Seeing in Depth

Abstract

On oceanographic research vessels, scientists from different disciplines must work together to obtain samples from the sea beneath their ship. Such juxtaposition of not just theory, but actual laboratory practice, creates unique possibilities for synergy, as members of one discipline make use of the tools of another. Using videotapes of technicians deploying a probe in the mouth of the Amazon, this paper investigates how multiple kinds of space - including the sea under the ship, graphic representations, the work space of the lab, and embodied participation frameworks for the organization of tool-mediated human interaction - are constituted through a range of temporally unfolding, work-relevant, situated practices. Particular attention is paid to how three parties work together to precisely position the probe at a spot where a geochemist wants to take samples. Because each actor uses alternative tools to organize his or her perception in ways appropriate to complementary tasks required for the successful accomplishment of the sampling run, each sees the place they are looking at together in a very different way.