Document¶
Definitions in the sources¶
| Source | Definition/use | Page | U/T |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asdal 2015 | Documents do not simply describe an external reality; they take part in working upon, modifying and transforming it (modifying work) | 74 | U |
| Asdal 2015 | How far a document reaches depends on how it becomes attached to a political machinery | 86, 88 | U |
| Asdal 2015 | Expert reports are treated as inscription devices; the genre of expert reports is linked to today's NOUs | 75, 82, 88 | U |
| Asdal et al. 2023 | A practice-oriented approach: which relations documents enact, which issues they create, and how they work as tools of valuation | 4 | U |
| Latour & Woolgar 1986 | Inscription as a material operation that creates order; between scientists and chaos stands a wall of archives and papers | 245 | U |
| Bear & Mathur 2015 | Documentary regimes in decentralised bureaucracies guarantee neither transparency, knowledge nor rights | 28, 30–31 | U |
| Gros et al. 2017 | The Snowden files turned into valid evidence through the hearings; cites Gitelman on the Pentagon Papers as documents | 73, 78 | U |
Where usage diverges¶
- Asdal and Latour & Woolgar see documents and inscriptions as things that do something (Asdal 2015, p. 74; Latour & Woolgar 1986, p. 245) [U]. Bear & Mathur are more concerned with how documents work in bureaucratic relationships, including when they fail (pp. 30–31) [U].
- Gros et al. see documents as evidence that must be made valid (pp. 73, 78) [U], while Asdal reads one document closely (pp. 76–88) [U].
Concepts easily confused with this one¶
- Document and text: Asdal argues that words and materiality must be treated together, and that a document's placement and attachments matter (pp. 75, 78, 86) [U]. A document is therefore more than the text in it [T].
- Document and discourse: Asdal reads Foucault's discourse as practices, not only language (p. 86) [U].
How the concept is used in the primary documents¶
- NOU 2022:11 and the FFI report are themselves documents. The primary cards describe genre, mandate and document chain, not how the documents understand themselves [T].
- The FFI report is the fourth report under a KDD assignment (Sivertsen et al. 2026, p. 7) [U]. NOU 2022:11 builds on NOU 2009: 1 (p. 29) [U].
Open questions for Rebekka¶
- What counts as a ‘document’ in the thesis: only the printed texts, or also the document chain around them?
- Are Asdal's reading tools (placement, style, order) something you will use systematically?
- How will you treat the fact that the FFI report is research commissioned by the state?