Materialities of software : logistics, labour, infrastructure

In this chapter I bring digital humanities research into the domain of logistical industries. The primary task of the global logistics industry is to manage the achievement of people and things in the interests of communication, transport, and economic efficiencies. The software applications special to logistics visualize and organize these mobilities, producing knowledge about the world in transit. Yet for the most part the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software remains a black box for those not directly using these systems as a matter of routine in their daily work across a range of industries, which include but are not limited to logistical industries. The health care, medical insurance, education, mining, and energy industries, along with retail and service sectors, also adopt ERP systems to manage organizational activities. One key reason for the scarce critical attention to ERP systems is related to the prohibitive price of obtaining proprietary software, which often costs millions of dollars for companies to implement. The aesthetics of ERP software are also notoriously unattractive, and the design is frequently not conducive to ease or pleasure of use.