Stevens Institute of Technology is hosting a conference titled “The Maintainers." The conference will feature over 40 presentations from scholars in a variety of fields, including academic historians and social scientists, as well as artists, activists, and engineers. All share an interest in the concepts of maintenance, infrastructure, repair, and the myriad forms of labor and expertise that sustain our human-built world.
Presentations will cover a wide variety of technologies and practices, including software, spaceflight, trolleys, meteorology, digital archives, and the politics of funding for infrastructure.
Conference keynote speaker: Ruth Schwartz Cowan, Professor Emerita in the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania and author of several books, including the path-breaking More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technologies from the Hearth to the Microwave.
More information, including a draft program and registration information, please visit http://themaintainers.org/.
This conference is sponsored by the College of Arts & Letters at Stevens Institute of Technology.