Comments on: Atemporality: a Viable Historical Orientation? http://ryantrauman.com/blog/2010/03/01/atemporality-a-viable-historical-orientation/ Trauman's Blog: Writing. Reading. Technology. Book History. Book Future. Digital Scholarship. Blogging. Teaching. Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:14:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2 By: Alex Reid http://ryantrauman.com/blog/2010/03/01/atemporality-a-viable-historical-orientation/comment-page-1/#comment-13073 Alex Reid Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:26:13 +0000 http://ryantrauman.com/blog/2010/03/01/atemporality-a-viable-historical-orientation/#comment-13073 Maybe Sterling's approach offers us a different way of the approaching scholarly collaboration. When I read Sterling's nine-step process, my first thought is that one really needs a dedicated community to make it work. And hypothetically we could have that if we reoriented the way that we worked. In the historical/library research model, our collaborators are static. Similarly, I think the idea of "problem-solving" is bound up with a kind of homeostasis. At the end, the equation is balanced. E.g., solving the problem of social media for pedagogy and scholarship means figuring out how to do it while conserving the stasis of academia: classrooms, semesters, journal articles, monographs, etc. On the other hand, when problems are inventive they lead to new forms of life rather than the conservation of existing life, to proliferation. E.g., studying the problem of social media becomes a way of inventing new pedagogies and scholarly activities. Now that's not to suggest that "solving problems' is bad or that this latter approach does not solve problems in a sense (by creating contexts in which the problems are not encountered as problems anymore). In part, I think the "crisis" in the humanities is a result of our problems not being problems anymore, at least not in the way we situate them. So maybe invention would be helpful. Of course, it would mean working differently. and that's the challenge. Maybe Sterling’s approach offers us a different way of the approaching scholarly collaboration. When I read Sterling’s nine-step process, my first thought is that one really needs a dedicated community to make it work. And hypothetically we could have that if we reoriented the way that we worked. In the historical/library research model, our collaborators are static. Similarly, I think the idea of “problem-solving” is bound up with a kind of homeostasis. At the end, the equation is balanced. E.g., solving the problem of social media for pedagogy and scholarship means figuring out how to do it while conserving the stasis of academia: classrooms, semesters, journal articles, monographs, etc.

On the other hand, when problems are inventive they lead to new forms of life rather than the conservation of existing life, to proliferation. E.g., studying the problem of social media becomes a way of inventing new pedagogies and scholarly activities. Now that’s not to suggest that “solving problems’ is bad or that this latter approach does not solve problems in a sense (by creating contexts in which the problems are not encountered as problems anymore).

In part, I think the “crisis” in the humanities is a result of our problems not being problems anymore, at least not in the way we situate them. So maybe invention would be helpful. Of course, it would mean working differently. and that’s the challenge.

]]> By: Trauman http://ryantrauman.com/blog/2010/03/01/atemporality-a-viable-historical-orientation/comment-page-1/#comment-13045 Trauman Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:15:41 +0000 http://ryantrauman.com/blog/2010/03/01/atemporality-a-viable-historical-orientation/#comment-13045 Thanks for the note, Cheryl. As always, honest and encouraging. Not getting much playback on the calls for response as of yet, so it looks like nothing's gonna change anytime soon. That's likely a good thing. I've got other texts I should be figuring out anyway. See you soon! T. Thanks for the note, Cheryl. As always, honest and encouraging.

Not getting much playback on the calls for response as of yet, so it looks like nothing’s gonna change anytime soon. That’s likely a good thing. I’ve got other texts I should be figuring out anyway.

See you soon!

T.

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