Processual Shadows

Abstract

Abstract In many ways, time-stamped digital trace data seem like an ideal resource for research on routine dynamics and other processual phenomena. In other ways, digital traces seem more like shadows of action than direct images of action. We can see that something happened, but it is difficult to say exactly what. This chapter uses data from four dermatology clinics at the University of Rochester Medical Center to examine the strengths and weaknesses of trace data. These data include over 57,000 patient visits. The data allow us to detect changes in routines that went unnoticed by the clinical staff, but do not allow us to estimate basic features of the patient visit, such as waiting time in the examination room. The chapter compares our analysis to Barley’s (1986) classic diachronic analysis of CT scanners in radiology departments. The comparison is instructive since Barley (1986) also used longitudinal data to examine changing work processes in medical clinics, but with ethnographic data rather than digital trace data. The comparison helps clarify some of the advantages, disadvantages, and trade-offs involved in using digital trace data for diachronic processual analysis.