Bruno Latour, Aramis, or the Love of Technology, PDF - Dss-edit.com

[THE SAME DOCUMENT, CONTINUED]IV .2.2.1. Functional Observations*IV .2.2 . 1 . 1 . General FrameworkThe verifications of the functional and technologicalstatus of the equipment at the time the experiment was terminatedtook place from Monday, November 23, 1987, to Tuesday,December 1, 1987, inclusive (8:30 A.M.-5 :00 P.M. weekdays) . Ofthese seven consecutive working days, two were neutralizedso as to allow Matra Transport to get the PI vehicle to functionas anticipated; de spite this additional delay and theinitial postponement of the starting date for the trialsfrom November 2 to November 23, the PI pair of cars was unableto participate in the trials . . .The verifications to be carried out by the representatives of the RATP were de fined by Matra Transport ,which prepared documents for this purpose describing the anticipatedtrials wi thin the framework of the cod:'ci 1. Thereare fifteen of these "statements." Each one in fact correspondsto a reduction of the PVRI-the minutes of acceptancetrials for proving compliance with the specifications set(cahier d'essais de proces-verbaux de recette individuelle]. The PVRI , having become statements by reduction,were thus insufficient to "qualify" the functions or thesubsystem . . .IV.2.2.1.3. ResultsThe verification log intended to record the conditions ofthe trial is a transcript of notes taken on that occasion . Itdescribes in chronological order the unanticipated incidentsthat occurred during the verifications . .Without claiming to deduce from these figures anythingother than trends, let us note that the average t:'me betweenincidents was approximately ten minutes .*In the framework of a contract, the contracting authority [maitre d'ouvraBeJ isrequired to provide legal verification that the commitments made by the contractor{maitre J'oeuHc] have been carried out. Receipt and homologation are two steps in theprocess of legislating the technological capabilities of a transportation system. Verificationis accomplished by contradictory procedures that have to be approved hy hothparties.