Christian Heath is Professor of Work and Organisations in the Management Centre at King's College London and leads the Work, Interaction and Technology Research Group. He and other members of the group specialise in video-based ethnographic studies of social interaction in particular in workplace settings but increasingly in museums and galleries. These studies are frequently used to inform the design, development and deployment of advanced technologies. With members of the group, he is currently undertaking studies in such areas as transport, medicine, architecture, news media, science centres and art galleries. These projects have involved the design and development of for example multimedia mobiles and PDAs, interactive broadcast systems, and media spaces. Recent projects have been funded by the UK research councils and various research programmes of the European Commission. Many of these projects include close collaboration with industrial, service sector and academic partners in the UK and abroad for example Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Bosch, Arjo-Wiggins, Ericsson, London Underground, RATP, CST, Science Museum, V&A, Courtauld Galleries, and the Universities of Nottingham, Oxford, Paris, Brussels, Toulouse, Siena, Copenhagen, Konstanz, KTH Stockholm, ETH Zurich, etc.

As introduction to my own work and work of my colleagues in the Work, Interaction and Technology research group at King's College London it is perhaps worthwhile looking at the book 'Technology in Action (Cambridge University Press). The book provides examples of a range of empirical studies of social interaction in a variety of settings, and insights into a particular analytic approach that may well of interest to students undertaking research on learning both in formal and informal environments.

1) Methods
Over some years I have been engaged with my colleagues in developing video-based, naturalistic research on conduct and social interaction in everyday settings. The methods and techniques of that research are discussed in various articles and papers. (1,2,3,4,5)

2) Social interaction: talk, bodily conduct and the material environments
Much of my research is concerned with the analysis of social interaction. Drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis it has addressed the interplay between talk and bodily conduct and the ways in which objects and artifacts, tools and technologies feature in conduct and interaction. Much of this research has examined talk and interaction in organisational settings and environments such as medical consultations, control centres and news rooms. (6,7,8,9,10)

3) Museums and galleries
In recent years, we have been undertaking research concerned with conduct and social interaction in museums and galleries. We are particularly interested in the ways in which visitors make sense of and experience exhibits, including interactive pieces, through interaction with others, both those they are with and others who happen to be in the same space. (11,12,13,14,15)

4) New technologies: enhancing communication and collaboration
Many of our empirical studies and the research projects in which we engage involve the design, development and deployment of advanced technologies. We also undertake studies, in some cases, quasi experimental, of communication and interaction, of people using new innovate systems. (16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23)

1) Methods

(1) Heath, C.C. & J. Hindmarsh 2000) Analysing work and interaction. In May, T. (2000) Qualitative Research. London: Sage

(2) Hindmarsh, J. & C.C. Heath (1998) Video and the analysis of objects in interaction. Journal of Communication and Cognition 31 (2/3), pp. 111-130.

(3) Heath, C.C. (1997) Analysing work activities in face to face interaction using video. In Silverman, D. (ed) Qualitative Methods. London: Sage

(4) Heath, C.C. and P. Luff (2000) Technology in Action Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

(5) Heath, C.C. & J. Hindmarsh (2000) 'Configuring Objects in Action: From mutual space to media space'. Mind, Culture and Activity, 7 (1/2)

Back to top

(16) Luff, P., Hindmarsh, J. & C. C. Heath (eds) (2000) Workplace Studies: Recovering Work Practice and Informing Systems Design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

(17) Heath, C.C. , Luff, P. & M. Sanchez Svensson (2002) Overseeing organisation. British Journal of Sociology Vol 53 No’ 2 June pp.181-203

(18) Luff, P. K. and Heath, C. C. (2000) ‘Surveying the Scene: Technologies for Everyday Awareness and Monitoring in Control Rooms, Interacting With Computers

(19) Heath, C.C., M. Sanchez Svensson, J. Hindmarsh, P. Luff & D.vom Lehn (2003) 'Configuring Awareness'. Journal of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work Luff, P., Heath, C. C.Kuzuoka, H., Hindmarsh, J.,

(20) Yamazaki, K. and Oyama, S. (2003) 'Fractured ecologies: creating environments for collaboration', in Journal of Human Computer Interaction

(21) Hindmarsh, J., Fraser, M., Heath, C. and S. Benford (2001) Virtually Missing the Point: Configuring CVEs for object-focused interaction. In Churchill, E., Snowdon, D. and A. Munro (eds.) Collaborative Virtual Environments. Springer Verlag. pp. 115-139 (Chapter 7).

(22) Heath, C.C., Hindmarsh, J. & P. Luff. (1999) Isolation and interaction: the fragmented world of the train driver on London Underground. Sociology 33, 3, pp. 555-575.

(23) Luff, P. & C.C. Heath (1998) Mobiles and Collaboation. Proceedings of CSCW'98. ACM Press.