Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

apertura de la caja negra

English translation:

opening of the black box

Added to glossary by Charles Davis
Jun 23, 2019 18:47
4 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Spanish term

apertura de la caja negra

Spanish to English Social Sciences Architecture urbanism
Apparently, the term "black box" is used fairly critical thinking about urbanism (Bruce Latour was pivotal to an expansion of the term behind transportation). There are specific references in this text by a Spanish architect/thinker to "apertura de la caja negra". the idea is exposing what is hidden in the "black box" of urban infrastructure.

It seems like this term is used by thinkers like Steve Hinchliffe:

Steve Hinchliffe se apoya en la idea de la caja negra para explicar la “imagen de permanencia” e “invulnerabilidad” de las redes infraestructurales gracias a las que se desarrolla la vida urbana moderna. Se suele aludir a la apertura de la caja negra para ilustrar los procesos de “desestabilización” de los sistemas urbanos de gran escala , tal y como sucedió en la década de los setenta del pasado siglo cuando, debido a múltiples factores y coincidiendo con la crisis del petróleo, se produjo una apertura intensiva de la caja negra urbana, en distintos escenarios, alterando la economía de la visibilidad de las ciudades modernas.

I couldn't find anything convincing on the internet for "holes in the black box" used in this sense. Aperature or opening maybe (though opening would be confused with "abrir"). If anyone knows how the term is used in the original, that would be awesome.
Many thanks
Change log

Jun 26, 2019 04:22: Charles Davis Created KOG entry

Discussion

Charles Davis Jun 24, 2019:
In principle I can't see that there is any linguistic difference between them: "la apertura de la caja negra" means "la acción/el hecho de abrir la caja negra".

"apertura
1. f. Acción de abrir."
https://dle.rae.es/?id=39MpS8t

There's nothing in what we have here to indicate that it means anything else, and it's difficult to see what else it could mean. On the contrary, it fits the context very well, as far as I can see,
Wendy Gosselin (asker) Jun 24, 2019:
I say that based on uses elsewhere in the text, but the author clearly draws a distinction between abrir la caja negra (a term he uses) and this, la apertura en la caja negra...
Wendy Gosselin (asker) Jun 24, 2019:
I say that based on uses elsewhere in the text, but the author clearly draws a distinction between abrir la caja negra (a term he uses) and this, la apertura en la caja negra...
Wendy Gosselin (asker) Jun 24, 2019:
I say that based on uses elsewhere in the text, but the author clearly draws a distinction between abrir la caja negra (a term he uses) and this, la apertura en la caja negra...
Charles Davis Jun 24, 2019:
@Wendy Why do you say it's related to an accident or instability? I don't detect that in what you've quoted. It's explicitly related to the "economy of visibility": opening the black box (and seeing what's inside) is associated with destabilization of urban systems, because finding out and questioning what goes on inside the black box will tend to lead to proposal for change.
Wendy Gosselin (asker) Jun 24, 2019:
The thing is, elsewhere in the text the term "abrir la caja negra" is used to refer to a political act of returning to the populous what has been delegated to experts. This is different...It is related to an accident, or instability, it seems, rather than a political project.

Proposed translations

+6
7 mins
Selected

opening of the black box

"Apertura" means the act of opening, an opening (a hole) is "abertura" (though that can also mean the act of opening.

Anyway, I'm quite sure that it means the act of opening here:

"Technology, Power, and Space—The Means and Ends of Geographies of Technology
Steve Hinchliffe
This cites Winner, L , 1993, “Upon opening the black box and finding it empty: Social constructivism and the philosophy of technology”, according to the Google result (text itself available to subscribers only)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/d140659
Peer comment(s):

agree Cristina Gonzalez : Beat me to it!
1 min
Sorry, Cristina! Thanks :-)
agree Taña Dalglish
38 mins
Many thanks, Taña :-)
agree Muriel Vasconcellos
57 mins
Many thanks, Muriel :-)
agree Katarina Peters
6 hrs
Many thanks, Katarina :-)
agree JohnMcDove
6 hrs
Many thanks, John ;-)
agree Adolfo Fulco
19 hrs
Many thanks, Adolfo :-)
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks"
+1
8 mins

Opening of the black box

I think they are using apertura as from the verb abrir, not as a gap or hole.
Peer comment(s):

agree JohnMcDove : Minute up, minute down. :-)
6 hrs
Thanks, John. :-)
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

46 mins
Reference:

Ref.

To support what Charles already said:
https://books.google.com.jm/books?id=OxGRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA145&l...
Steve Hinchliffe defines black boxes "as settled items whose users and colleagues (human and non-human) act in ways which are unchallenging to the technology". S. Hinchcliffe, "Technology, Power and Space - The means and ends of geographies of technology," Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 14 (1996): 665.
Peer comments on this reference comment:

agree JohnMcDove
6 hrs
Thanks John.
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