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How to improve information flow in organizations (c) 2011 Clay Spinuzzi

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How are Networks Historicized?

Clay [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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Value

• Learn how to apply key theoretical concepts (contradictions and translation) to historical changes.

• Learn how activity theory and actor-network theory conceptualize and investigate historical changes.

• Apply concepts to social media.


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The Central Disagreement

• Activity theory: Development precedes and underpins political-rhetorical interests [weaving]

• Actor-network theory: Political-rhetorical interests precede and underpin development [splicing]


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CASES


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Universal Service


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Accident Location and Analysis


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Coworking


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IMVU


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HISTORY AND CHANGE


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CONTRADICTIONSActivity Theory


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Spinuzzi, C. (2007). Accessibility scans and institutional activity: An activity theory analysis. College English, 70(2).


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Spinuzzi, C. (2011). Losing by Expanding: Corralling the Runaway Object. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 25(4).


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Contradictions are…

• Material• Transformational• Developmental


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Ries, Eric. (2011). The Lean Startup. New York: Crown Business.


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IMVU’s contradiction

• Object: IMVU ties together existing friends with real-life identities.Vs.

• Object: IMVU allows users to discover new friends with virtual identities.


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IMVU’s Pivot

• “We adopted the view that our job was to find a synthesis between our vision and what customers would accept; it wasn’t to capitulate to what customers thought they wanted or to tell customers what they ought to want.” (Reis 2011, p.50)


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IMVU’s Pivot

• “Once we pivoted away from the original strategy, things began to change. Aligned with a superior strategy, our product development efforts became magically more productive – not because we were working harder but because we were working smarter, aligned with our customers’ real needs.” (Reis 2011, p.51)


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Exercise: Contradictions

• Examine one tool in your own case. What problem is it trying to solve? What frictions caused it to develop?


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TRANSLATIONActor-Network Theory


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3. Translation

a. Problematizationb. Interessementc. Enrollmentd. Mobilization


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Translations are…

• Material• Transformational• Associational


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Universal Service is …

• The principle of universal interconnection (1907)

• Total market penetration (early 1970s)• Universally obtainable slates of services

(1996)


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1987

1996

1898

1995


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Translation: Multilateral Negotiation

• Problematization. What must be accomplished or negotiated?

• Interessement. What stakeholders are involved in the negotiation?

• Enrollment. How do these stakeholders relate—how do they negotiate?

• Mobilization. How can the stakeholders be persuaded to link up and accomplish the objectives?


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• How could Bell hold onto the market after patents ran out?

• How could competing telecomms defeat the problem of no economy of scale?

• How could municipalities ensure phone coverage?

• How could individuals get a single line with simple, affordable service?

• How could the federal government promote national good?

Problematization: Actors define each other. Of an infinite range of actors, these emerge.


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• Independent telecomms had to interconnect to keep themselves relevant by linking to shared subscriber universe.

• Bell had to interconnect to expand into local markets.

• Municipalities had to escape boom-bust cycle.

Interessement: Actors lock each other into place -- they define their interests as congruent.


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• Telecomms and Bell sign interconnection agreements.

• Bell denies long distance service and subscriber universe to those who won’t sign.

• Municipalities favor interconnection.• Federal government begins regulating.• Market is divided between long distance and

local.

Enrollment: Multilateral negotiations enable interessement.


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• By the mid-1920s, Bell had consolidated the market and become a de facto monopoly, a “natural monopoly.”

Mobilization: Actors choose a spokesperson, link up, and accomplish objectives.


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Ries, Eric. (2011). The Lean Startup. New York: Crown Business.


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IMVU’s Pivot

“We adopted the view that our job was to find a synthesis between our vision and what customers would accept; it wasn’t to capitulate to what customers thought they wanted or to tell customers what they ought to want.” (Reis 2011, p.50)


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IMVU’s Translation

• Problematization: How do we build a product that people want to use?

• Interessement: Who will be involved in IMVU, and how? What is our job, what is our market, and how will we interoperate with other IM networks?

• Enrollment: How do we get those actors to choose sides? How do we get people to accept their role as paying customers?

• Mobilization: How do we wrap up our code, interoperability, market, processes, etc. and call it “IMVU”?


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Exercise: Translations

• Examine a tool from your case. Strip away the layers of translation.

• 4. How has it been mobilized?• 3. How have actors been enrolled?• 2. How were those actors interessed?• 1. What problematized the situation in order

to interesse them?


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Takeaways

• Know how to apply key theoretical concepts (contradictions and translation) to historical changes.

• Understand how activity theory and actor-network theory conceptualize and investigate historical changes.

• Understand how to apply concepts to social media.


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Exercise: Examining Contradictions

• Go back to your ASDs and ANDs for your work case. Trace backwards to the contradictions that led to the current configuration. How did they get here?

• Look at the ASD and trace the origins of some of the more commonly used tools. Why were these tools brought in? From what other activities did they come?

• Speculate how current contradictions indicate upcoming changes. What will they be?


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Exercise: Examining Translations

Apply translation to an ASD:• 4. How has an element been mobilized?• 3. How have actants within that element been

enrolled?• 2. How were those actants interessed (locked

into place by their relations)?• 1. How was the issue problematized in such a

way as to attract the actants?

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Education

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activity theory analysis

institutional activity

universal service

imvus pivot