Harold Garfinkel: Studies of Work in the Sciences

This volume includes an unpublished manuscript and selected portions of five seminars by Harold Garfinkel – the founder of ethnomethodology – on the topic of practices in the natural sciences and mathematics. The volume provides a coherent and sustained account of his program for the study of ordinary and specialized social actions. Presenting broader theoretical and methodological initiatives, as well as discussions and summaries of exemplary studies of social phenomena within and beyond the sciences, this work dates to the period in the 1980s during which the field of Science and Technology Studies was taking shape, with ethnomethodological studies of scientific practice forming a major part of its development at the time. Aside from their historical importance, the manuscript and seminars present a distinctive perspective on the natural and social sciences that remains highly original and pertinent to research on science, social science, and everyday life today. Offering critical insights and proposals relating to developments in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, this volume will appeal to scholars of Sociology and Science and Technology Studies with interests in the work of Garfinkel

Harold Garfinkel: Studies of Work in the Sciences

This volume includes an unpublished manuscript and selected portions of five seminars by Harold Garfinkel – the founder of ethnomethodology – on the topic of practices in the natural sciences and mathematics. The volume provides a coherent and sustained account of his program for the study of ordinary and specialized social actions. Presenting broader theoretical and methodological initiatives, as well as discussions and summaries of exemplary studies of social phenomena within and beyond the sciences, this work dates to the period in the 1980s during which the field of Science and Technology Studies was taking shape, with ethnomethodological studies of scientific practice forming a major part of its development at the time. Aside from their historical importance, the manuscript and seminars present a distinctive perspective on the natural and social sciences that remains highly original and pertinent to research on science, social science, and everyday life today. Offering critical insights and proposals relating to developments in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, this volume will appeal to scholars of Sociology and Science and Technology Studies with interests in the work of Garfinkel

Just-in-time Information Interfaces: A new Paradigm for Information Discovery and Exploration

We live in a time of increasing information overload. Described as “a byproduct of the lack of maturity of the information age” (Spira & Goldes, 2007), information overload can be painful, and harm our concentration - the resulting choice overload impacts out decision-making abilities. Given the problem of information overload, and the unsatisfying nature of human-information interaction using traditional browsing or keyword-based search, this research investigates how the design of just-in-time information services can improve the user experience of goal-driven interactions with information. This thesis explores the design of just-in-time information services through the iterative development of two strands of high-level prototypes (FMI and KnowDis). I custombuilt both prototype systems for the respective evaluations, which have then been conducted as part of a series of lab-based eye-tracking studies (FMI) as well as two field studies (KnowDis). The lab-based eye-tracking studies were conducted with 100 participants measuring task performance, user satisfaction, and gaze behaviour. The lab studies found that the FMI prototype design did improve the performance aspect of the user experience for all participants and improved the usability aspect of the user experience for novice participants. However, the FMI prototype design seemed to be less effective and usable for expert participants. Two field studies were conducted as part of a two-year research collaboration, which lasted a total of 10 weeks and involved approximately 70 knowledge workers overall from across the globe. As part of those field studies, 46 semi-structured interviews were also conducted. The field studies found that the KnowDis prototype design did improve the user experience for participants overall by making work-related information search more efficient. However, while the KnowDis prototype design was useful for some knowledge workers and even integrated seamlessly into their day-to-day work, it appeared to be less useful and even distracting to others