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Faculty of the Social Sciences
Publication and co-editing by Ronja Trischler

New article "Bodies/Technology on Standby: The Importance of Cooperative Waiting for Digital Work"

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This article argues that waiting is not just a waste, but has as a sociotechnical practice an important function in coping with digital cooperation.

Based on an ethnographic study of the production of visual effects, this chapter analyses the role of waiting in digital work. I argue that temporal discrepancies between computational processes, computer operating and human interaction are a constant part of cooperation in digital work. In my analysis, the phenomenon of waiting, hitherto conceived almost exclusively as human (in)activity, is made visible as a sociotechnical practice that is fundamental to the accomplishment of cooperation. The observable forms of waiting—as situated practices—in visual effects production provide information on how cooperation in digital work is established between different participants on a daily basis. Both digital forms of waiting presented in this chapter, waiting in a standby pose as well as waiting in rendering queues, contributed to making design processes accountable for those involved in the production of visual effects.

The article appears in the anthology co-edited by Ronja Trischler Materiality of Cooperation