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“Making Do”: Uses and Tactics by Michel de Certeau
Posted on March 19th, 2012 No comments
Before starting the reading on de Certeau on Chapter 3, I googled about The Practice of Everyday Life book to get an idea of what it is about before jumping into chapter 3. Well basically this book is about the study of life which involves people’s social behaviour.
The first line of the reading was already challenging having to google the meaning of la perruque.
la perruque = a french word meaning “wig,” but colloquially used to describe a diversionary practice of using an employers resources for personal use.
……the worker’s own work disguised as work for his [sic] employer. It differs from pilfering in that nothing of material value is stolen. It differs from absenteeism in that the worker is officially on the job. …The worker who indulges in la perruque actually diverts time (not goods, since he uses only scraps) from the factory for work that is free, creative, and precisely not directed toward profit. In the very place where the machine he must serve reigns supreme, he cunningly takes pleasure in finding a way to create gratuitous products whose sole purpose is to signify his own capabilities through his work and to confirm his solidarity with other workers or his family. (1984, pp. 24-26) Source
- …by that combination, creates for himself a space in which he can find ways of constraining order of the place or of the language (p.30). I guess what de Carteau is saying here is that when we are left with no choices, we just have to work with what’s available which creates unexpected results.
Uses, or consumption- What are the uses consumers make of the things that they purchase? ‘what do they make of what they “absorb” receive, and pay for? (p.31).
- E.g. A child was punished for scrawling on his schoolbook. He has made a space for himself and signs his existence as an author on it.
- E.g. A tv viewer cannot write anything on the screen. He loses his author’s rights and becomes, or so it seems, a pure receiver.
Strategies and tactics*to be continued.* -
Too Big To Know
Posted on March 8th, 2012 No commentsKnowledge Overload
The article introduces us to the data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) model by Russell Ackoff.
- There’s more data and less wisdom in the world.
- Each layer takes the value from the one below it.
- Process data, you get information (information » data = wine » vineyard)
- Overloaded with information now – what’s its value? – redefined the information to generate something of greater value.
- Information is structured data, knowledge is actionable information.