29 Dec, 2019
While appearing as two different arguments, Castell’s "The Rise of Network Society" and Venturi and Scott-Brown’s "Learning From Las Vegas" share many similar ideas and show how theories translate throughout different movements and periods. In this chapter, Castell’s main argument is that technology and information have immersed into industry. Access to its resources is directly correlated to the individual's success. While it has caused some jobs to become automated, it has also created a need for more intelligent workers. The best business models are the ones where employees are knowledgeable about the product they are creating, are able to give feedback, and have less of an dictating authority. In Learning From Las Vegas, the authors argue that many of the attributes of Las Vegas rely on signs rather than architecture to guide people, and this forms a criticism of modern architecture in general. The use the analogy of a “decorated shed” and a “duck”; the former relies on signage while the later relies on form. They argue that post-modernism should contain a combination of both.
In the section titled “Work in the Process of the Informational Paradigm”, Castell describes how the Information Technology Revolution has impacted the process of production. He begins by addressing the division of labor. From the 1980s to 1990s, computers were integrated into numerous disciplines; “...management decisions, systems of industrial relations, cultural and institutional environments, and government policies” (page 256) determined the level of integration. He adds that a country’s access to these technologies influences their structure resulting in a lack of universal structure. Because of this, there is no universal structure that organizations should go by. These shifts have occurred due to many factors: computers, network, and the internet becoming more affordable and usable on a wide scale. In addition, global competition created a push for organizations to harvest the newly available opportunities.
Moving to the discussion of automating jobs, he compares this to the Ford model and assembly line. He cites Georges Friedmann, Pierre Naville, and Alain Touraine whose ideas all have one thing in common: “automation, which received its full meaning only with the deployment of information technology, increases dramatically the importance of human brain input into the work process” (page 257). Castell argues that automation and mass production have taken the place of tedious human jobs and created a need for more intelligent workers to create and operate the machinery. He writes that automated jobs “replace the work that can be encoded in a programmable sequence and enhance work that requires analysis, decision, and reprogramming capabilities in real time at a level that only the human brain can master” (page 258).
Castell summarizes the organizational form in five points: (1) value is based on innovation of process and products, (2) innovation involves knowledge being discovered and applied in context, (3) task work is better when there is more instruction and more feedback, (4) organizations are especially productive due to decision making and integration of elements of production, and (5) information technology is critical because it determines innovation, corrects errors, and provides flexibility of production process. This process makes up a new division of labor, which is comprised of three dimensions: (1) value making, (2) relation making, and (3) decision making. Within these dimensions, there are various roles of authority and amount of skill needed.
Castell concludes the section by making his hypothesis: “the work organization sketched in this analytical scheme represents the emerging informational work paradigm” (page 261). What he is saying is that while successful organizations can have different models of product production, there is a growing trend to incorporation both information and technology. He uses the case studies of GM-Saturn Complex and Chrysler Jefferson North Plant. At both factories, the workers are highly skilled and knowledgeable about the product. They attend regular training sessions to make sure they are up to date. They are not simply in an assembly line doing a single task. The factories also allow feedback, encourage teamwork, and have less of an authority on the production floor.
In Venturi and Scott-Brown’s "Learning From Las Vegas", the section titled “The Architecture of Persuasion” discusses how modern architecture has taken form to display the meaning, rather than using a combination of ornamentation and structure. They use the Motel Monticello cowboy as an example. Before you even see the hotel, you get a feel for what it is advertising from a distance away. A contrasting example they use is airports, where people need constant signs and directions in order for the place to function. They write, “Symbols dominate space. Architecture is not enough.” (page 13)
The authors contrast bazaars, medieval markets, and Main Streets where visitors are guided to merchandise without signs. There are no directional markers with written instruction; instead, the architecture serves a guide. One of the images they show compares the speed, advertising size, and distance from where you see the goods. For example: a bazaar has a very small space scale, low speed (3 MPH), and low signage. With a commercial strip, you can see the very large signage from far away at a faster speed (35 MPH). The authors conclude the section by connecting the seemingly opposite systems, writing, “Inside, the A&P has reverted to the bazaar except the graphic packaging has replaced the oral persuasion of the merchant. At another scale, the shopping center off the highway returns in its pedestrian malls to the medieval streets." (page 18)
While these two readings were very different, they share many similar ideas about post-industrial and post-modern society. Both want to enhance knowledge and thinking. In Castell’s writing, he wants workers to know about what they are building, even if their task seems mundane. He wants automation to take over assembly-line-like work. In Venturi and Scout-Brown’s opinion, they don’t want people to be guided mindlessly by signs and symbols; they want architecture to function as form in which people can make choices based on their intuition. In general, both authors want people to have freedom and knowledge.
These trends remind be of the Post-impressionist art movement. In the late 1800s, artists were critical of impressionists’ concern for depicting their subjects exactly without room for emotion and expression; therefore, artists of the Post-impressionist movement moved towards an abstract style. Like the people of Post-Modernism and Post-Industrialism, they had freedom from their work following a rigid form and function to being able to express themselves while still depicting their message.