Communication about colorectal cancer screening in Britain:public preferences for an expert recommendation

BACKGROUND: Informed decision-making approaches to cancer screening emphasise the importance of decisions being determined by individuals' own values and preferences. However, advice from a trusted source may also contribute to autonomous decision-making. This study examined preferences regarding a recommendation from the NHS and information provision in the context of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. METHODS: In face-to-face interviews, a population-based sample of adults across Britain (n=1964; age 50–80 years) indicated their preference between: (1) a strong recommendation to participate in CRC screening, (2) a recommendation alongside advice to make an individual decision, and (3) no recommendation but advice to make an individual decision. Other measures included trust in the NHS and preferences for information on benefits and risks. RESULTS: Most respondents (84%) preferred a recommendation (47% strong recommendation, 37% recommendation plus individual decision-making advice), but the majority also wanted full information on risks (77%) and benefits (78%). Men were more in favour of a recommendation than women (86% vs 81%). Trust in the NHS was high overall, but the minority who expressed low trust were less likely to want a recommendation. CONCLUSION: Most British adults want full information on risks and benefits of screening but they also want a recommendation from an authoritative source. An ‘expert' view may be an important part of autonomous health decision-making

A Case Study of an Information Infrastructure Supporting Knowledge Work in Oil and Gas Exploration

It is well rehearsed in the fields of CSCW and IS that the relationship between the social and the material is bi-directional and shaped locally. But what happens when knowledge work is stretched across space and time, and the practice of today relies on actions and reflections done elsewhere and at different times? This paper presents an on-going case study of oil and gas exploration that takes steps to shed light on this emerging issue. I argue the relevance of framing the process of generating interpretations in oil and gas exploration in terms of information infrastructures. The case is representative for other cases where practitioners’ reflections cannot immediately be confirmed by empirical observation. Through a discussion on the concepts of coordination and accumulation across the dimensions of space and time, I outline how an able information infrastructure in this domain must balance the dualism of the concepts of naturalisation and historification

Synthetic Situations in the Internet of Things

Part 5: Examining Knowledge and PracticeInternational audienceThe proliferation of distributed digital technologies in contemporary enterprise challenges the understanding of situated action. This paper revisits this notion in the era of Big Data and the Internet of Things. Drawing upon longitudinal studies within the offshore oil and gas industry, we empirically expand upon Knorr Cetina’s “synthetic situation” to encompass data-intensive work where people are not co-located with the physical objects and phenomena around which work is organized. By highlighting the performative nature of synthetic situations in the Internet of Things – where phenomena are algorithmically enacted through digital technologies – we elaborate upon the original formulation of synthetic situations by demonstrating that (i) algorithmic phenomena constitute the phenomena under inquiry, rather than standing in for physical referents; (ii) noise is irreducible in algorithmic phenomena; (iii) synthetic situations are productive rather than reductive. Finally, we draw brief methodological implications by proposing to focus on the material enactment of data in practice