Speeding up, slowing down, breaking down: an ethnography of software-driven mobility
Journal
Mobilities
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2020-10-05
Author(s)
Abstract
The dynamics of software – and thus also of its development – is an inherent part of the story of how mobilities are made and work. Building on this argument, this ethnographic study explains how navigation software development is caught in a constant culture of acceleration through commercial competition and shifting transport conditions, on the one hand, and a logic of routing and navigation based on creating the fastest route possible for its users, on the other hand. Behind this overall process of technological acceleration lies a multiplicity of forces – sometimes accelerating, but at other times slowing down, stuttering, moving in reverse, or completely coming to a halt in breakdown, shifting the pace of such technological progress. Bringing software development practice into the picture of how mobility systems work (or don’t work) allows us to understand the multiple temporal orders of speeding up and slowing down that push and pull at the fabric of our mobile infrastructures. Doing so will help us counter the popular discourse that our networked, seamless digital technologies are invincible. Based on an ethnography at ‘BerlinTech’, a large commercial navigation software company, this paper provides a multilayered understanding about the temporal forces fuelling our software driven mobility infrastructures.
Language
English
Keywords
Cultures of software development
routing
navigation
ethnography
infrastructure
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
None
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Routledge
Publisher place
online
Start page
1
End page
16
Pages
16
Official URL
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
261208
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
open.access
Name
Bialski2015_Speeding up slowing down breaking down an ethnography of software driven mobility.pdf
Size
471.33 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
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