My general interests are in adult work and learning, and activity=20
theoretical and ethnomethodological approaches to communication in=20
organizations.=20
I follow discussions about what kinds of knowing matter. how such=20
attitudes are indexed, (wages, prestige, contempt, authority, trust) and =
in=20
the socio-cultural circumstances through which those those values=20
obtain (and change). =20
Once upon a time I lingered on the issue of what "skill" is and where i=
t =20
resides. This in turn led me to look at rapid changes in the skill=20
/knowledge and standards base of communities of practice. =20
So, I ended up writing a doctoral thesis that took up skill and=20
knowledge acquisition under circumstances of rapid technological=20
change. I made a case study of the experience of transformation in=20
photographic education in advent of the age of digital imaging=20
technology.
Studs Terkel, Sylvia Scribner, and Shoshona Zuboff were members of=20
my "imagined" audience, while Michael Cole, Yrj=F6 Engestr=F6m and=20
Bud Mehan performed the real work of guiding me through the=20
dissertation everglades. =20
I am reworking chapters of my doctoral thesis for publication and =20
writing about the the Fifth Dimension for funders, potential partners, =20
and broader audiences. =20
If you want to talk about skill, occupational segregation, literacy,=20
technology, mediation and vision, or other things that invoke or derive=20
from these, themes, please chat me up.=20
A thumbnail sketch/abstract of the thesis follows, for anyone=20
interested...
APPROACH: An ethnographic study of the photography program of a=20
University visual arts department.=20
DATA: Transcripts of audio and videotaped interactions, interviews,=20
fieldnotes from two years in the field.=20
SUBJECTS: Faculty members, teaching assistants, and undergraduates=20
working with black and white darkroom photography and digital image=20
making. =20
THEORETICAL: Theoretical tools: sociocultural, ethnomethodological,=20
activity theoretical work. =20
=09
INTRODUCTION: Identifies problems and goals in bringing diverse=20
theoretical and methodological traditions to bear on ethnographic data. =20
I locate the study in research on the acquisition and transmission of=20
expertise, in organizational communication research, and research on=20
the emergence of new technologies, and the effects of technological=20
change on group work.=20
The second chapter is an ethnography of the setting, describing how it=20
became an object of research.=20
=09
The third chapter approaches image making technologies by=20
highlighting the experience of the tool user, ala Heidegger and Dewey. =
=20
Digital imaging technologies and chemical photographic technologies=20
coexisting in the setting called for a discussion of technology as a matt=
er=20
of relations, of ways of being in the world.=20
=09
The fourth chapter is about representations of practice in two laboratory=
=20
manuals. The analysis was inspired by Chuck Bazerman's book, the=20
"Textual Dynamics of the The Profession" manuals used in the=20
chemical lab and the digital lab are compared in an examination of their=20
local development, and their intended and actual uses. =20
=09
Chapter five shows objects of photographic vision as defined through=20
evaluation. The analysis is based on transcripts from final critiques of=
=20
student work. propose and elaborate a notion of photographic vision: a=20
complex of technologies of perception, with perception as a cultural-
historical accomplishment arising through a series of artifact mediated=20
activities of definition. Chapter Five is heavily indebted to the work =
of=20
Charles and Candy Goodwin
=09
Chapter six is about the experience of transformation, in multilayered=20
and intertwined forms of change that the researcher documented and=20
experienced, using Barbara Rogoff's three-levels for studies of=20
transformation.
The final chapter is about expertise as a moving target. The=20
transmission of practice and the transformation of practice are shown to=20
be intertwined. =20
In the end, the study is summarized as an example of how activity=20
theory and ethnomethodology can be used to identify and analyze=20
change on multiple levels. I claim to have shown that skills were=20
located and distributed between tools, talk, operations, and=20
representations in the environment, and that what counted as skill=20
changed as these relationships changed in the program.=20
=09