Nothing happened, something happened: Silence in a makerspace

Abstract

An ever-increasing range of work activities occur in open spaces that require collective discipline, with silence emerging as a key feature of such workplace configurations. Drawing from an ethnographic examination of a makerspace in Paris, we explore the ways in which silence is incorporated into new work practices in the context of their actualization, embodiment and apprenticeship. Through its engagement with the conceptual work of Merleau-Ponty, this paper does not posit silence as the opposite of sounds or as a passive achievement. Silence is inscribed in a learning process and requires numerous efforts to be maintained (e.g. body postures to avoid staring into the eyes of someone entering into an open space, wearing headphones, etc.). It is also the envelope of numerous noisy acts that take place in the phenomenological body and in the embodied practices of workers. We argue that 'silencing' is an event ordering and giving directions to what 'happens' in collective work activities and central to the process of embodied learning in collaborative spaces.

Mapping themes in the study of new work practices

“…In addition, a significant body of research has sought to attend to the materiality of these new work practices. This has, for example, taken the form of phenomenological (De Vaujany and Aroles, 2019) or sociomaterial (Mazmanian et al, 2013;Lehdonvirta, 2018) inquiries. Others have, for instance, drawn from the work of Foucault to position coworking spaces as complex 'post-capitalocentric spaces' (Vidaillet and Bousalham, 2018), from the work of Deleuze and Guattari to conceptualize coworking spaces as affectual assemblages (Jakonen et al, 2017), from the spatial theory of Lefebvre in the study of new ways of working (Hirst, 2011;Kingma, 2016), or from labour process theory in order to apprehend the gig economy (Gandini, 2019).…”

“…While the fact that workers can access work‐related information without any spatial or temporal consideration might be hailed as a source of flexibility and organizational agility (Campbell and McDonald, ), it is also a cause of workaholism (Sarker et al ., ) and a form of extreme work (see Granter et al ., ) that can have many adverse effects on both organizations and individuals (see for instance Baruch, ; Boell et al ., ). Interestingly, all these trends are sometimes related to a possible process of disembodiment and individual isolation, which in turn can be counterbalanced by disconnecting from digital networks or through collaborative practices that aim to re‐introduce collective support and solidarity (see De Vaujany and Aroles, ). There is no doubt that the spatio‐temporal structure of organizations, and work in general, has drastically changed, as we are moving towards a work culture of instantaneity and ever‐increasing connectivity.…”

“…These trends have been paralleled by the relative demise of the bureaucratic organization and the growth of the so‐called post‐bureaucratic rhetoric through which various forms of organizations have flourished, amongst which the networked organization, the virtual corporation, the project‐based organization or the modular organization. These changes have been further materialized through the ascent of various ‘professional trends’, such as digital nomadism (Makimoto and Manners, ), new forms of entrepreneurial activities (Matlay and Westhead, ), Do‐It‐Yourself (DIY) and Do‐It‐Together (DIT) movements (De Vaujany and Aroles, ), or coworking (Spinuzzi, ), and are linked to the emergence of new workspaces.…”

Leveraging innovation spaces to foster collaborative innovation

“…For instance, coworking spaces emerged primarily as a way to provide freelancers and entrepreneurs with a community and with shared resources (Capdevila, 2015;Capdevila & Zarlenga, 2015;Castilho & Quandt, 2017). Similarly, makerspaces are described as do-it-yourself spaces characterized by a culture of mutual help (De Vaujany & Aroles, 2018). However, the question of how to enhance the collaborative capability of innovation spaces is relevant to both research and practice as a way to increase competitiveness and provide additional value to the users of the space (Castilho & Quandt, 2017).…”

‘Becoming mainstream’: the professionalisation and corporatisation of digital nomadism

“…Within the context of the so‐called sharing economy, work practices are depicted as increasingly flexible, agile, autonomous, collaborative and entrepreneurial (Felstead et al , ; Taylor, ). These changes both echo and are further reinforced through various ‘professional’ trends, including coworking (Spinuzzi, ), new forms of entrepreneurship (Matlay and Westhead, ), Do It Yourself (DIY) and maker movements (De Vaujany and Aroles, ), crowdworking (Bergvall‐Kåreborn and Howcroft, ), and digital nomadism (Müller, ), and are connected with the emergence of new work spaces (notably makerspaces, coworking spaces, hackerspaces and Fab Labs).…”