Talking about Machines

This is a story of how work gets done. It is also a study of how field service technicians talk about their work and how that talk is instrumental in their success. In his innovative ethnography, Julian E. Orr studies the people who repair...

Julian E. Orr is a member of the Research Staff in the Work Practice and Technology Area of the Systems and Practices Laboratory of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center.

This book should be of value to anyone interested in studies of work practice, and to those who study technical work in particular.

Diane Vaughn:

How ironic, at an historic moment when technology has assumed a taken-for-granted status in the workplace, that scholarship on organizations, work, and technology has only recently begun to find its feet. With this splendid ethnography of work practices by technicians who service photocopy machines, Julian Orr has made a major incursion into this territory, producing a volume that bridges disciplinary boundaries by joining the literature of organizations, occupations, and work with that of science and technology studies.

Amy Sue Bix, Technology and Culture:

Orr's volume proves a rewarding read, one that underlines the importance of understanding the complex interactions of machines and humans, technology and culture in the twentieth-century workplace.