Visualizing and Tracing: Research Methodologies for the Study of Networked, Sociotechnical Activity, Otherwise Known as Knowledge Work

Abstract

This article demonstrates, by example, 2 approaches to the analysis of knowledge work. Both methods draw on network as a framework: a Latourian actor–network theory analysis and a network analysis. The shared object of analysis is a digital humanities and digital media research lab that is the outcome of the collective and coordinated efforts of researchers and other stakeholders at North Carolina State University. The authors show how the two methods are drawn to different objects of study, different data sources, and different assumptions about how data can be reduced and made understandable. The authors conclude by arguing that although these methods yield different outlooks on the same object, their findings are mutually informing.

Keywords:

• actor network
• methodology
• network analysis
• networks

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah Read

Sarah Read is an Assistant Professor of Writing, Rhetoric & Discourse at DePaul University. Her work has appeared in Technical Communication Quarterly, The Journal of Writing Research and College Composition and Communication and the edited collection The Object of Rhetoric: Assembling and Disassembling Bruno Latour. She teaches courses in the theory and research of technical communication and writing studies. Her research focuses on the ethnographic study of how texts mediate knowledge work in technical and professional settings, with a particular interest in visualization.

Jason Swarts

Jason Swarts is a Professor of English at NC State University. He teaches courses on theory and research in technical communication, networks, and discourse analysis. His research focuses on genres of instructional communication, distributed work, and mobility.