The media of high-resolution time: Temporal frequencies as infrastructural resources.
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| Title: | The media of high-resolution time: Temporal frequencies as infrastructural resources. |
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| Authors: | Mulvin, Dylan1 (AUTHOR) dylanmulvin@gmail.com |
| Source: | Information Society. Oct-Dec2017, Vol. 33 Issue 5, p282-290. 9p. 1 Chart. |
| Subjects: | Network Time Protocol (Computer network protocol), Global Positioning System, Computer network protocols, Mobile geographic information systems, Satellite-based remote sensing |
| Abstract: | This article offers a short history of the transformation of time signals into a fundamental stability around which new communication infrastructures are built. These infrastructures include the Network Time Protocol, the Global Positioning System, and high-frequency trading. This article argues that "high-resolution time" can serve as a useful analytic framework for understanding the making and appropriation of contemporary temporal standards. Contemporary temporal infrastructures--the systems of time measurement and dissemination that subtend communication infrastructures--are based on the vibrations of caesium atoms, which act as fixed points. A focus on resolution aligns an analysis with the ways that time standards are, in practice, treated as both infrastructures and texts. High-resolution time, therefore, offers an understanding of time as a scalable resource built through contingent media practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Engineering Source |
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| Abstract: | This article offers a short history of the transformation of time signals into a fundamental stability around which new communication infrastructures are built. These infrastructures include the Network Time Protocol, the Global Positioning System, and high-frequency trading. This article argues that "high-resolution time" can serve as a useful analytic framework for understanding the making and appropriation of contemporary temporal standards. Contemporary temporal infrastructures--the systems of time measurement and dissemination that subtend communication infrastructures--are based on the vibrations of caesium atoms, which act as fixed points. A focus on resolution aligns an analysis with the ways that time standards are, in practice, treated as both infrastructures and texts. High-resolution time, therefore, offers an understanding of time as a scalable resource built through contingent media practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 01972243 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/01972243.2017.1354109 |
