Prototyping Cultures and PPE During the Pandemic: Communication and the Economization of Civic Participation in Mexico

• Autor: Uribe del Águila, Verónica
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2021
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: Revistas - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/24593
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/conexion/article/view/24593
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: prototypes; innovation; technology; work; economization; makers; Prototipos; innovación; tecnología; trabajo; economización

This text analyzes how makers in Mexico used prototypes in the implementation and management of supply networks for the manufacture of masks for front-line personnel during the first months of the pandemic. In conversation with information theories and feminist science and technology studies, the text maintains that these prototypes had three communicative functions: (1) organizing work in a context of social distance (Suchman et al., 2002; Valentine, 2013); (2) manage uncertainty regarding contradictory health information (Corsín Jiménez, 2014; Lindtner, 2020); and (3) articulate processes of innovation and production of market value (Beckert, 2016; Eisenhardt, 1989). This triple communicative function of the prototypes made possible the articulation of civic practices and neoliberal logics, what I call, following other authors, the economization of civic participation (Lindtner, 2020; Murphy, 2017).