Surely biochemistry is simpler than this?
This week I decided to be more organised with my readings for this course. So on Sunday I sat down at my computer, started reading, finished, paused, read it again and then contemplated changing to an easier course. Such as advanced biochemistry.
It’s been several days now and I’m only just starting to understand the Actor-Network Theory. And while I’d still pay good money for An Idiot’s Guide To The Actor-network Theory (and if such a book doesn’t exist, someone should hurry up and write it), I’m going to attempt to explain it as best as I can.
‘Assemblage’ is known as a ‘relational network of elements or actants (I’ll refer to them as ‘actors’ later in the post) in a flat ontology’, or to put it more simply it’s the assembling of elements/relations in order to make something new. When you analyse this new thing; be it a publication, a car or even a classroom, you need to treat all the elements of the object equally. And yes, that includes nonhuman objects; in writing this blog post both the computer and myself need to be treated as having the same value.
This is where the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) comes in. Developed by Michael Callon and Bruno Latour, the theory focuses on the agency of nonhumans and mapping relations that are ‘material-semiotic’. Essentially this is where the relations or elements that form an assemblage are either material (things) or semiotic (concepts) which then come together to form a single network that is always in motion, constantly making and remaking itself.
When this is done well, we can consider any actor, such as a car, as merely a sum of much smaller actors, i.e. the engine (which itself is made up of even smaller actors). All of this is hidden from the driver, who would simply view the car as a single object – this is known as punctalisation and only breaks down when the actor network breaks down. And example of this is if the car has engine trouble and driver has to look at the actors as individuals once more to fix the network.
So how does this relate to publishing?
Publishing is only able to exist with the intervention of humans who gather and create the information that is then assembled and distributed to the public for consumption. However it also requires the assistance of nonhuman actors such as audio equipment used to record interviews, the computers that the news stories are typed on, the paper that the news is printed on and even the vans that are used to transport the newspapers to the distribution points.