Work on the Move
Monday 16th March 2015
Lancaster House Hotel, Lancaster, UK
Position statements due 26th January 2015 (see below)
It is widely recognised that non-formal learning or tacit
knowledge is associated with the context of the workplace but what happens when
this workplace is not static? What happens when workers go on the move? What
are the rhetorics and material practices that bond work to place and how are
these disrupted (and hence accounted for) when work goes on the move?
Mobile work has been widely studied within the field of
mobilities research (Ferguson,
2011, Hislop, 2012,
Nóvoa, 2012).
Following the pervasive use of mobile technologies in both work and private
lives, highly complex technological environments have been established around
Work on the Move. Yet, as Kesselring
(2014) stated in a recent issue of Mobilities, "There are many
mobile jobs that do without mobile devices but are highly mobile." These
work practices are frequently those, not driven by a compulsion to proximity,
but a necessity of proximity, the obligation for face-to-face, body-to-body
contact, such as paramedic work, emergency response or cosmetic practices.
But what ties these work practices back to organisational
bases or places? Corporate Mobilities Regimes, as conceptualised by Kesselring
(2014), govern the mobility practice of its members within and on
behalf of a company. They discipline mobile subjects by means of a framework
for action that dictates who is allowed to move, how and under which terms. But
there are other elements within these regimes that need to be considered when
looking at Work on the Move: specifically the ways in which principles, norms
and rules emerge to form work practices on the move. Such 'technologies of control'
can take the form of plans or protocols (physical or virtual) that shape,
influence and control but also facilitate, enable and authorize mobile work to
take place. In one example of mobile work, that of paramedic practice,
protocols can be seen to provide a framework for implementing medical oversight
of care (Anantharaman,
2012), legitimizing the paramedic work as they travel between
organisational bases and their sites of implementation. It is hypothesised that
the introduction of technologies allows for increased remoteness, on one hand,
and forms of proximate control and direction on the other.
Inspired by recent mobilities scholarship in both crisis
response and mobile work, this one-day workshop aims to bring together relevant
participants including academics, researchers, practitioners, policy makers,
technology producers and users to discuss Work on the Move. Specifically the
aim is to discuss the transference of work from 'organisational bases' to other
arenas and what it means when work practices, protocols, people and
technologies move from outside of organisational bases.
Position statements are invited on (but are not limited to)
the following workshop areas:
- Organisational identities on the move;
- Protocols on the move;
- Cultural imaginaries on the move;
- Technoscientific interventions on the move;
- The role of corporate mobility regimes in maintaining social ties on the move.
Position statements should be no longer than one side of A4.
These will be reviewed by the workshop organisers and, in the event of
over-subscription, statements will be accepted to give the broadest coverage of
workshop topics. Attendees will be required to give a short presentation
outlining their position. The workshop will aim to balance presentations with
plenary sessions and opportunities for networking.
Please send you position statements to: l.a.wood@lancaster.ac.uk
by 26th January 2015.
Timescales
Deadline for submission of position statements: 26th January
2015.
Notification of acceptance: 2nd February 2015.
Workshop: Monday 16th March 2015.
References
