Terminology: a range of "interlocutors"
From Critical Practice Chelsea
Questions around terminology: How to describe the various "contributors" with whom I'm working?
This page aims to provide some rumination on this topic.
Observed bias - Preoccupation with the amount of work being contributed - not necessarily a problem but is a cultural [read: perhaps Protestant] bias.
Questions for consideration:
- How does Latour define "actors"?
- How does Bakhtin defined "addressees"?
- Is "contributor" a better or worse as a generic term? It could, for instance, be argued that it masks power relations. For the moment I'm thinking about the following:
Participant | One who participates according to predetermined rules determined by others | Activity is (generally) prescribed - agency is limited | However, the participant may experience a high degree of psychic engagement - there is no way to account for this without asking them directly |
Collaborator | One who collaborates according to agreements over which they have more agency than just being able to opt out | There are various kinds of collaborators. Some examples:
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Contributors | A generic term I'm using to describe anyone with significant involvement in an enterprise | The terms of this involvement are always subject to the situation - what is deemed significant involvement in one situation may not be in another |
See also Marsha's Thesis Glossary and Key Terms
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