Interspatial subjectivities: engineering in virtual environments

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly common for workers to collaborate across continents in technologically-mediated spaces, where geography and time are related in new ways, where visual elements for interpreting the other's actions are reduced, and where quite diverse cultural practices and beliefs are encountered. Phenomenologically, intersubjectivity, or taking the point of view of the other, and imagining oneself in the other's space, requires a new type of work. In this article we discuss two engineering design teams as they orient their actions to the work of building, repairing, and maintaining an “interspatial” subjectivity. We focus on aspects of multimodality, relationships of time, and integration of different local practices and habits, as they are affected by encounters in technologically-mediated space. The engineers are simultaneously building an understanding of the structural space they are creating, as well as how to most effectively transfer or reinvent skills learned as engineer-collaborators.

Keywords:

• space
• intersubjectivity
• culture
• modality
• virtual collaboration
• globalization

Notes

1. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0729253. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

2. We have provided pseudonyms for names in the data excerpts. Because there were relatively few female engineers, we have used the male pronoun throughout, so as to further anonymize the data. Ind =India, Rom=Romania, mgr=manager, eng=engineer, capital letters indicate engineers’ names; initials are used in place of names, italics provide additional information about the talk.