Joint Cognitive Systems

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Chapter 5

Shaping the Conditions of

Observation

The laws of demands and fluency capture the significant difficulties

that one faces in study ing JCSs at wor k. How does one break through

the current web of adapta tions to understand the underlying demands

and to antic ipate/guide future processes o f change and adaptation?

Without this understanding proces ses o f change are e xercises in s low

trial and error d espite the ex travagant claims of technology advocate s

(Woods & Chr istoffersen, 2002).

In general, effective methods for studying JCSs at work disrupt and disturb the

current system to observe how that system adapts and settles back into equilibrium.

This b asic technique for functional analysis can be carried out in mu ltiple ways:

(a) Observi ...