Re: mesogenesis and friends

Leigh Star (s-star1 who-is-at uiuc.edu)
Thu, 20 Nov 1997 12:42:51 -0600

Jay, Yes! My image is that sometimes the time scales "pull" each other,
like the wake of a strong stream. For example, the time scale of an
individual's career can be pulled out of shape by the time scale (or
trajectory) of a chronic illness. Over time the one may warp, distort,
smooth out, criss-cross the other. Both Timmermans and Strauss use the
concept of "crystallization" to discuss moments when the two streams (or n
streams) seem to freeze together and merge, often a turning point in
biography.

L*

At 11:18 PM 11/19/97 -0500, Jay Lemke wrote:
>
>I think David that your view of time-scales as potentially orthogonal
>dimensions is rather close in some ways to what I was articulating, but I
>want to preserve the 'old' view of time as well and work with and between
>both views.
>
>Time-scales as distinct dimensions captures the sense in which happens on
>each time scale represents a different 'world' (cf. Umwelts of species), a
>distinct qualitative aspect of the whole multi-scale, heterochonous
>phenomenon. But this unfortunately then also tends to imply the relative
>separation of these levels, that each one stays in its own backyard and
>only sets contexts for the others, but does not jump the fence and intrude
>directly -- and yet this is a critical part of eco-social-semiotic
>systems/networks. The dimensions are not completely orthogonal; for some
>purposes we pretend they are, but when they intersect, this model misleads
us.
>
>The more we separate the scales, as in classical systems theory, the more
>we exacerbate for ourselves the problem of how to re-integrate them.
**********************************************************************
Susan Leigh Star
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
501 East Daniel St. University of Illinois
Champaign, IL 61820 USA s-star1 who-is-at uiuc.edu