Everyday Work Practices Research Articles

‘How I edit my Instagram images’: investigating skilled vision in the work of YouTube’s lifestyle-content creators

Woman social media content creators’ visual expertise is ill understood and arguably overlooked. Through the example of lifestyle-creators, this article explores the ways they plan, produce, and look at imagery on Instagram and YouTube, and shows that creators have specific ways to learn, communicate, and take part into social practices that are key in formulating their skilled vision and visual professionality. The study is part of a larger nethnographic project in which lifestyle-YouTube channels and related social media platforms have been studied for three years. In this article, online observation of 13 creators and content analysis of instructional ‘how I edit’ – videos show, that creators have trained sense of vision that involves everyday work practices common both for amateur and professional photography practitioners. The findings suggest that creators’ skilled vision is produced through four processes: (1) sharing expertise; (2) the use of specific technology and software; (3) routine; (4) creativity. Finally, it is argued that investigating creators’ skilled vision adds to our understanding of the mechanisms that have excluded a great deal of ‘feminine’ creativity from our historical and present accounts. I situate lifestyle creators within a longer tradition of women engaging with photography, photographic technologies, and product advice, and offer ways for understanding digitally networked ‘influencing’ and visual practices on social media today.

Work-integrated learning in managers’ cooperative work practices

Purpose This paper aims to focus on academic library managers’ learning practices in the context of cooperative work supported by computational artefacts. Academic library managers’ everyday work is mainly cooperative. Their cooperation is supported predominantly by computational artefacts. Learning how to use the computational artefacts efficiently and effectively involves understanding the changes in everyday work that affect managers and, therefore, it requires deep understanding of their cooperative work practices. Design/methodology/approach Focused ethnography was conducted through participant observations, interviews and document analysis. Ten managers from a university library in Sweden participated in the research. A thematic method was used to analyse the empirical material. Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) and work-integrated learning was used as the conceptual lens. Findings Five learning practices were identified: collaboration, communication, coordination, decision-making processes and computational artefacts’ use. The findings show that learning is embedded in managers’ cooperative work practices, which do not necessarily include sufficient training time. Furthermore, learning was intertwined with cooperating and was situational. Managers learned by reflecting together on their own experiences and through joint cooperation and information sharing while using the computational artefacts. Originality/value The main contribution lies in providing insights into how academic library managers learn and cooperate in their everyday work, emphasizing the role of computational artefacts, the importance of the work context and the collective nature of learning. It also highlights the need for continual workplace learning in contemporary knowledge work environments. Thus, the research generates contributions to the informatics field by extending the understanding of managers’ work-integrated learning in their everyday cooperative work practices supported by computational artefacts’ use. It also contributes to the intersection of CSCW and work-integrated learning.

The flexibility of family co-ordinators in complex family interventions: building relations over time with families living in sustained poverty

ABSTRACT Complex family interventions represent innovative yet contested policy approaches to child poverty and their follow-up with families with complex needs laid down in several national policies. Across welfare state regime contexts, the role of the family co-ordinator is central to these approaches. This role and the work of co-ordinators in interaction with families, family members, and other services deserve further exploration to increase knowledge of the contribution of such interventions. In this article, we explore the role of the family co-ordinator in the Norwegian family intervention programme, New Patterns – Safe Upbringing. The research builds upon fieldwork conducted over several intervals (2019–2021). Family co-ordinators were followed in their everyday work practices, and they were interviewed over several rounds. In our analysis, we look at how the family co-ordinator role and relations with families evolve over time as knowledge increases and the family situation changes. Our research findings demonstrate the importance of flexibility and temporality in complex family interventions, including their role for instigating trust in the relationships between family co-ordinators and families, their role as cultural and system interpreters, and as such providing means for successful targeted support.

Using Video-Reflexive Ethnography on an Acute Medical Unit: Methodological Challenges, Solutions and Opportunities within a Complex and Busy Clinical Setting

Video-Reflexive Ethnography (VRE) is an innovative and participatory research and improvement methodology that involves videoing in-situ work practices and collaboratively analysing this footage with participants during reflexive sessions. This involves participants ‘slowing down’, engaging reflexively with their everyday working practices, and taking time out to discuss issues collectively. VRE has increasingly been used across a range of different healthcare settings. However, one setting that has received less attention is the Acute Medical Unit (AMU). AMUs are busy short-stay hospital departments with very high patient throughput and large multidisciplinary teams where patients receive initial assessment, diagnosis and treatment before being moved to other wards or settings. The aim of this study was to examine how VRE as a research and improvement methodology can be applied, in the busy and complex setting of an AMU. In this paper we outline some of the methodological challenges encountered in this setting and discuss how these were transformed into opportunities and solutions. Then, we evaluate our work by using the four guiding principles at the heart of VRE (care, collaboration, reflexivity and exnovation) to test if, and how, the methodology can be used in such a complex and busy setting without losing its methodological rigor and impact. We show how it is possible to initiate and achieve the core principles of VRE in the complex and busy AMU setting through careful planning, constant revision of data collection methods, remaining highly flexible and adaptable to the spatial and temporal rhythms of the ward and being sensitive to hierarchical inter- and intra-professional relationships and vulnerabilities. Finally, we share recommendations for using VRE in other busy and complex settings.

The Practice Lens: Intersectionality and Contemporary Public Library Services to Adults

ABSTRACT Intersectionality can be applied as a practice-based lens through which to perceive 21st-century public library services to adults. Intersectionality as a framework can facilitate the implementation of equity and social justice in the design and development of contemporary library services. Professional practice relates to the public library workplace and everyday work practices enacted on a day-to-day basis. This article outlines how intersectionality is embedded in public library services to four service populations: immigrants, incarcerated, LGBTQ+ people, and homeless/houseless citizens. Insights provide a guide for theoretical and social positioning of public librarians to enact their professional service within an intersectional lens.

Unsettling Discourses of Cross-Cultural Social Work Practice: Moving from Theoretical Debates to Interrogating and Transforming Praxis

Abstract Cultural competence is one of the most debated concepts in social work. Whilst some scholars view it as a central tenet of social work theory, practice and education, others critique it as a new form of racism and even encourage its abandonment in social work. Amidst this fierce debate, this article attempts to answer the following question: How do we become entrapped by our own thinking when it comes to fostering or critiquing cultural competence and related constructs as well as understanding their embodiment in everyday social work practice? Using a post-structural lens, especially Foucault’s work on the ‘Order of Things’ in society, this article interrogates discourses and praxis in cross-cultural social work practice (CCSWP). After briefly examining the pervasive concepts of cultural competence, cultural humility and structural competence currently in circulation, this article elaborates upon debated discourses and interrogates the praxis underlying CCSWP. Instead of descending into semantic and theoretical debates and promoting one dogmatism above others, it is essential to assume a position of ongoing interrogation and critique of the pervasive discourses and praxis of cultural competence and alternative concepts. Doing so can promote reflective CCSWP and create the possibility for transformative change in social work practice.

An Automated System to Distribute Students to Clerkships.

Participating in clerkships with general practitioners (GPs) is integral to studying medicine. The students gain deep and valuable insights into the everyday working practice of GPs. The central challenge is organizing these clerkships to distribute the students to the participating doctors' offices. This process becomes even more complex and time-consuming if students can state their preferences. To support faculty staff and involve students in the process, we developed an application to support the distribution process via an automated system and applied it to allocate over 700 students over the course of 2.5 years.

How to Evaluate a Tailor-made Social Work Intervention? Some Practice-Based Solutions with Single-Case Designs

ABSTRACT Purpose With the increased attention to the principles of evidence-based practice (EBP), social workers are challenged to adapt their daily interventions accordingly when treating clients. They usually work with individual clients, all with their own specificities. Single-Case Experimental Designs (SCEDs) can be used to inform a social worker about the effectiveness of an intervention at the individual client level. In everyday social work practice, however, it is difficult to meet methodological requirements of SCEDs to find causal explanations. A concern is that repeated measurements prior to an intervention are required in most situations. This study aims to provide researchers with alternatives to repeated measurement when using the logic of SCED to apply EBP in their everyday practice. Methods In this study, we reviewed published single-case designs between January 1 and December 31, 2019, on types of SCEDs in the social domain, and how is dealt with baseline conditions. Results SCEDs and quasi-experimental alternatives are hardly published in situations when baseline data are not available. Four underused quasi-experimental strategies that can be employed when repeated measurement during baseline is not possible are as follows: retrospective baselines, theoretical inference, multiraters, and triangulation with qualitative data. Discussion and Conclusion The suggestions to work with single-case designs with quasi-experimental elements are meant to enable social workers to evaluate their interventions in a way that enhances mere narrative evaluations of the experiences of an intervention.

Socialtjänsten som en hållbar kunskapsorganisation

Social Services as a sustainable knowledge organization: from vision to reality? 
 The imminent Social Services Act is expected to stipulate that decision-making should be "in accordance with scientific evidence and proven experience". If the proposal is fulfilled, the Act will contain requirements similar to existing acts in other welfare sectors, such as requirements for increased systematic follow-ups, developmental work and the use of knowledge from various knowledge sources. These are characteristics that symbolize a practice that both uses verified knowledge and develops new knowledge by testing, documenting and evaluating new ideas and working methods in a systematic process in everyday life. In this article, we argue that the goal presupposes an aspiration towards a knowledge organization; therefore we want to contribute with an analysis of what this means for social services.
 The “knowledge-seeking social worker” is a key actor in the transition towards a knowledge organization, because it is in the everyday social work practice, that is, the interactions between the social worker and the client, that the knowledge organization largely becomes visible. However, a large-scale transition towards a sustainable knowledge organization cannot depend on only professionals and their ability to engage clients in work processes, it will require changes at a system level, where actors in politics, academia and practice take responsibility for future investments. This article highlights four areas of importance: 1) co-ordination of research and practice, 2) continuing education to build expert knowledge and broaden career paths, 3) development of political ownership for quality and direction, and 4) organization and management for knowledge use and knowledge development.

Technologies of Power in Digital Inclusion

This study moves beyond the conventional focus on technology access, adoption, and participation in communities, and instead presents a perspective on digital inclusion as a complex process of both empowerment and subjugation. Drawing on Foucault’s theorization on subjectivity and power, our case study of community health workers in rural India reveals that the adoption of an mHealth application simultaneously subordinated and strengthened the subjectivity of the community health workers. The study explicates the process through which the health workers oscillated between the enhancement of their individual efficacy, and their submission to institutionalized power as facilitated by the mHealth application during their everyday work practices. Thus, by shifting the focus from “who” is digitally included to “how” they become digitally included, our research provides a fresh perspective that enriches and deepens the discourse of digital inclusion. It generates both theoretical and practical implications for anyone interested in understanding digital inclusion from a more granulated and practice-based perspective.

Creative digipreneurs: Artistic entrepreneurial practices in platform-mediated space

Digital platforms play an increasingly important role in the everyday work practices of creative entrepreneurs and contribute to how their ventures take shape. Taking this observation as a starting point, this paper aims to explore the entanglement of entrepreneurial, artistic, and creative practices and processes with digital platforms. Drawing on interviews and online observations, the study traces the work practices of two creative producers, a textile designer in Berlin, Germany, and a filmmaker in Bengaluru, India, who both extensively use the social media platform Instagram for their work. Based on the two in-depth case studies, we advance the term creative digipreneurs to reflect the close relationship between the platform, the entrepreneur, and the artistic venture. Creative digipreneurs represent a novel hybrid role that includes the work practices of independent cultural producers, artists, independent entrepreneurs, and creators. This novel perspective allows us to 1) analyse how creative digipreneurs build up a creative venture while relating to people, the local creative scene in the respective cities, and to digital technologies such as Instagram. The platform-mediated situation of the creative digipreneurs allows us to reflect on the entanglement of online and offline spaces in the entrepreneurial artistic process. 2) We demonstrate that while Instagram presents an important opportunity for the creative development, marketing, and sales of the creative product; it also introduces novel constraints.

‘How shall we handle this situation?’ Social workers’ discussions about risks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Swedish elder care

Within a context where New Public Management [NPM] has become increasingly influential in shaping everyday working practices, social workers often handle risks in their everyday work using formalised bureaucratic procedures, among other strategies. As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, rapid changes occurred in Swedish elder care that social workers were required to address in their everyday work. Intra-professional case conferences amongst social workers provide one opportunity to discuss individual viewpoints and obtain suggestions from colleagues on how to proceed with a case. These discussions have so far received little scholarly attention. In this study we used a data set consisting of 39 audio-recorded case conferences to analyse social workers’ intra-professional discussions about risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the case conferences, social workers discussed the risks that were accentuated by the pandemic, such as the risk of spreading COVID-19 to clients, the risk of unmet care needs amongst clients, risks related to accountability, and the risks pertaining to blurred boundaries between different organisations. The collegial discussions in case conferences included opportunities for social workers to use their collective professional experience and competency to establish creative solutions ‘on the go’ and to discuss various ways of handling and balancing different risks while continuing to carry out their work in the changing and unknown situation. Our findings highlight the importance of collegial support in social work in dealing with accentuated risks during the pandemic.

Crisis-as-practice: Conceptualizing the role of everyday work practices in crisis management

Although research on organizational crisis management is vast, it is sometimes insubstantial, particularly in understanding how an organization's routine practices are utilized in crisis management. This article presents a conceptual framework of crisis-as-practice to complement the ‘traditional’ crisis-as-event and crisis-as-process perspectives of crisis management research. By turning to practice theory, it is possible to emphasize the importance of apprehending crisis management as an accomplishment shaped by socially shared practices routinely performed in organizations. This article outlines a framework based on two theoretical constructs: (1) the three-element model of practice, and (2) the distinction between integrative and dispersed practices revealing crisis management capabilities generally invisible in other research. The article concludes with a discussion of how the practice-based framework can widen the understanding of what crisis management is, who is viewed as a crisis manager, what crisis managers do, and what can be grasped through an analysis of crisis managers and their practices.

Craftsmen learning trajectory in the construction sector: An analysis of everyday craftsmen work practices

Practice-based learning (PBL) pathways is considered to be predominant approach for craftsmen learning and acquisition of knowledge and skills in many other developing countries, Tanzania inclusive. The skills and knowledge acquired through this pathway is accepted by both employers and educational stakeholders. However, the workplace context where learning learning and skills is acquired differ across the construction sector due to unique nature of the construction projects, something that can potentially influence the learning and learning trajectory of the learner across similar or different trades. Nonetheless, there exists a contraversy on how different learning and learning trajectories are influenced by different working context of the learning across different sectors. Based on the interview to the selected experienced craftsmen from construction sector, this study critically examined the craftsman learning experiences across the learning trajectories during work practices. A total of 19 experienced craftsmen were purposively sampled and interviewed. The results revealed three phases of craftsmanship trajectories, namely: belongingness to a craftsmanship, identity formation and immersion into occupation. The learning trajectory also differ between craftsmen in similar trades but with different learning workplace environment such as formal and informal construction sectors. However, irrespective of the experience craftsmen from this approach remain largely semi-skilled with high practical skills and limited theoretical and generic skills. It is recommended that there should be policy intervention in order to address the weakness inherent in this approach so that it can be an alternative to formal schooling.

Subespécies de Capital Simbólico no Contexto da Gestão Ordinária

Abstract The objective of this paper is to propose the acknowledgement of subspecies of symbolic capital in the context of everyday work practices within the framework of Ordinary Management, a perspective which is relevant and scarcely discussed in Administration. It consists of a perspective which is distant from the mainstream of Administration and fosters observation as a way to comprehend other forms of management related to the everyday life of the ordinary man. As a result, we reflect upon the necessity of acknowledging resources and capitals which are particular to this manner of performing management, in which economic and cultural capitals are lacking, and capitals must be observed based on their symbolic effects. We base the discussion of this proposal on the theoretical-epistemic approaches of Michel de Certeau, about the art of creating everyday life, and of Pierre Bourdieu, about the perspectives of symbolic capital within the context of the theory of practices. We assume the plurality of the concept of capitals but, moreover, we try to bring the understanding of capital closer to the reality of an Ordinary Management. Therefore, we propose an inversion of the common perspectives on capital, related to “distinction” and “glamour” and fostered by the dominant mindset in Administration. We suggest acknowledging subspecies of symbolic capital which inhabit the popular, the “vulgar” and, consequently, not “distinctive”. This paper contributes to organizational studies by opening up space for the recognition of the resources which configure the practices of management of small subsistence entrepreneurship, which express the everyday reality of businesses in the context of emerging countries.

'Just in time' teaching using department internet searches.

Emergency departments (ED) are fast paced environments that cater for a wide range of medical conditions. The scope of information needed by emergency medicine (EM) physicians is broad, and decisions are time sensitive. This raises the question of how best to educate EM trainees so that they are comfortable when treating wide ranging conditions in time pressured situations? Curriculum-based teaching has been adopted by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) to facilitate a centralised approach to EM training. Although this model provides explicit and clearly identified learning outcomes, RCEM acknowledges it is deficient in ‘just in time’ and ‘on the job’ training for doctors. RCEM has expressed the need for innovative education strategies to help identify and address EM trainee's knowledge gaps. Our aim was to design education sessions that focused on our trainees needs rather than following a broad curriculum. The internet is the primary means by which EM doctors seek information for clinical questions, while working and emergency physicians average 1.35 internet searches per patient encounter.1 Knowing this, we went about analysing clinically relevant internet searches on our department computers to try and identify our doctor's frequently encountered knowledge gaps. Using this information, we were able to design half hour weekly education sessions. The education sessions involved a ‘rapid revision’ of the most frequently searched clinical topics from the previous week and one high acuity, low occurrence (HALO) topic. The session was delivered by a consultant using a blended approach of didactic lectures and practical demonstrations. To assess participant satisfaction, we adapted a validated questionnaire designed by the Centre for Advanced Learning and Teaching. We successfully facilitated focused revision of 28 topics over a 6-week period. Participant's satisfaction was evident by the fact that we saw global improvements in all of the post intervention questionnaire scores when compared with pre-intervention scores. Participants commented that it was ‘A very novel idea, content very relevant to everyday working practice’, ‘Great recap of topics and cases seen daily. Amazing new addition to the teaching session’ and ‘targeted and concise teaching’. Although this has been a very beneficial teaching practice, we did learn some lessons. The filtering and analysis of the internet search histories is very labour intensive and requires a team of educators to sustain long term. ED computers are used by nursing staff and non-EM medical staff. This meant that some of the searched topics were less relevant to EM doctors. Another issue with data capture is that doctors can use their phones to search clinical topics and therefore we will not pick up all clinical searches. Although we have shown that this form of ‘just in time’ teaching is feasible and enjoyable for participants, we have not been able to assess whether this form of teaching leads to improved knowledge acquisition or retention and we propose this should be next research question in this area.

The digitalisation paradox of everyday scientific labour: How mundane knowledge work is amplified and diversified in the biosciences

This paper examines how automation and digitalisation influence the way everyday scientific work practices are organised and conducted. Drawing on a practice-based study of the field of synthetic biology, the paper uses ethnographic, interview and survey data to offer a sociomaterial and relational perspective of technological change. As automation and digitalisation are deployed in research settings, our results show the emergence and persistence of what we call ‘mundane knowledge work’, including practices of checking, sharing and standardising data; and preparing, repairing and supervising laboratory robots. While these are subsidiary practices that are often invisible in comparison to scientific outputs used to measure performance, we find that mundane knowledge work constitutes a fundamental part of automated and digitalised biosciences, shaping scientists' working time and responsibilities. Contrary to expectations of the removal of such work by automation and digitalisation, we show that mundane work around data and robots persists through ‘amplification’ and ‘diversification’ processes. We argue that the persistence of mundane knowledge work suggests a digitalisation paradox in the context of everyday labour: while robotics and advanced data analytics aim at simplifying work processes, they also contribute to increasing their complexity in terms of number and diversity of tasks in creative, knowledge-intensive professions.

Crafting Your Way Out of Paradoxes: How and Why Paradoxical Tensions Influence Job Crafting

Individuals constantly live in contradictory yet competing roles, values, and demands at work. Tensions arise and accompany individuals’ everyday work practice, sparking destructive or constructive responses. While previous studies have offered some insights on how individuals experiencing paradoxical tensions perform their job, the empirical evidence is rare and limited to in-role performance and creativity. How individuals take ownership and exert agency to shape, mold, and redefine the paradoxes within their work boundaries remains uncovered and urges exploration. In a three-wave study of 256 employees, we followed the job demands-resources approach of job crafting to examine why and how employees’ experience with organizational paradoxes influences their avoidance and approach crafting behavior. Results showed that employees’ experiencing tensions has positive effects on both avoidance resource crafting and approach resource crafting, showing a double-edged sword effect. Furthermore, ego depletion and proactive motivation mediated employees’ experiencing tensions on avoidance resource crafting and approach resource crafting respectively. We also found that paradox mindset (i.e., individuals’ general propensity to be comfortable and embrace the paradoxes) negatively moderated the tensions-ego depletion-avoidance crafting path, so that the mediated relationship is mitigated among employees with a high paradox mindset.

Algorithmic precarity and metric power: Managing the affective measures and customers in the gig economy

Drawing on a qualitative, multi-case study of three kinds of geographically tethered gig work—ride-hailing, delivery, and domestic services platforms—in the United States, I examine how workers anticipate the influences of metrics, live with metrics, and cope with algorithmic precarity. Data for this project include in-depth interviews with 50 gig workers about their efforts to interpret and manage metrics as part of their everyday work practices. The analysis reveals that participants were anxious about metrics primarily because of the disciplinary outcomes, that are, the threat of job loss and the valued job features. It also directs attention to how workers felt and experienced customer-sourced ratings and system-generated behavioral metrics variously across platforms. Information asymmetries and the perceived lack of control also intensified a sense of powerlessness among participants. While participants articulated strategies that aimed at managing the uncertainty of customer-sourced ratings—and more precisely, the work-related uncertainty created by “difficult customers”—throughout service interactions, their feelings of anxiety could not be resolved. Furthermore, the (in)visibility of metrics, the settings of platform-mediated worker–customer interactions, and workers’ platform dependence contributed to the varying disciplinary power of metrics. The study contributes to understanding how metrics as affective measures mediate the trilateral relationship between platforms, workers, and customers in the gig economy.

The Lifecycle of a Clinical Cadaver: A Practice-Based Ethnography

Phenomenon Cadavers have long played an important and complex role in medical education. While research on cadaver-based simulation has largely focused on exploring student attitudes and reactions or measuring improvements in procedural performance, the ethical, philosophical, and experiential aspects of teaching and learning with cadavers are rarely discussed. In this paper, we shed new light on the fascinating philosophical moves in which people engage each and every time they find themselves face to face with a cadaver. Approach Over a two-year period (2018/19–2019/20), we applied ethnographic methods (137 hours of observation, 24 interviews, and the analysis of 22 documents) to shadow the educational cadaver through the practical stages involved in cadaver-based simulation: 1. cadaver preparation, 2. cadaver-based skill practice with physicians and residents, and 3. interment and memorial services. We used Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of becoming and acts of creation to trace the ontological “lifecycle” of an educational cadaver as embedded within everyday work practices. Findings We delineated six sub-phases of the lifecycle, through which the cadaver transformed ontologically from person to donor, body, cadaver, educational cadaver, teacher, and loved one/legacy. These shifts involved a network of bureaucratic, technical, educational, and humanistic practices that shaped the way the cadaver was perceived and acted upon at different moments in the lifecycle. By highlighting, at each phase, 1) the ontological transitions of the cadaver, itself, and 2) the practices, events, settings, and people involved in each of these transitions, we explored questions of “being” as it related to the ontological ambiguity of the cadaver: its conceptualization as both person and tool, simultaneously representing life and death. Insights Engaging deeply with the philosophical questions of cadaver-based simulation (CBS) helped us conceptualize the lifecycle as a series of meaningful and purposeful acts of becoming. Following the cadaver from program entry to interment allowed us to contemplate how its ontological ambiguity shapes every aspect of cadaver-based simulation. We found that in discussions of fidelity in medical simulation, beyond both the physical and functional, it is possible to conceive of a third type: ontological . The humanness of the cadaver makes CBS a unique, irreplaceable, and inherently philosophical, practice.