Talking About Machines: An Ethnography of a Modern Job (Collection on Technology and Work)

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Summary: Insightful
Review: Being a technician for Xerox (basis of this study) I may be a bit biased...but this book is very insightful in to the inner workings of a group of techno-nerds. For anyone who wants an inside glimpse, this is a must read!!!

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Summary: Review of Julian Orr's "Talking about Machines"
Review: Heralded as a book which demonstrates "an uncompromising ethnographic eye on work practices (1996:xiv)", Talking about Machines by Julian Orr does not live up to its advertising. While being thorough (overly so) in his explanations of the "interactions" of technicians who travel to clients throughout Silicon Valley, he is sadly lacking in providing the ehtnography he claims to be striving towards. The pedantic, tedious, and painful blow-by-blow description of every conversation within the group he follows as an "anthropologist" is overdone, and the "vignettes" which follow are lacking in ethnographical explanation and style. While Julian Orr's initial intentions and the foreword was written in an intrigueing manner, he did not live up to it in the rest of the book. In the beginning, he spoke of looking closely at the interactions of the group of people who go around as mobile technicians to problem solve machines at companies in Silicon Valley. He wrote that he was interested in looking at the interactions of the technicians in relation to the high tech environment, and that he would focus on the "triangle" of the technician, the customer, and machines. He did indeed go very much into detail of the technician's interactions, but too much so without enough perspective or insight. I do not feel as though I gained a better understanding of their work environment, the machines, or their relationship. In fact, most of the time the conversations he relayed in the book almost action by action seemed to be a long litany of complaints the technicians had. For a reader interested in the very detailed (and not particularly ethnographic) commentary on technicians, this book might be of interest. For someone expecting something with a bit more soul, go elsewhere. While I believe the book had great potential in using the case studies and vignettes to illustrate interrelationships and relationships, it unfortunately did not live up to my expectations in that area.

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Summary: A must read for all service managers and service providers.
Review: The book was recommended to me. I work for the company that the book deals with, in fact, I am a Technical Representative. That is the title of the job when I was hired 20 years ago. We now are called Customer Service Engineers, I still say Tech. Rep. I read the book and gave it to my manager to read, she hasn't returned it yet. The book makes some interesting points and observations about the Tech. Reps. world. How we interact with other Tech. Reps and our bosses and how we "get along" with our machines. It explained who we are and what we do, or try to do. Should be on any service managers reading list. I won't comment on the academic areas of the book, above my area of knowledge. It opened my eyes, and made me look as customers, service and copiers/printers/equipment as I had not done so in the past.