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Getting to Know the 'Customer in the Machine'

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Date

1999

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Source

Proceedings of the 1999 ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

Abstract

This paper reflects on the emerging results of a long-standing ethnographic study of everyday work in a large retail Bank. While customers as economic actors have often been overlooked in studies of computer supported work they are generally and necessarily the focus of commercial organisational life. The paper explicates the developing relationship between technology use and these organisational concerns through the notion of 'the customer in the machine.' Features of the contingent and skilful nature of everyday work are documented and used to comment on aspects of working with the 'customer in the machine' or 'virtual customers' within a rapidly changing commercial organisation.

Description

Hughes, John; O'Brien, Jon; Randall, Dave; Rodden, Tom; Rouncefield, Mark; Tolmie, Peter (1999): Getting to Know the 'Customer in the Machine'. Proceedings of the 1999 ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work. DOI: 10.1145/320297.320301. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 30–39. Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Keywords

ethnography , computer supported cooperative work , retail financial services , customers

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DOI

10.1145/320297.320301

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GROUP 1999