Inside the IMF: An Ethnography of Documents, Technology and Organisational Action
Author(s): Richard Harper (Author)
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: 8 Oct. 1997
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0123258405
ISBN-13: 9780123258403
Book Description
In this book, Richard Harper uses the International Monetary Fund as a case study to show how thinking differently about IT systems can dramatically improve the manageability and accessibility of documents in organisations. The systems he considers uses search and retrieval applications, the use of hypertext documents and shared database applications like Lotus Notes.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Richard Harper has written a pioneering analysis of the work of the International Monetary Fund…it will stand as a benchmark against which future studies will be judged.” –Rod Watson, Sociology Department, University of Manchester, UK
From the Back Cover
. What do documents do in organisations?
. Can we use studies of what they do to help design better document technologies?
. Can such studies enable us to better understand the organisations themselves?
These are the questions this book sets out to address using an ethnographic case study of documentation within the International Monetary Fund. It illustrates how a concern with documents can reveal the inner workings of an institution and, at the same time, provide resources for the design and development of new document technologies.
Inside the IMF uses naturalistic descriptive techniques and should be read by anyone concerned with organisations, the role of documents in institutional life and the design of new technologies. As the first real inside examination of the International Monetary Fund, the book will be of interest to researchers in development studies, international relations and political science. Its unique approach will also engage those directly concerned with ethnographic enquiries: namely social anthropologists and sociologists.
Wow! eBook
