Dentistry "in the wild" : A workplace study of dentistry from a Distributed cognition perspective

Abstract: The research problem addressed in this thesis is the lack of understanding of dentistry in practice, and the limited amount of work from a HCI-perspective in dental informatics. The aim of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of the area as a socio-technical domain from a Distributed cognition-perspective using workplace studies. Dentistry is a complex socio-technical domain where humans, technology, tools and artifacts together form a system. The ubiquitous presence of computers has made a mark on the dental profession with e.g. record systems and digital x-ray, and the integration of IT-system in the dental field may inform how dentists make decisions for their patients and how they perform their work. The problem is that not much work has been done in the dental informatics field from a HCI-perspective. This thesis applies workplace studies and Distributed cognition as an approach to HCI to gain an understanding of dentistry in practice and also draw conclusions how Distributed cognition could be applied as a method in HCI. This thesis presents a detailed account of work in dentistry regarding the propagation of information through representational stages and the roles, tasks and artifacts that are present in the complex socio-technical domain of dentistry. The thesis also provide implications for Distributed cognition regarding how it could be developed to fit into today’s complex socio-technical domains both as a method in HCI and as a theoretical framework. Key words: Dental informatics, Human-computer interaction, Distributed cognition, Workplace studies.