Working on Mars

Superb in several disciplines

A superb ethnography deserving to be read by a much larger audience than it's likely to get. This is how the anthropology of technology use should be done, what an STS lab study should look like, and how powerful insights into the changing practices of field and laboratory science should be analyzed. Clancey performed an ethnography of the Opportunity/Spirit Mars rover teams, and witnessed a new synthesis in planetary science: field scientists working indoors alongside lab scientists to analyze data obtained through engineering efforts in real time. More than a collaboration, this was a transformation, with potentially profound impacts on the practice of science in an age of robotics, teleoperations and distributed teams. Clancey breaks down the ancient humans vs. robots trope in planetary exploration to show that there's never a versus, only an and, with different emphases and practices in different environments. This book deserves to be a must-read for a range of disciplines. Read more