word of the day: Taylorism

The word of the day is Taylorism:

"System of scientific management advocated by Fred W. Taylor. In Taylor’s view, the task of factory management was to determine the best way for the worker to do the job, to provide the proper tools and training, and to provide incentives for good performance. He broke each job down into its individual motions, analyzed these to determine which were essential, and timed the workers with a stopwatch. With unnecessary motion eliminated, the worker, following a machinelike routine, became far more productive." (Encyclopaedia Britannica)


"Gardner said that a wearable computer terminal (Motorola, 2013) had made her and her colleagues think about Taylorism and scientific management."

 - Lauren Collins, "Very important objects", 28 July 2014 The New Yorker


And here I thought Frank Gilbreth invented that.

word of the day: concertina

The word of the day is concertina:

noun

1. a musical instrument resembling an accordion but having buttonlike keys, hexagonal bellows and ends, and a more limited range.

2. concertina wire.

 

verb (used without object)

3. to fold, crush together, or collapse in the manner of a concertina:

verb (used with object)

4. to cause to fold or collapse in the manner of a concertina.

 

adjective

5. of, pertaining to, or resembling a concertina (dictionary.com)

"She is one of the four curators in the museum's Contemporary Architecture, Design, and Digital Department, which this month launched a project called Rapid Response Collecting.  Its stated goal is to demonstrate 'how design reflects and defines how we live together today.'  In practical terms, this means that the curators have been given carte blanche to scour the streets - in a global sense - for items of interest and get them into the museum as quickly as possible.  'It concertinas the amount of time that it takes to make an acquisition,' Gardner said, leading a visitor up the marble stairs of the 20th Century wing, where a gallery had been set up to display the Rapid Response unit's finds."

 - Lauren Collins, "Very important objects", 28 July 2014 The New Yorker