Brown2001

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Brown2001
BibType ARTICLE
Key Brown2001
Author(s) Barry Brown
Title Representing time: The humble timesheet as a representation and some details of its completion and use
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Representation, Time, Social Theory, Workplace
Publisher
Year 2001
Language
City
Month
Journal Ethnographic Studies
Volume 6
Number
Pages 45-59
URL Link
DOI
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

This paper is an attempt to bridge theoretical and empirical accounts of the practice of representation. For the practice of ‘representation’, while prevalent in, and fundamental to, the organisation of the social world, has been described almost exclusively in abstract terms in the social sciences. There has been little discussion of the concrete practices which actually take place when representations are made or used. In this paper it is these practices which I would like to take as my starting point, by looking at the creation and use of a particular representation, discussing some observations on its constitution and use. The representation which will be discussed was a timesheet system, used by staff who worked in a large British Oil company. This system was used by staff to account for their time working on different projects by completing paper timesheets. During the time of the study, the system was computerised, highlighting some interesting issues about its composition and in turn its role as a representation.

Notes