Shadow organising as dwelling in the space of the ‘not-yet’

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper dwells on the metaphor of shadow organising for exploring what happens in the space of the ‘not-yet data’. It wonders what we do to ‘data’ and what ‘data’ do to us, to our subjectivities as professionals. It deals with elusive knowledges and how professionals construct what counts as ‘data’ and what is discarded as ‘no-data’. Taking a post-qualitative approach, the paper illustrates three instances of not-yet data. The first exemplifies a situation in which data are illegible: the researcher doesn’t know how to read the situation, or the data are invisible. The second focuses on the process of actively ignoring what is known, what is not-yet manufactured as data. The third relates to the agency of the technological infrastructure in which the indeterminacy of the not-yet data is shaped by power dynamics. The aim of the paper is to invite researchers and professionals to stay with the trouble/indeterminacy of data and to ‘slow down’ the quick framing of ‘data’ and the jump to evaluation and critique. Moreover, it argues against the seduction of evidence and it is an invitation to value the idea that things may always be otherwise and that there is space for shadow learning.