Origins
Where the two hundred and eighty-four came from
Only a third of what sits on these desks was chosen and bought by the person using it. The rest arrived some other way.
Seven ways a thing arrives
Only a third of the equipment on these desks was chosen and bought by the person using it. The other two thirds arrived some other way.
Ninety-six chosen, a hundred and eighty-eight not
The record's single most consequential split, and what it does to every question that follows about desk equipment.
From an employer: sixty-one
The second largest origin, the one with the most screens in it, and the only one where the object outlives the arrangement that produced it.
Already in the room: forty-four
Forty-four objects that were there when the person arrived. The origin with the highest survival in the record, and the one nobody can explain.
Bought second-hand: thirty-one
Eleven per cent of the record, chosen deliberately like the bought-new group but surviving less well, and the reason is probably age rather than quality.
Handed down, and the difference from a gift
Twenty-eight objects passed on and sixteen given. The two look alike and behave differently, and the difference is who wanted the transfer to happen.
The eight whose origin nobody knows
Eight objects in use or in cupboards that nobody in the workplace could account for. The smallest origin, and the one that says most about how equipment accumulates.
What the origin field could not ask
Seven closed answers, four questions deliberately left out, and the three entries that had to be argued about.
Why origin is the first field
The order of the four fields was fixed before any counting, and putting origin first decides what the rest of the record can mean.