Recording engineers have an interest in maintaining their roles as skilled professionals as compared to external competitors, which increasingly include unpaid amateurs and automated software tools. They do this through a variety of material-semiotic demarcation practices. Formal modes of demarcation, such as unionization and professional attire, have largely eroded in recent decades, making informal practices increasingly important. These informal demarcation practices, which I term ‘shibboleths’, allow engineers to locally observe and perform differences between ‘real’ engineers and non-engineers (amateur and automated) while also controlling the visibility of these performances for various audiences. I situate the shibboleth concept within the existing literature on boundary objects and boundary-work, suggesting that it is useful for analyzing situations where collaboration and consensus temporarily break down. I consider two examples: electrical audio cable wrapping techniques and hearing the artifacts of digital vocal tuning software.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Kacey Beddoes;
(2021)
Examining Privilege in Engineering Socialization Through the Stories of Newcomer Engineers
(/isis/citation/CBB981184504/)
Article
Coleen Carrigan;
Saejin Kwak Tanguay;
Joyce Yen;
Julie Simmons Ivy;
Cara Margherio;
M. Claire Horner-Devine;
Eve A. Riskin;
Christine S. Grant;
(2023)
Negotiating boundaries: an intersectional collaboration to advance women academics in engineering
(/isis/citation/CBB975394998/)
Book
Brady, Erika;
(1999)
A spiral way: How the phonograph changed ethnography
(/isis/citation/CBB001181171/)
Article
Norma Möllers;
(June 2016)
Shifting in and out of context: Technoscientific drama as technology of the self
(/isis/citation/CBB128198488/)
Book
O'Hara, Kenton;
Brown, Barry;
(2006)
Consuming music together: Social and collaborative aspects of music consumption technologies
(/isis/citation/CBB001181311/)
Book
Kelly, Caleb;
(2009)
Cracked media: The sound of malfunction
(/isis/citation/CBB001181265/)
Book
Katz, Mark;
(2004)
Capturing sound: How technology has changed music
(/isis/citation/CBB001181264/)
Book
Nyre, Lars;
(2008)
Sound media: From live journalism to music recording
(/isis/citation/CBB001181310/)
Article
Pinch, Trevor;
Bijsterveld, Karin;
(2004)
Sound studies: New technologies and music
(/isis/citation/CBB001181327/)
Chapter
Braun, Hans-Joachim;
(2009)
Pulled out of thin air? The revival of the theremin
(/isis/citation/CBB001181184/)
Article
Baranowski, Mitch;
(Summer 2011)
Rebranding Engineering: Challenges and Opportunities
(/isis/citation/CBB323249047/)
Article
Kennedy, Theodore C.;
(Summer 2006)
The “Value-Added” Approach to Engineering Education: An Industry Perspective
(/isis/citation/CBB599642950/)
Article
Bugliarello, George;
(Fall 2005)
Globalization and Engineering
(/isis/citation/CBB957322922/)
Article
Vest, Charles M.;
(Summer 2006)
Educating Engineers for 2020 and Beyond
(/isis/citation/CBB876317815/)
Book
Freeman, Richard B.;
Goroff, Daniel L.;
(2009)
Science and engineering careers in the United States: An analysis of markets and employment
(/isis/citation/CBB001180390/)
Article
Downey, Gary Lee;
(2015)
Opening Up Engineering Formation
(/isis/citation/CBB333308438/)
Article
Jacqueline Rohde;
Derrick J. Satterfield;
Miguel Rodriguez;
Allison Godwin;
Geoff Potvin;
Lisa Benson;
Adam Kirn;
(2020)
Anyone, but not Everyone: Undergraduate Engineering Students’ Claims of Who Can Do Engineering
(/isis/citation/CBB610221987/)
Article
Jonas Rüppel;
(2019)
“Now Is a Time for Optimism”: The Politics of Personalized Medicine in Mental Health Research
(/isis/citation/CBB269148677/)
Book
Gary Lee Downey;
Teun Zuiderent-Jerak;
(2021)
Making & Doing: Activating STS through Knowledge Expression and Travel
(/isis/citation/CBB056767531/)
Article
Sleeboom-Faulkner, Margaret;
Kumar Patra, Prasanna;
(October 2011)
Experimental stem cell therapy: Biohierarchies and bionetworking in Japan and India
(/isis/citation/CBB894423626/)
Be the first to comment!