note 222

Terry Shinn analysed the practice in three labs in chemistry, computer and physics and concluded that hierarchy, also in processes of innovation, regularly leaps hurdles of incommensurability. He adds to the notion of incommensurability the idea that there is also incommensurability between actors and analysts. Shinn finds that there is no such division of labour in computer technology labs. Whether this is due to the ‘newness’ of the discipline or whether this is a characteristic of the field, he does not elaborate on (Shinn, 1982).