Skip to main content
Log in

Recordkeeping in the Production of Scientific Knowledge: An Ethnographic Study

  • Published:
Archival Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recent scholarship in archival studies has employed “non-traditional” modes of analysis to theorize the nature of the record and recordkeeping in organizational contexts. In that tradition, this paper discusses the author’s use of ethnographic methodology to study recordkeeping in one academic research laboratory. The paper explores how ethnography contributes to our understanding of the laboratory as a recordkeeping organization and the intersections of scientific practice and the kinds of records scientists create and use. The paper calls for more analysis of recordkeeping as an information infrastructure and inquiry into the nature of the record in other kinds of knowledge production environments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • W.M. Duff (1998) ArticleTitle“Harnessing the power of warrant” American Archivist 61 88–105

    Google Scholar 

  • C.A. Elliot (1983) Understanding Progress as Process: Final Report of the Joint Committee on Archives of Science and Technology Society of American Archivists Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • R.M. Emerson R.I. Fretz L.L. Shaw (1997) Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes University of Chicago Press Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Geertz (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures; Selected Essays Basic Books New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gracy, K.F., “Documenting Communities of Memory of Practice: Making the Case for Archival Ethnography”, in this volume

  • D. Hakken (1999) Cyborgs@Cyberspace? An Ethnographer Looks to the Future Routledge New York

    Google Scholar 

  • F.L. Holmes (1990) ArticleTitle“Laboratory Notebooks: Can the Daily Record Illuminate the Broader Picture?” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 134 IssueID4 349–366

    Google Scholar 

  • J.E. Jackson (1990b) ArticleTitle“Deja Entendu: The Liminal Quality of Anthropological Fieldnotes” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 19 IssueID1 8–43

    Google Scholar 

  • V. Lemieux (2001) ArticleTitle“Let the Ghosts Speak: An Empirical Exploration of the “Nature” of the Record” Archivaria 51 81–111

    Google Scholar 

  • B. Latour S. Woolgar (1986) Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts Princeton University Press Princeton, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • S.M. Long (1995) ArticleTitle“Documenting Federal Scientific and Technical Information (STI) – A Discussion of Appraisal Criteria and Applications for the National Archives and Records Administration” Journal of Government Information 22 IssueID4 311–319 Occurrence Handle10.1016/1352-0237(95)00010-Z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • C. Marshall G.B. Rossman (1989) Designing Qualitative Research SAGE Publications, Inc Newbury Park, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • S. McKemmish F. Upward (1993) Archival Documents: Providing Accountability Through Recordkeeping Ancora Press Melbourne, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • A.J. Meehan (1986) ArticleTitle“Record-Keeping Practices in the Policing of Juveniles” Urban Life 15 IssueID1 70–102

    Google Scholar 

  • P.M. Ngin (1994) ArticleTitle“Recordkeeping Practices of Nurses in Hospitals” American Archivist 57 IssueID1 616–630

    Google Scholar 

  • S.L. Star (1999) ArticleTitle“The Ethnography of Infrastructure” The American Behavioral Scientist 43 IssueID3 371–391

    Google Scholar 

  • S.L. Star G.C. Bowker (1999) Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • S.L. Star K. Ruhleder (1996) ArticleTitle“Steps Towards an Ecology of Infrastructure: Design and Access for Large Information Systems” Information Systems Research 7 IssueID1 111–134

    Google Scholar 

  • C.B. Trace (2002) ArticleTitle“What is Recorded is Never Simply ‘What Happened:’ Record-Keeping in Modern Organizational Culture” Archival Science: International Journal of Recorded Information 2 IssueID1 137–159

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Maanen Particlevan B.T. Pentland (1994) “Cops and Auditors: The Rhetoric of Records” S.B. Sitkin R.J. Bies (Eds) The Legalistic Organization SAGE Publications Thousand Oaks, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Warnow-Blewett A.J. Capitos J. Genuth S.R. Weart (1995) Report No. 1: Summary of Project Activities and Findings/Project Recommendations American Institute of Physics New York

    Google Scholar 

  • L. Winner (1985) “Do Artifacts have Politics?” J. Wajcman E. Mackenzie (Eds) The Social Shaping of Technology Open University Press Milton Keynes, Philadelphia 28–38

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Yakel (1996) ArticleTitle“The Way Things Work: Procedures, Processes, Institutional Records” American Archivist 59 454–464

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Yakel (2001) ArticleTitle“The Social Construction of Accountability: Radiologists and Their Record-Keeping Practices” Information Society 17 IssueID4 233–245 Occurrence Handle10.1080/019722401753330832

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kalpana Shankar.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Shankar, K. Recordkeeping in the Production of Scientific Knowledge: An Ethnographic Study. Arch Sci 4, 367–382 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-005-2600-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-005-2600-1

Keywords

Navigation