Technology in Action

'This excellent book does much to address the relationship between humans and technology in a truly encompassing way, by situating technology and its use in the broader human cognitive and social context, not just the context of the more typical computer-user dyad. In the absence of an understanding of what Lucy Suchman calls 'Situated Action', we shall remain doomed to violate human productivity and dignity with technologies which impose rather than invite; dominate rather than serve. Christian Heath and Paul Luff have given us a series of well-argued case studies which compellingly illustrate how a failure to take a broader view produces inferior technologies and also how the broader view can lead to truly productive technologies which empower rather than impoverish the human work experience.' John Mittlerer, Brock University

• 1. Technology and social action: computers and situated conduct; 2. Documents and professional practice: 'bad' organisational reasons for 'good' clinical records; 3. Animating texts: the collaborative production of news stories; 4. Team work: collaboration and control in London Underground line control rooms; 5. The collaborative production of computer commands; 6. 'Interaction' with computers in architecture.