The career of information

So, in response to my worries, yes, I just need to read more.
Harper agrees with me that there is very little in the literature to guide the novice ethnographer, who just goes to the field with fingers crossed and good faith he/she will "bump into" something interesting. That is why he decides to explain HOW he did his ethnographic research.

Summarizing it all, he bases what he calls his "field work programmes" into 3 main components:

1. Following the career of information
2. Rituals of induction
3. Undertaking interviews and observing work.

I am still trying to absorb this, but the idea of "following a career of information" sounds very appealing. Else, it fits perfectly into the AT framework, where the artefact plays a central role. Understand how a story is prompted, written, edited and published could be a good way to start.

"My view is that reference to the career of information (irrespective of whether that career might be manifest in a document or other artefacts) is a technique through which nearly all organizations can be mapped" (Inside the IMF - Harper - p. 70)