Varieties of being “social”: Cognitive work analysis, symbolic interactionism, and sociotechnical systems

Abstract

Abstract Cognitive work analysis (CWA) is a prominent framework for analyzing and modeling cognitive work in sociotechnical systems. It derives from both engineering‐ and psychological‐based approaches for the study of human knowing and acting in technological contexts. Nonetheless, in its current form, the social dimension of CWA is underdeveloped. This study extends CWA as a requirements gathering framework for sociotechnical systems in terms of a broader meaning of “social,” derived from interpretive sociology. Specifically, this is achieved by providing convergence to the approaches of CWA, symbolic interactionism (SI) and sociotechnical systems. To achieve this convergence, CWA is extended in two significant ways. First, deriving from a hermeneutic (interpretive) viewpoint of SI, the ethnographic analysis is conducted. Along with this first extension, the fourth phase of CWA, Social, Organizational and Cooperation Analysis, is also extended using a hermeneutic mesh. These various concepts are demonstrated using an example of research in the work domain of small‐scale (micro and nano) robotics.