EMBODIED KNOWLEDGE - THE TEXTUAL REPRESENTATION OF EMBODIED SENSORY INFORMATION IN A DYNAMIC AND UNCERTAIN MATERIAL ENVIRONMENT

This article examines the highly specific problems of roof support in coal mines to construct a theoretical framework that describes how tex ts represent information that is embodied, sensory, and uncertain. As this analysis suggests, workers in risky environments may follow instr uctions and still fail as situations change. Engineering and managemen t approaches also may fail unless they reflect the kinds of embodied s ensory information decision makers need to assess risk in local contex ts. This analysis then raises ethical questions about (a) textbook not ions of instructions as systematic procedures designed to produce pred ictable outcomes, (b) limits of particular types of information as sig ns or indexes of risk, (c) the role of generalized knowledge in uncert ain environments, (d) the role of texts in representing knowledge that is sensory and uncertain, and (e) the locus of responsibility for saf ety if knowledge exists outside of written texts.