The collaborative production of computer commands in command and control

In this paper, we examine the details of the use of a computer system in si tu. Drawing from recent developments in the social sciences, we adopt an an alytic orientation that is distinctive from much current work in human-comp uter interaction and cognitive engineering. Rather than focusing on a circu mscribed activity of an individual at a computer system, we explore how the production of computer-based activities is sensitive to the ongoing work a nd interaction of the participants in the setting. The study utilizes mater ials including fieldwork and audio-visual recordings to explore how one par ticular technology is used, a system for automatically controlling trains o n an urban transportation system. We focus on the "uses" of this system, a fairly conventional command-and-control system, in the Control Room, and ex amine how the technology is immersed within the action and interaction of t he participants. In particular, we explore how the entry of commands into t he system by one controller is coordinated with the conduct of colleagues, and how their conduct is inextricably embedded in their colleague's use of the system. It also reveals how the activities of controllers are managed f rom moment to moment, so that a division of labour emerges through the cour se of their interaction. Although in drawing upon naturalistic materials, t his study contributes to the growing corpus of "workplace studies" within t he field of computer-supported cooperative work, by examining the details o f computer-based activities it continues the tradition within human-compute r interaction of being concerned with the detailed use of technologies. Ind eed, the emerging distinction between the two fields, one considered as foc using on matters associated with the individual "user", and the other on th e "group", may be false. (C) 2000 Academic Press.