S.TRUEMAN PhD THESIS 2016
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The technological development outlined in Figure 8.5 is not negative. Through the increased density of the remote nurse networks in delivery of mental healthcare, new structures of support have developed. The remote nurse 100 years ago did not have the ability, in a time of personal doubt, to communicate with another remote nurse for advice or guidance. Today the explosion of telecommunications means that remote nurses in such a situation have both formal (Bush Support Service, clinical supervision, employee assistance services) and informal (emails, mobile phone connectivity, Facebook) avenues available to them. Complexity of the network translates into a never before level of access to resources and support, most of which is generated and facilitated through non-human actors, further reinforcing the importance of actor-networks. 8.2.8 Elements in the non-human arena The following section explores the use of actor-network theory and the elements in the non-human arena, and how these ensure the consistency and orderliness of the various group actions in the actors’ arena. The section examines how the groups in the actors’ arena ensure that they are coordinated, even though they have diverse interests in relation to each other. 8.2.8.1 Policies, procedures and systems Networks consist of multiple occasions and multiple forms of orderings (Law, 1994; Law & Hassard, 1999). Modes of ordering are ‘patterning that we (sic) can impute to social/material networks that support comparisons across them’ (Law, 1994, p. 94). The network must continue ongoing performances involving heterogeneous modes of action and materialisations, all of which must align across time and space. Relational engineering (Law, 1994) takes materials as central to social ordering. The inscription of policies,
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