Living digital timescapes of research: taking care of asynchronies and crooked spaces in early career

Journal title STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI
Author/s Ilenia Picardi
Publishing Year 2025 Issue 2025/2
Language English Pages 29 P. 139-167 File size 281 KB
DOI 10.3280/SO2025-002006
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This article explores the intertwining of time, space, and digital technology within high educational and research organisations, with a focus on early-career researchers. Using a theoretical framework situated at the intersection of the sociology of time and science and technology studies (STS), it draws on the concepts of epistemic living spaces (Felt, 2009) and timescapes (Adam, 1998) to analyse the spatiotemporal structures shaping researchers’ social action. Empirical evidence comes from mentoring programmes and the use of two ad hoc methodological tools—Temporal Activity Diaries and Logbooks—designed to investigate temporalities in academic careers. The analysis reveals that early-career researchers inhabit fragmented and asynchronous epistemic living time spaces, characterised by multiple time regimes and rhythms, with differentiated effects across gender and career cohort. The paper introduces the concept of digital timescapes to examine how temporalities shaped by digital infrastructures contribute to new organisational models of research work and reflect broader transformations in the governance of science. Finally, it identifies practices of temporal resistance—including reframing, care, and solidarity—through which researchers attempt to balance asynchronies and negotiate the crooked time-spaces of research.

Keywords: Temporal structures; Digital technologies; Early-career researchers; Epistemic living time spaces; Timescapes.

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Ilenia Picardi, Living digital timescapes of research: taking care of asynchronies and crooked spaces in early career in "STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI " 2/2025, pp 139-167, DOI: 10.3280/SO2025-002006