Ethnography of scaling, or, how to a fit a national research infrastructure in the room

TLDR

Ethnography has traditionally focused on local contexts, yet sociotechnical systems are global, long‑term enterprises whose scaling devices unfold across time and place. The study demonstrates a methodology for examining scalar devices—actors’ techniques and technologies for managing large‑scale research infrastructures—to better investigate size and growth in sociotechnical systems. Using three cases of research infrastructure development, the authors apply an ethnographic approach that analyzes scalar devices to understand how actors know and manage large‑scale enterprises.

Abstract

Ethnographers have traditionally studied people in particular times and places. However, sociotechnical systems are often long-term enterprises, spanning the globe and serving vast communities. Drawing from three cases of research infrastructure development, this paper demonstrates a methodology in which the ethnographer examines scalar devices: actors' techniques and technologies for knowing and managing large-scale enterprises. Such devices are enacted in and across concrete times and places; for the ethnographer they are observable as activities of scaling. By examining the enactment of scale we can better investigate diverse kinds of size and growth within sociotechnical systems.