SEEING IN-DEPTH

On oceanographic research vessels, scientists from different disciplin es must work together to obtain samples from the sea beneath their shi p. Such juxtaposition of not just theory, but actual laboratory practi ce, creates unique possibilities for synergy, as members of one discip line make use of the tools of another. Using videotapes of technicians deploying a probe in the mouth of the Amazon, this paper investigates how multiple kinds of space - including the sea under the ship, graph ic representations, the work space of the lab, and embodied participat ion frameworks for the organization of tool-mediated human interaction - are constituted through a range of temporally unfolding, work-relev ant, situated practices. Particular attention is paid to how three par ties work together to precisely position the probe at a spot where a g eochemist wants to take samples. Because each actor uses alternative t ools to organize his or her perception in ways appropriate to compleme ntary tasks required for the successful accomplishment of the sampling run, each sees the place they are looking at together in a very diffe rent way.