A Special Data Session on Medical Interaction in the US and Japan

Timothy Koschmann and I are planning to have a special data session at Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo, on October 23, 2003. Anybody interested is welcome. (Aug Nishizaka)

Thursday, October 23, 2003

Schedule

• 1:00 Data session on interaction between a nurse and a pregnant woman in Japan
  (data to be provided by Aug Nishizaka)
• 2:30 Data session on interaction at an opration room in the United States
  (data to be provided by Tim Koschmann)
• 4:00 Timothy Koschmann presents his paper on interaction at an operation room:
  
  Reconsidering Common Ground: Examining Clark's Contribution Theory in the OR
  
  [Abstract] The constructs of "common ground" and "grounding" are frequently invoked in the CSCW literature as a mechanism by which participants engaged in joint activity coordinate their respective understandings of matters at hand. These constructs arise from a model of conversation developed by Herbert Clark and sometimes referred to as "contribution theory." We describe here the basic features of this theory and attempt to apply it in analyzing a fragment of enacted interaction. The interaction was recorded during an abdominal surgery performed with the aid of an endoscopic camera. We encountered difficulties, however, in applying contribution theory as an analytic framework within this concrete setting. We found further that the notion of common ground represents a confusing metaphor rather than a useful explanatory mechanism. We conclude with a suggestion that researchers in the future seek ways of constructing descriptions of joint activity that do not rely on the troublesome notions of grounding and common ground.