TY - GEN

T1 - Documentscape

T2 - 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2014

AU - Christensen, Lars Rune

AU - Bjørn, Pernille

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - On the basis of an ethnographic field study, this article introduces the concept of documentscape to the analysis of document-centric work practices. The concept of documentscape refers to the entire ensemble of documents in their mutual intertextual interlocking. Providing empirical data from a global software development case, we show how hierarchical structures and sequentiality across the interlocked documents are critical to how actors make sense of the work of others and what to do next in a geographically distributed setting. Furthermore, we found that while each document is created as part of a quasi-sequential order, this characteristic does not make the document, as a single entity, into a stable object. Instead, we found that the documents were malleable and dynamic while suspended in intertextual structures. Our concept of documentscape points to how the hierarchical structure, sequentiality, and authorless nature of documents serve as a constitutive platform for the development of iterative and emergent work practices, making it possible for highly distributed actors to collaborate with limited communication, as the documentscape serves as a vehicle of coordination.

AB - On the basis of an ethnographic field study, this article introduces the concept of documentscape to the analysis of document-centric work practices. The concept of documentscape refers to the entire ensemble of documents in their mutual intertextual interlocking. Providing empirical data from a global software development case, we show how hierarchical structures and sequentiality across the interlocked documents are critical to how actors make sense of the work of others and what to do next in a geographically distributed setting. Furthermore, we found that while each document is created as part of a quasi-sequential order, this characteristic does not make the document, as a single entity, into a stable object. Instead, we found that the documents were malleable and dynamic while suspended in intertextual structures. Our concept of documentscape points to how the hierarchical structure, sequentiality, and authorless nature of documents serve as a constitutive platform for the development of iterative and emergent work practices, making it possible for highly distributed actors to collaborate with limited communication, as the documentscape serves as a vehicle of coordination.

KW - Documents

KW - Documentscape

KW - Global Interaction

KW - Global Software Development

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84900384593&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1145/2556288.2557305

DO - 10.1145/2556288.2557305

M3 - Article in proceedings

AN - SCOPUS:84900384593

SN - 9781450324731

T3 - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

SP - 2451

EP - 2460

BT - CHI 2014

PB - Association for Computing Machinery, Inc

Y2 - 26 April 2014 through 1 May 2014

ER -