ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some empirical examples of document which illustrates how documents are interwoven with the 'doing' of work. It concerns how the documentary artifacts of organisations are worked with in practical, methodical ways that reveal the varied but significant rationales underlying the equally important variety of paper-digital practices. One of the major transformations of modern society has been the advent of the bureaucratic organisation which involved a routinisation of record keeping through the standardised formatting of documents to reflect the 'rationalisation' of the application of policy and procedures. The chapter considers the use of documents, specifically the reporting form, in the work of screening for breast cancer. It presents detailed examples of document use and annotation, through an ethnographic study of work associated with road safety audit in a civil engineering consultancy. The chapter examines some observations of practices, conversations, and other activities occurring around document use, mainly plans and report templates, in the practical accomplishment of everyday work.
