Sorting Things Out

Sorting Things Out
Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
Total Pages : 390
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780262522953
ISBN-13 : 0262522950
Rating : 4/5 (950 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Sorting Things Out by : Geoffrey C. Bowker

Download or read book Sorting Things Out written by Geoffrey C. Bowker and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2000-08-25 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revealing and surprising look at how classification systems can shape both worldviews and social interactions. What do a seventeenth-century mortality table (whose causes of death include "fainted in a bath," "frighted," and "itch"); the identification of South Africans during apartheid as European, Asian, colored, or black; and the separation of machine- from hand-washables have in common? All are examples of classification—the scaffolding of information infrastructures. In Sorting Things Out, Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star explore the role of categories and standards in shaping the modern world. In a clear and lively style, they investigate a variety of classification systems, including the International Classification of Diseases, the Nursing Interventions Classification, race classification under apartheid in South Africa, and the classification of viruses and of tuberculosis. The authors emphasize the role of invisibility in the process by which classification orders human interaction. They examine how categories are made and kept invisible, and how people can change this invisibility when necessary. They also explore systems of classification as part of the built information environment. Much as an urban historian would review highway permits and zoning decisions to tell a city's story, the authors review archives of classification design to understand how decisions have been made. Sorting Things Out has a moral agenda, for each standard and category valorizes some point of view and silences another. Standards and classifications produce advantage or suffering. Jobs are made and lost; some regions benefit at the expense of others. How these choices are made and how we think about that process are at the moral and political core of this work. The book is an important empirical source for understanding the building of information infrastructures.


Sorting Things Out Related Books

Sorting Things Out
Language: en
Pages: 390
Authors: Geoffrey C. Bowker
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2000-08-25 - Publisher: MIT Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A revealing and surprising look at how classification systems can shape both worldviews and social interactions. What do a seventeenth-century mortality table (
The Discipline of Organizing: Professional Edition
Language: en
Pages: 743
Authors: Robert J. Glushko
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-08-25 - Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Note about this ebook: This ebook exploits many advanced capabilities with images, hypertext, and interactivity and is optimized for EPUB3-compliant book reader
Knowledge Organization and Classification in International Information Retrieval
Language: en
Pages: 265
Authors: Nancy Williamson
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-05-13 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Learn step-by-step how to develop knowledge-based products for international use! Knowledge Organization and Classification in International Information Retriev
Records Classification: Concepts, Principles and Methods
Language: en
Pages: 162
Authors: Umi Asma' Mokhtar
Categories: Language Arts & Disciplines
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017-05-19 - Publisher: Chandos Publishing

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Records Classification: Concepts, Principles and Methods: Information, Systems, Context introduces classification, an early part of the research lifecycle. Clas
Qualitative Research in IS: Issues and Trends
Language: en
Pages: 309
Authors: Trauth, Eileen M.
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2000-07-01 - Publisher: IGI Global

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book addresses the need for materials that can help the IS researcher determine which qualitative methods are most appropriate for addressing their particu