Antti,
I see that in the case described (of the librarians), the concept of
"knotworking" is a largely intentional (although not always controllable)
concept.
But I also see in Engestrom's earlier piece, When the Center Does Not Hold,
that knotworking is used as an etic concept, that is a concept used by him
and his colleagues to describe what people are doing. As such, it seems
like this kind of knot-working is somewhat less intentional or - maybe
better - less explicit. It is something that people are doing without
knowing it (to paraphrase Marx via Zizek).
Both usages of knotworking seem very productive and useful.
With regard to knotworking, I would like to suggest other, more traditional
forms of knotworking, such as kinship and gift-giving. The practices that
surround kinship and gift-giving are crucial for imbricating persons with
each others projects (to use Andy's concept in a way that he might or might
not appreciate...).
And, of course, despite our thoughts to the contrary, kinship and
gift-giving still play an important role in the here and now of hospitals
and libraries.
-greg
On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 2:44 PM, Antti Rajala <ajrajala@gmail.com> wrote: