Skip to main content

Local Expertise at an Emergency Call Centre

  • Conference paper
ECSCW 2005

Abstract

Some important research has been undertaken in recent years on knowledge management within the CSCW community, drawing attention to the inherently social properties of knowledge and how it is shared. Much of this work has demonstrated the complex and sophisticated needs of so-called knowledge workers, and the requirement for better understandings of knowledge sharing processes. The example we present in this paper is that of knowledge work in emergency calls at SOS Alarm in Sweden, currently of interest because of a planned new system that will allow for centre-to-centre case coordination and not only within the centre. What makes such a case interesting is that workers in this context face an unlimited variety of incidents that require interpretation, decision and coordination, many of which require the deployment of local knowledge and, as importantly, have to be dealt with in a timely fashion. In this paper we focus on how a number of people work to combine their knowledge and expertise in a time effective way.

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

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ackermann, M.S. and Halvorsen, C. (1998). Considering an organization’s memory. Proceedings Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW’ 98, Seattle, Washington, ACM Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Ackermann, M., Pipek, V. and Wulf, V. (2003). Sharing Expertise: Beyond Knowledge Management, Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, R.J., Hughes, J.A. and Sharrock, W.W. (1989). Working for Profit: The Social Organisation of Calculability in an Entrepreneurial Firm, Avebury, Aldershot.

    Google Scholar 

  • Artman, H., & Waern, Y. (1999). Distributed Cognition in an Emergency Co-ordination Centre, Cognition Technology & Work, Vol 1, pp. 237–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berndtsson, J. and M. Normark (1999). The Coordinative Functions of Flight Strips: Air Traffic Control Revisited. Proceedings of the Conference on Supporting Group Work, GROUP’99 Phoenix, Arizona, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzpatrick, G. (2003). Emergent Expertise Sharing in a New Community, in M. Ackermann, V. Pipek and V. Wulf (eds.) Sharing Expertise: Beyond Knowledge Management, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press: 81–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin, C. and M. Goodwin (1993). Formulating planes: Seeing as a situated activity. In Communication and cognition at work. Y. Engeström and D. Middleton (Eds). Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groth, K (2004) Knowing who knows — an alternative approach to knowledge management, PhD Thesis, ISBN 91-7283-889-2, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

    Google Scholar 

  • Groth, K. and J. Bowers (2001) On finding things out: situating organisational knowledge. Proceedings of the European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, ECSCW’01

    Google Scholar 

  • Halverson, C., T. Erickson, et al. (2004). Behind the Help Desk: Evolution of a Knowledge Management System in a Large Organization. Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW’04, Chicago Illinois, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heath, C. and P. Luff. (1991). Collaborative activity and technological design: Task coordination in London Underground control rooms. Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, ECSCW’ 91

    Google Scholar 

  • Helgeson, B., Lundberg, J., Normark, M., Pettersson, M., & Crabtree, A. (2000). Redovisning av uppdrag i SOS Alarm AB:s Nova 2005 Teknik projekt (541 00 010). Ronneby, Sweden: Institutionen för arbetsvetenskap (IAR): BTH och SOS Alarm AB.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, D., Bowers, J., & Wastell, D. (1997). The interactional affordances of technology: an ethnography of human-computer interaction in an ambulance control centre. Proceedings of the British Conference on Human Computer Interaction HCI’97. Cambridge: British Computing Society/Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Normark, M. (2002a). Using technology for real-time coordination of work; A study of work and artifact use in the everyday activities of SOS Alarm. Licentiate Thesis TRITA-NA-0122, ISBN 91-7283-239-8, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Normark, M. (2002b). Sense-making of an emergency call-possibilities and constraints of a computerized case file. NordiCHI 02, Aarhus, Denmark, October 19–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Normark, M. (Forthcoming). Transforming field observations into functions-on the use of ethnography in system design, School of Computer Science and Communication, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pipek, V. and V. Wulf (2003). Pruning the Answer Garden: Knowledge Sharing in Maintenance Engineering. 8th European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, ECSCW’03 Helsinki Finland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Randall, D. O’Brien J. Rouncefield M. and Hughes, J.A. (1996). Organzational Memory and CSCW: Supporting the ‘Mavis’ Phenomenon. Proceedings of the Sixth Australian Conference on HCI (OzCHI’ 96)

    Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A. (1993). Continual Permutations of Action. Aldine De Gruyter, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Tjora, A. (2004). Maintaining Redundancy in the Coordination of Medical Emergencies. Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work CSCW’04, Chicago, IL, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts, J. C., D. D. Woods, J. M. Corban and E. S. Pattersson (1996). Voice Loops as Cooperative Aids in Space Shuttle Mission Control. Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work CSCW’96. ACM press: 48–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whalen, J. (1995). Expert systems versus systems for experts: Computer-aided dispatch as a support system in real-world environments. In P. J. Thomas (Ed.), The social and interactional dimensions of human-computer interfaces. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2005 Springer

About this paper

Cite this paper

Normark, M., Randall, D. (2005). Local Expertise at an Emergency Call Centre. In: Gellersen, H., Schmidt, K., Beaudouin-Lafon, M., Mackay, W. (eds) ECSCW 2005. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4023-7_18

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4023-7_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-4022-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4023-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics