Infrastructure Manifest (v. 1.0)—Kyle Booten—Chapter 19—“Subjective Functions: How Should Humanistic Research Be Quantified?”
Infrastructure Type Descriptiona

Control point for access to or useb

For example, identify the owner, regulator, manager, etc. as appropriate

Open Source, Open Access, or Public Resource/Utilityc Proprietaryc How heavily used?d Reliabilityd Satisfaction for Userd Ethical concerns (known or possible) Comments

Land infrastructure

For example, properties ceded, unceded, public, private, etc.

Include only principal land infrastructures.

Not Applicable Not Applicable

Materials infrastructure

For example, notable common or rare extracted or other materials used in research, production, and communication.

Break down by notable materials used in devices or tools if appropriate.

Not Applicable Not Applicable

Energy infrastructure

For example, principal energy sources and infrastructure used in research, production, and communication

Not Applicable Not Applicable

Transportation infrastructure

For example, private or public transportation needed for daily or research trips

Not Applicable Not Applicable

Architectural infrastructure

For example, buildings, labs, rooms

  • “Office” with “standing desk”: bar-style counter at defunct in-house café of local grocery store, counter up against windows for excellent light and ability to glimpse human activity in parking lot outside; speakers above playing music loudly, but, for a grocery chain, an eclectic playlist, with lots of 80s/90s R&B, hip hop, and pop, rendering personal headphones useless as well as unwanted; occasionally loud (but usually interesting) conversation nearby; ample electrical outlets; in sum, a space that facilitates ergonomic computer work while allowing one to feel part of the gently carnivalesque texture of everyday life, a feeling that may influence the character of intellection (an empirical question).
  • Study carrel desk at local library (bad chair)
  • Home office with ergonomic (kneeling) chair
  • University office with ergonomic (kneeling) chair
Not Applicable Not Applicable 6 4 8

Civic, community, national, or regional infrastructure

For example, provided by cities, communities, governments, etc.

Not Applicable Not Applicable

Institutional infrastructure

For example, equipment, services, and “overhead” or “indirect cost recovery” items for grants to universities

Faculty computer (MacBook Pro) Not Applicable Not Applicable

Labor infrastructure

For example, type and amount of labor from collaborators, staff, research assistants; include any attributes that seem important, such as unrecognized, unpaid, low-paid, outsourced, or other attributes of labor

  • Intellectual labor of volume editors (Liu, Pawlicka-Deger, Smithies) including writing CfP, providing editorial feedback (initial reviews, developmental editing, copy-edits), interfacing with press, organizing cycles of review by other parties, issuing reminders for impending deadlines, fielding questions (via email) about technical issues (e.g., desired format and size of images) as well as substantive issues.
  • Reviews of drafts by other authors accepted for the series (organized by volume editors).
Not Applicable Not Applicable 7 10 10

Research-content infrastructure

For example, physical libraries and archives, online research materials, shadow libraries, etc.

  • Google Scholar
  • Custom recommendations from volume editors
Not Applicable Yes 7 6 6

Tools infrastructure

For example, principal analog tools and digital tools, scripts, or protocols used for research, writing, communication, production (excluding high-performance computing, for which see below)

  • Google Drawings (for initial creation and sketching of badges and other images); chosen for simplicity of interface and familiarity
  • Inkscape (for additional refinement and recombination)
Not Applicable Yes 7 6 6

Networked Platforms infrastructure

For example, major networked or cloud platforms used for research, storage, analysis, sharing, communication, publication—Google Drive, Dropbox, AWS, etc. (excluding high-performance computing, for which see below)

  • Google Drive
  • Outlook Mail
Not Applicable Not Applicable 6 4 3

High-performance computing infrastructure

Here defined expansively to include the use not just of supercomputers and computer clusters or grids but any high-performance computing infrastructure or special GPU and other processors exceeding the capabilities of an individual workstation, laptop, or server.

Not Applicable Not Applicable
Other infrastructure Existentiell infrastructure: academic job that justifies and in fact necessitates spending time, energy, and other resources on the production of writing that is itself not directly remunerative; primarily a cognitive schema (of sort what work can, should, and must be done, and how much of it) but supported by external systems and artifacts—for example, annual “PTR” (Promotion, Tenure, and Reappointment) reviews and the attendant documents in which the applicant for reappointment lists forthcoming and completed publications. Not Applicable Not Applicable 10 9 5

This infrastructure manifest was completed by Kyle Booten and reports on Chapter 19, “Subjective Functions: How Should Humanistic Research Be Quantified?”