Work practice in situation rooms – An ethnographic study of emergency response work in governmental organizations

Abstract

This paper presents ethnographic accounts from multiple studies on situation room work in governmental organizations. The purpose of this paper is to make visible aspects of the work practice and provide triggers for future discussions regarding how such work practices could be supported with improved information technology. The findings show the collaborative nature of situation room work and how a variety of information technologies are embedded and intertwined in the practice. Assembling, monitoring, exploring, converging, and consolidating are key activities in a general work pattern in situation rooms.