Designing for Diagnosing Introduction to the Speci

DesigningforDiagnosing:IntroductiontotheSpecialIssueonDiagnosticWorkMonikaBüscher1,JackiO’Neill2,4&JohnRooksby31DepartmentofSociology(LancasterUniversity,Lancaster,UK;2XeroxResearchCentreEurope,Meylan,France;3SchoolofComputerScience(UniversityofStAndrews,Scotland,UK;46ChemindeMaupertuis38240Meylan,France(E-mail:[e-mail])Abstract.Whenfacedwithanythingoutoftheordinary,faultyorsuspicious,theworkofdeterminingandcategorizingthetrouble,andscopingforwhattodoaboutit(ifanything)oftengohandinhand—thisisdiagnosticwork.Inallitsexpertandnon-expertformsdiagnosticworkisoftenbothintellectualandembodied,collaborativeanddistributed,andevermoredeeplyentangledwithtechnologies.Yet,itisoftenpoorlysupportedbythem.Inthisspecialissueweshowthatdiagnosticworkisanimportantandpervasiveaspectofpeople’sactivitiesatwork,athome,andonthemove.ThepaperspublishedinthisSpecialIssuecomefromarangeofdomainsincluding,ambulancedispatch,afriendlyfireincidentandanomalyresponsefortheNASAspaceshuttle;software,networkandphotocopiertroubleshooting;andusersattemptingtouseanewtravelmanagementsystem.Thesepapersillustratethevarietyofworkthatmaybethoughtofasdiagnostic.WehopethatbringingafocusondiagnosticworktothesediversepracticesandsituationsopensuparichveinofinquiryforCSCWscholars,designers,andusers.Keywords:diagnosis,diagnosticwork,ethnography1.Introduction“IonceheardthatwhenPetrovwasayoungphysician,yearsago,heoccasionallymadedefinitediagnoses,andthesewereoftenquitecorrect.Butwiththevastincreaseinmedicaltechnology,andwithitsomanynewconsiderationstotakeintoaccount,he’slimitedhimself….”AlanLightman(2000)TheDiagnosis.London:Bloomsbury:p.112BillChalmers,theprotagonistinAlanLightman’snovelThediagnosisisdebilitatedbyamysteryillness.Ashisdoctorspersistentlyfailtoprovideadiagnosis,hisworldunravels.Adiagnosis,evenonethatsubsequentlyprovesComputerSupportedCooperativeWork(2009)18:109–128©Springer2009DOI10.1007/s10606-009-9092-0incorrect,canbecriticaltopeople’seffortsofmakingandholdingtheirworldstogether;inBillChalmers’caseitcouldnotonlyhaveexplainedsymptoms,butopeneddoorsfortreatments,support,sickleave,insuranceclaimsandsoon.Thisneedforadiagnosisspreadswellbeyondhealthcare.Whenfacedwithanythingoutoftheordinary,faultyorsuspicious,theworkofdeterminingandcategorisingthetrouble,andscopingforwhattodoaboutit(ifanything)oftengohandinhand.Wearecallingsuchwork“diagnosticwork”.Diagnosticworkispracticedbymedicalprofessionals,butalsobydetectives,engineers,designers,helplineoperators,emergencyresponsepersonnel,archi-tects,builders,managers,tonamebutafew.Diagnosisbyprofessionalscanbeaspecialisedskill,carryheavyresponsibilities,andsometimesbeundertakeninexceptionalandhighlystressfulsituations.Butordinarypeople,inmundanesituations,alsofrequentlypracticediagnosticwork.Forexample,mostpeoplehavetriedtodeterminehowanewtechnologyworks(orwhyitdoesn’t).Inallitsexpertandnon-expertformsdiagnosticworkisoftenbothintellectualandembodied,collaborativeanddistributed,andevermoredeeplyentangledwithtechnologies.Yet,itisoftenpoorlysupportedbythem.Inthisspecialissueweshowthatdiagnosticworkisanimportantandpervasiveaspectofpeople’sactivitiesatwork,athome,andonthemove.Wedeliberatelyinvitedandputtogethercontributionsthataddressarangeofdifferent,mainlynon-medicalsettings,becausebringingafocusondiagnosticworktothesediversepracticesandsituationsopensuparichveinofinquiryforCSCWscholars,designers,andusers.Thecollectionisinformedbyinterdisci-plinarydiscussionsduringtwoworkshops1,anopencall,andapeerreviewprocesswhichhaveexploredmanyquestionsofconsequenceforCSCW.InthisintroductionwedrawoutkeycharacteristicsofdiagnosticworkandhighlightissuesandopportunitiesforCSCW.2.DiagnosticworkAcentralissuethatemergedindiscussionswithparticipantsatourworkshops,aswellasthecontributorsandreviewerstothisissuewasthat(atfirstglanceparadoxically)diagnosticworkdoesnotalwaysproducedefinitediagnoses,norisitnecessarilydesignedtodoso.Wecameacrossmanycaseswherea‘goodenough’orimplicitdiagnosissufficedtoexplainormoveworkforward.Inthepapersinthisspecialissuewefindcomputerprogrammersperformingwork-aroundsora‘quickfix’(AlbyandZucchermaglio),oruserswhohaveaskedforhelpsatisfiedwhentheirtechnologyisworkingagain(Castellanietal.,Pooleetal,ArminenandPoikus),withoutadefinitediagnosiseverbeingrequired.Inothersituations,definitivediagnosesmaybethegoalofwork:NASAengineersassessingwhetherananomalyismissioncriticalneedtocategorizeandnameeventstodeterminecausesandlikelyfutureeffects(Watts-PerottiandWoods),andcalltakersforemergencyservicesneedtoputalabelonincidentstoknow110MonikaBüscheretal.whatkindofhelptodispatch(Paoletti).Butfocusingmainlyon‘thediagnosis’drawsattentionawayfromthemeansofproducingit,thecircumstances,therationalities,theblindalleysfollowed,andthe(dissipationof)motivation.Byswitchingattentionfromproducttoprocess,fromdiagnosistodiagnosticwork,wehopetodemystifycertainaspectsofdiagnosing,andparticularlytochallengethenotionthatdiagnosingisexclusivelyintellectualworkdonebyindividualexperts.Diagnosticworkisoftenportrayedasasophisticatedproc