This paper gives a selective overview of studies in 'medical ethnomethodology'. It starts with the 1967 contributions by Garfinkel and Sudnow, which focus on medical action as accountable Then it discusses the many CA-inspired studies of doctor-patient inter-action published during the 1980s. Finally, it points to scattered studies that suggest several ways in which this latter approach can be deepened and enlarged. In this way, it formulates the contours of a program for ethnomethodological studies in the medical field.

This paper examines some textual devices that writers may use to pre-structure the activities of their readers. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is used as an 'explicating device' to explore how writers can provide reading instructions, and how these can be experienced by readers. Structuring devices like paragraphs and sections, and hypertextual elements like notes and references are investigated in detail. In this way, the paper aspires to contribute to 'an ethnomethodology of textual practices'.