I am currently conducting a study that investigates, reports, analyzes and discusses how a firmly established scientific recording genre (the manuscript field notebook) is coevolving with other field technologies, such as GIS and GPS mapping software, to improve the process of scientific data collection, reporting, and writing for publication in the field of geology. The results of this study will be important because, this coevolution of the field notebook may have a direct impact on how recorders and receivers of geological data interact with it, transform it to meet their own needs, and on how members of the research/discourse community interact with one another to produce new knowledge.
As any manuscript or print-based research genre moves to digital format, the use, purpose, and accessibility of the information it provides will undergo change. For example, digital field notebooks may generate new digital information streams that will provide new nodes in the digital information network geology researchers and practitioners rely on. They may also substantially increase collaboration in the field and other locations, as well as the accuracy of the data collected. Moreover, both the audience for, and the active document life cycle of the field notebook may change.
This study will explore and discuss the process by which a highly traditional scientific communication genre (the manuscript field notebook) is evolving along with other field technologies such as GIS and GPS mapping software, to improve the process of scientific data collection, reporting and writing for publication in the field of geology. Scientific and technical communication scholars who comprise the readership of scholarly publications such as Technical Communication Quarterly, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Technical Communication, Journal of Written and Technical Communication, and Written Communication, seek to keep abreast of the effects that new writing technologies have in communicating scientific and technical information among both scientists and the public. This study will bring the development of digital field notebooks to their attention, possibly for the first time. Students of scientific and technical communication will also benefit, as my results may suggest further research topics for their thesis and dissertation requirements. The study is important because, as any manuscript or print research genre moves to digital format, the use, purpose, accessiblity of the information it provides may change. Document life cycles may also change. These changes will have a direct impact on how receivers of the information interact with it, transform it to meet their own needs, and on how members of the research/discourse community interact with one another to create new knowledge.
Electronic Medical Records
I am currently conducting a case study of a general, sole practitioner physician practicing in a 'born digital' office she recently opened to more effectively and efficiently comply with the US Congressional mandate for all health care sectors to migrate their patient records to electronic format by 2010. I have conducted two exploratory interviews with her to date, and am currently reviewing my collected data for specific research questions it may suggest. So far, I am most interested in her digital system's (Mysis) capacity to auto-generate sentences and paragraphs of prose which were previously scrawled by hand on paper as she queried patients about their symptoms.