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There has been a long-standing interest in projection and the resources on which participants rely to produce and recognize the import and organization of turns at talk. Less attention has been paid to the character of the activity in which utterances form part and the ways in which embodied action enables the intelligibility, coordination, and in some cases, coproduction, of particular actions. In this article, we focus on specialized forms of embodied, institutional activity and focus in particular on simultaneity and the ways in which bodily action enables the progressive formation and reformation of an activity in the light of the (co)participants' emerging contributions. We address how the routine structure of particular tasks enables participants to anticipate, prepare for, and even initiate actions in advance of the relevant activity and in turn, how participants may seek to ameliorate the interactional import of potentially premature action. The articles explores the interplay of technical practice and interactional organization and points to the distinctive character of embodied action in understanding anticipation and coordination in complex forms of institutional interaction.

There is a growing commitment within science centres and museums to deploy computer-based exhibits to enhance participation and engage visitors with socio-scientific issues. As yet, however, we have little understanding of the interaction and communication that arises with and around these forms of exhibits, and the extent to which they do indeed facilitate engagement. In this paper, we examine the use of novel computer-based exhibits to explore how people, both alone and with others, interact with and around the installations. The data are drawn from video-based field studies of the conduct and communication of visitors to the Energy Gallery at London's Science Museum. The paper explores how visitors transform their activity with and around computer-based exhibits into performances, and how such performances create shared experiences. It reveals how these performances can attract other people to become an audience to an individual's use of the system and subsequently sustain their engagement with both the performance and the exhibit. The observations and findings of the study are used to reflect upon the extent to which the design of exhibits enables particular forms of co-participation or shared experiences, and to develop design sensitivities that exhibition managers and designers may consider when wishing to engender novel ways of engagement and participation with and around computer-based exhibits. (Contains 11 figures.)

The contribution of the open-plan office to work and organisation has long been a matter of some debate. Aside from its economic advantages, it is argued that it provides an important opportunity for colleagues to share knowledge and help each other. It is recognised, however, that the presence and participation of others can undermine the ability of personnel to concentrate on individual tasks and subjects work to interruption. This paper seeks to show how these seemingly contradictory issues are matters participants themselves orient to on a daily basis. In particular, it explores the interactional practices in and through which participants address and, to some extent reconcile, these competing demands; initiating brief conversations while seeking to preserve the integrity of the ongoing tasks in which colleagues are engaged. This article focuses on participants progressively establishing momentary encounters that enable them to exchange information and resolve the inevitable difficulties colleagues face in organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2009.01195.x Byline: Marcus Sanchez Svensson (1), Paul Luff (2), Christian Heath (2) Keywords: social interaction; training; surgical operations; interaction analysis Abstract: Abstract In this paper we address the ways in which surgeons, in collaboration with other members of the surgical team, create occasions for demonstration and instruction within the highly complex and demanding tasks of a surgical operation. Drawing on video recordings of surgical operations, augmented by field studies, we examine how particular phenomena and procedures are made accessible and intelligible to trainees and the ways in which brief episodes of insight and instruction enable complex procedures to be followed and understood. We consider the ways in which demonstration and instruction are achieved, whilst preserving the integrity of medical practice, and explore how trainees are provided with the opportunity to witness, and learn from, the contingent deployment of formal procedures in particular cases. We conclude by considering our observations in the light of recent discussions of practice and situated learning in healthcare training. Author Affiliation: (1)Department of Interaction and System Design, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden (2)Department of Management, King's College London Article note: Address for correspondence: Paul Luff, Department of Management, King's College London, Franklin-Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, e-mail: paul.luff@kcl.ac.uk

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2007.00139.x Byline: Christian Heath (1), Paul Luff (1) Keywords: Auctions; social interaction; markets; occupational practice; organization; discourse Abstract: Abstract Auctions provide an institutional solution to a social problem; they enable the legitimate pricing and exchange of goods where those goods are of uncertain value. In turn, auctions raise a number of social and organizational issues that are resolved within the interaction that arise in sales by auction. In this paper, we examine sales of fine art, antiques and objets d'art and explore the ways in which auctioneers mediate competition between buyers and establish a value for goods. In particular, we explore how bids are elicited, co-ordinated and revealed so as to rapidly escalate the price of goods in a transparent manner that enables the legitimate valuation and exchange of goods. In directing attention towards the significance of the social interaction, including talk, visual and material conduct, the paper contributes to the growing corpus of ethnographic studies of markets. It suggests that to understand the operation of markets and their outcomes, and to unpack issues of agency, trust and practice, we need to place the 'interaction order' at the heart of analytic agenda. Author Affiliation: (1)Work, Interaction and Technology, Department of Management, King's College London Article History: (Date accepted: August 2006) Article note: email: christian.heath@kcl.ac.uk