On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 2:59 AM, Robert Scott Gassler <[email protected]> wrote: > Library science was in this position thirty years ago, when the > computerization began.
Can you expand on this please? Is it that library science skewed toward employing women, and thus was not respected and that the computerizing was done by people who did not know library science and did not respect it and thus ignored the necessities required for their software to let people do their work? Or...? > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gar Lipow" <[email protected]> > 1) Fact I have support for: lots of energy and resources are wasted in > industrial processes that could be saved by simply applying the > knowledge from housework. Sometimes it is literal lack of housework > where workspace are allowed to get dusty and damage delicate > equiipment and result in higher defect rates. Sometimes is just > strong parallels to housework, where bath processes (process where > parts are immersed in liquid) use too shallow vessels resulting in > more frequent overflow accidents. And so on. > > 2) Fact I have support for: Designers of Industrial processes are > overwhelmingly (though not exclusively male. > > 3) My speculation. Probably designers of industrial processes have > less knowledge of housework than they would if it was a field with > gender equality. But it is highly unlikely that nobody in the field > does their own housework or that nobody in the field knows how to do > housework well. Growing up in apartmentsI knew a fair number of > working class single men who kept their apartments clean because they > did not want to live in a mess, and also because single guys with > clean apartments had better luck getting second dates. So some of the > designers of such processes did have knowledge they could have > applied. And the gender balance is skewed, not zero in any case. (Not > that I have not know woman slobs as well. Again slob skews male, but > not 100%.) > > 4) My Hypothesis: Even the substantial minority of designers of > industrial processes who understand housework don't respect it, don't > think of it as valuable work and especially don't think of it as > having an intellectual component. So even those who had the skill did > not think of applying them to designing industrial processes. I > suspect the macho atmosphere in manufacturing industry may contribute > to this. I would love to get data and analysis that supports this, or > rebuts this. So any suggestions would be welcome. > > -- > Facebook: Gar Lipow Twitter: GarLipow > Grist Blog: http://www.grist.org/member/1598 > Static page: http://www.nohairshirts.com > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Facebook: Gar Lipow Twitter: GarLipow Grist Blog: http://www.grist.org/member/1598 Static page: http://www.nohairshirts.com _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
