Data tracking in search of workflows

TY - GEN

T1 - Data tracking in search of workflows

AU - Møller, Naja L. Holten

AU - Bjørn, Pernille

AU - C. Villumsen, Jonas

AU - Hancock, Tine Christine Hansen

AU - Aritake, Toshimitsu

AU - Tani, Shigeyuki

N1 - Conference code: 20

PY - 2017/2/25

Y1 - 2017/2/25

N2 - Introducing data tracking of patients, doctors, medicine, or medical equipment holds promise to optimize workflows within hospitals. However, placing tracking devices and collecting data does not automatically translate into new workflows; instead, it requires careful considerations, knowledge about the activities tracked, and technical knowledge. In this paper, we study the interdisciplinary work involved when data tracking techniques are used to construe workflows within a real life work setting: architectural design of hospitals. We provide an ethnographic account from a unique study where two types of data tracking techniques were utilized in an existing hospital with the aim of informing the architectural design of a future hospital. The paper makes three contributions. First, we characterize the work involved in construing workflows based upon data tracking. Second, we discuss surveillance as an empirical category, which emerged in our study. Finally, we argue that to be able to construe workflows based upon data tracking, balancing the seamless boundary of privacy in work and surveillance in cooperation with the practitioners is of critical importance. Without support from the practitioners, data quality is at risk, and the resulting workflows might turn out 'flawed'.

AB - Introducing data tracking of patients, doctors, medicine, or medical equipment holds promise to optimize workflows within hospitals. However, placing tracking devices and collecting data does not automatically translate into new workflows; instead, it requires careful considerations, knowledge about the activities tracked, and technical knowledge. In this paper, we study the interdisciplinary work involved when data tracking techniques are used to construe workflows within a real life work setting: architectural design of hospitals. We provide an ethnographic account from a unique study where two types of data tracking techniques were utilized in an existing hospital with the aim of informing the architectural design of a future hospital. The paper makes three contributions. First, we characterize the work involved in construing workflows based upon data tracking. Second, we discuss surveillance as an empirical category, which emerged in our study. Finally, we argue that to be able to construe workflows based upon data tracking, balancing the seamless boundary of privacy in work and surveillance in cooperation with the practitioners is of critical importance. Without support from the practitioners, data quality is at risk, and the resulting workflows might turn out 'flawed'.

U2 - 10.1145/2998181.2998296

DO - 10.1145/2998181.2998296

M3 - Article in proceedings

SP - 2153

EP - 2165

BT - Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

T2 - 20th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

Y2 - 25 February 2017 through 1 March 2017

ER -