinate a disparate collection of tasks and activities. The design implications of these empirical observations, both for Line Control Room and technologies to support cooperative work, are briefly discussed.

Disembodied conduct: communication through video in a multi-media office environment

In the following paper we disettss some findings of recent research concerning the organisation of video mediated communication in collaborative work in a dispersed, multimedia office environment. Based on the detailed, naturalistic analysis of video-recordings of individuals collaborating on various tasks through audio-visual links, we describe the ways in which the technology transforms nonverbal and verbal conduct, introducing certain asymmetries into the social interaction between users. It is argued that such communicative asymmetries may facilitate, rather than hinder, certain forms of collaborative work and provide a foundation for the emergence of new forms of sociability in the work place. What of the hands? We require, promise, call, dismiss, threaten, pray, supplicate, deny, refuse, interrogate, admire, number, confess, repent, confound, blush, doubt, instruct, admire, number, confess, repent, confound, blush, doubt, instruct, command, incite, encourage, swear, testify, accuse, condemn, absolve, abuse, despise, defy, flatter, applaud, bless, humiliate, meek, reconcile, recommend, exalt, entertain, congratulate, complain, grieve, despair, wonder, exclaim, ....There is not a motion that does not speak and in an intelligible language without discipline, and a public language that everyone understands. Montaigne 1952 pp. 215-216

Media space and communicative asymmetries: preliminary observations of video-mediated interaction

Despite the growing interest in using audio-visual technologies to support communication and collaborative work among individuals in different locations, we still have relatively little understanding of the organization of video-mediated interaction. In the following article, we discuss some findings of recent research concerning interpersonal communication in a sophisticated multimedia office environment. Based on the detailed naturalistic analysis of individuals collaborating on various tasks during their day-to-day working lives, we explore the extent to which the media space provides a satisfactory means for interpersonal communication and ordinary sociability. In particular, the research suggests that audio-visual technology introduces certain asymmetries into interpersonal communication that can transform the impact of visual and vocal conduct. These communicative asymmetries may be consequential for the design and implementation of audio-visual infrastructures used to support informal sociability and collaborative work. What of the hands? We require, promise, call, dismiss, threaten, pray, supplicate, deny, refuse, interrogate, admire, number, confess, repent, confound, blush, doubt, instruct, command, incite, encourage, swear, testify, accuse, condemn, absolve, abuse, despise, defy, flatter, applaud, bless, humiliate, mock, reconcile, recommend, exalt, entertain, congratulate, complain, grieve, despair, wonder, exclaim.... There is not a motion that does not speak and in an intelligible language without discipline, and a public language that everyone understands. (Montaigne, 1952, pp. 215-216)