Routine

Dictionary
routine |roōˈtēn|
noun
a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program : I settled down into a routine of work and sleep | as a matter of routine a report will be sent to the director.
• a set sequence in a performance such as a dance or comedy act : he was trying to persuade her to have a tap routine in the play.
• Computing a sequence of instructions for performing a task that forms a program or a distinct part of one.
adjective
performed as part of a regular procedure rather than for a special reason : the principal insisted that this was just a routine annual drill.
• monotonous or tedious : we are set in our dull routine existence.
verb [ trans. ] rare
organize according to a routine : all had been routined with smoothness.
DERIVATIVES
routinely adverb
ORIGIN late 17th cent.(denoting a regular course or procedure): from French, from route ‘road’ (see route ).

Thesaurus
routine
noun
1 his morning routine procedure, practice, pattern, drill, regimen; program, schedule, plan; formula, method, system; customs, habits; wont.
2 a stand-up routine act, performance, number, turn, piece; informal spiel, patter, shtick.
adjective
a routine safety inspection standard, regular, customary, normal, usual, ordinary, typical; everyday, common, commonplace, conventional, habitual, wonted. antonym unusual.

Theory
[ Our concept here ]

Bureaucracy of the Imagination

Predication

There is an arresting statement deep within the 9/11 Commission Report, that makes explicit an organizing theme, suggesting an opening for attitude adjustment.  It is therefore crucial to find a way of routinizing, even bureaucratizing the exercise of imagination (p. 344).  The immediate context is concern that security experts had not foreseen the scenario of the hijack attacks, despite many contextual signals. The comment is made in a chapter entitled "Foresight -- And Hindsight," in which imagination is listed, along with the categories of policy, capabilities, and management, as the four categories of failure demonstrated by the surprise attack.  We may be witnessing the creation of an addition to the list of oxymoron jokes:  military intelligence, jumbo shrimp, bureaucratic imagination.  The wording in the Report suggests a misunderstanding about imagination, as if it were a way to eliminate surprise, when the reality is just the opposite. The desired effect might be the same, which is to say that there is strategic value in imagination.  To admit this truth is already a proposal for a transformation in American education.  Our project is to take this sentiment at face value, and take up the challenge of constructing a concept of Routine that includes a capacity (an ability, a virtue, a power, a faculty) of auto-surprise:  surprisability.

Bit

Definitions of bit on the Web: 

• spot: a small piece or quantity of something; "a spot of tea"; "a bit of paper"; "a bit of lint"; "I gave him a bit of my mind"
• a small fragment of something broken off from the whole; "a bit of rock caught him in the eye"
• moment: an indefinitely short time; "wait just a moment"; "in a mo"; "it only takes a minute"; "in just a bit"
• piece: an instance of some kind; "it was a nice piece of work"; "he had a bit of good luck"
• piece of metal held in horse's mouth by reins and used to control the horse while riding; "the horse was not accustomed to a bit"
• a unit of measurement of information (from binary + digit); the amount of information in a system having two equiprobable states; "there are 8 bits in a byte"
• morsel: a small amount of solid food; a mouthful; "all they had left was a bit of bread"
• snatch: a small fragment; "overheard snatches of their conversation"
• act: a short theatrical performance that is part of a longer program; "he did his act three times every evening"; "she had a catchy little routine"; "it was one of the best numbers he ever did"
• the part of a key that enters a lock and lifts the tumblers
• the cutting part of a drill; usually pointed and threaded and is replaceable in a brace or bitstock or drill press; "he looked around for the right size bit"
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn 

We may include a device learned from Derrida: the choral word. The names of our electrate concept (routine, bit) include all the meanings of the literate concept.