Designing technology, developing theory. Towards a symmetrical approach
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We focus on collaborative activities that engage computer graphics designers and social scientists in systems design processes. Our conceptual symmetrical account of technology design and theory development is elaborated as a mode of mutual engagement occurring in interdisciplinary trading zones, where neither discipline is placed at the service of the other nor do disciplinary boundaries threaten to dissolve. To this end, we draw on analyses of mutual engagements between computer and social scientists stemming from the fields of computersupported cooperative work (CSCW), human computer interaction (HCI), and science and technology studies (STS). Recent contributions from STS are extended with respect to the modes of engagement and trading zones between computer and social sciences that identify participative digital systems design as a form of inquiry for the analysis of cooperative work settings. We illustrate our conceptual approach using data from an interdisciplinary project involving computer graphics designers, sociologists and neurosurgeons and hospital staff with the aim of developing augmented reality (AR) visualisations for clinical cooperation on a hospital ward.
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