Keyboarding as a Social Form

Abstract

An analysis of keyboarding logic, pro cedures, products and uses in contemporary life sug gests the rise of an emergent social form which both reflects, as well as directs, formal, technical ration ality. Conceptualizing keyboards as a social form which communicates a sense of the ordinariness, orderliness and bureaucratic reality of our world, provides a way to theoretically surround a variety of equipment, e.g., typewriters, computers, tele phones, video games, etc., as well as bureaucratic communication formats, e.g., memos. Field mater ials illustrate the appropriateness of this conceptual ization for clarifying communication, social interac tion and social organizations as further elaborations of the keyboard form.