CfA - Disappearance, maintenance and reinvention in the biographies of technical objects - 8th STS Italia Conference - 18 -20 June 2020, Trieste

Sergio Minniti <[email protected]> Wed, 8 Jan 2020 14:51:02 +0100
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***apologies for cross-posting***


Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit abstract proposals to our panel*
"Disappearance, maintenance and reinvention in the biographies of technical
objects.* *Perspectives on the transformative vulnerabilities of technology
at the intersection between STS and Media Studies" *(TRACK 13) at the 8th
STS Italia Conference =E2=80=9CDis/Entangling Technoscience: Vulnerability,
Responsibility and Justice=E2=80=9D, University of Trieste, Italy, 18-20 Ju=
ne 2020.

Follow this link: https://www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/call-for-abstracts and
submit a title, and a short abstract of less than 300 words by February
9th. If you have any questions please email myself at
[email protected]

Best regards,

Sergio Minniti, Diego Cavallotti and Simone Dotto

----

Track: *Disappearance, maintenance and reinvention in the biographies of
technical objects.* *Perspectives on the transformative vulnerabilities of
technology at the intersection between STS and Media Studies*

Convenors:
Sergio Minniti, University of Padova, [email protected]
Diego Cavallotti, University of Cagliari, [email protected]
Simone Dotto, University of Udine, [email protected]

*Description of the track:*
Over the last years, we have seen an increasing interest in the overlapping
areas of STS and Media Studies towards examining the multifaceted
vulnerabilities of technical objects. Within STS, research on maintenance
and repair practices has been attracting growing attention since the works
of Susan Leigh Star (1999) and Marianne de Laet and Annemarie Mol (2000),
which set the ground for the study of the vulnerability of sociotechnical
networks. A number of contributions have then addressed issues relating to
obsolescence and fragility, durability and tinkering, adaptation and
re-use, to the extent that a distinctive interdisciplinary field of inquiry
=E2=80=93 Maintenance and repair studies (MRS) =E2=80=93 has emerged. Among=
 the valuable
insights offered by this field of inquiry is the transformative power of
moments of vulnerability, which becomes evident when we consider how
innovation emerges from obsolescence, maintenance and repair, and how new
sociomaterial, ethical and political orders, as well as new geographies of
responsibility are established through the practices that deal with
technical vulnerability.

Similarly, in Media Studies, growing attention has been paid to the to the
ever-shifting relations between =E2=80=9Cold=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9Cnew=E2=
=80=9D media, to the suppressed,
the outmoded and the technological dead ends in media history =E2=80=93 see=
, for
instance, Huhtamo and Parikka=E2=80=99s Media Archaeology: Approaches,
Applications, and Implications (2011) - to how =E2=80=9Cold=E2=80=9D media =
may survive in
residual conditions and be reactivated or reinvented in multiple ways (see
Acland=E2=80=99s Residual Media [2007]), and to how allegedly =E2=80=9Cdead=
 media=E2=80=9D can be
materially revived by a politically infomed art method which Jussi Parikka
and Garnet Hertz notoriously described as =E2=80=9Chardware hacking=E2=80=
=9D (2012).

Way beyond the strictly historiographic level, the discussion on these
topics raised new social concerns, problematising the effects of the
planned obsolescence pursued by commercial industry as well as the material
aspects of mass-produced technology =E2=80=93 which enhanced a focus on the
conditions of hardware circulation, accumulation, disposal, decomposition,
recycling and renewal also from an ecological angle.
This growing awareness that the study of media change should include their
life cycles as material objects, reflects a more general interest in taking
into account the moments of transformation in the social biographies of
media technologies which often correspond to their critical moments of
vulnerability.

We aim to enable a fruitful discussion between exponents from the fields of
STS and Media Studies concerning the manifold processes of transformation
fostered by or related to the vulnerabilities of technical objects over the
course of their biographies. Thus, we call for papers which address, among
others, questions about differences in understandings and vocabularies as
well as explorations of empirical, methodological, and theoretical
overlappings.

Deadline for abstract submission: *February 9, 2020*

*Abstracts submission*
Submission (to the conference email address <[email protected]>
<[email protected]> and to the emails of convernors' selected track)
should include:

1. Author's name and surname, affiliation and email address
2. Presentation title
3. Abstract (less than 300 words)


Sergio Minniti, PhD
Research Fellow
Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology
(FISPPA)
University of Padova, Italy

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
General list info and FAQ: http://comm.umn.edu/~grodman/cultstud.html

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><p><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size=
=3D"4"><font size=3D"2">***</font></font><font size=3D"4"><font size=3D"2">=
apologies for cross-posting***</font></font></span>
    <font face=3D"georgia,serif"><font size=3D"4">
        </font></font></p><p><br></p><p>Dear colleagues,=C2=A0=C2=A0 <br>
    </p>
    <p>We are pleased to invite you to submit abstract proposals to our
      panel<font size=3D"2"><b><font face=3D"georgia,serif"><span style=3D"=
font-family:sans-serif"> &quot;Disappearance, maintenance and reinvention i=
n the biographies </span><span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif">of technica=
l objects.</span></font></b></font><font face=3D"georgia,serif"><i><b><font=
 size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif"><span style=3D"font-fami=
ly:sans-serif"> </span></span></font></b></i><b><font size=3D"2"><span styl=
e=3D"font-family:sans-serif"><span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif">Perspec=
tives on the transformative vulnerabilities of technology at the intersecti=
on </span><span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif">between <span>STS</span> a=
nd Media Studies&quot; </span></span></font></b><font size=3D"2"><span styl=
e=3D"font-family:sans-serif"><span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif">(TRACK =
13) at the <span>8th</span> <span>STS</span> <span>Italia</span> <span>Conf=
erence</span> =E2=80=9CDis/Entangling Technoscience:
      Vulnerability, Responsibility and Justice=E2=80=9D, University of Tri=
este,
      Italy, 18-20 June 2020.</span></span></font></font></p><p><font face=
=3D"georgia,serif"><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif">=
<span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif">Follow this link: <a href=3D"https:/=
/www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/call-for-abstracts" target=3D"_blank">https://ww=
w.stsitaliaconf2020.com/call-for-abstracts</a>
      and submit a title, and a short abstract of less than 300 words by
      February 9th. If you have any questions please email myself at <a hre=
f=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank">sergio.minniti@unipd=
.it</a></span></span></font></font></p><p><font face=3D"georgia,serif"><fon=
t size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif"><span style=3D"font-fam=
ily:sans-serif">Best regards,</span></span></font></font></p><p><font face=
=3D"georgia,serif"><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif">=
<span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif">Sergio Minniti, Diego Cavallotti and=
 Simone Dotto<br></span></span></font></font></p><div><div id=3D"gmail-m_42=
86360560127516890gmail-m_-2819767305553885886gmail-m_-6685274216540900495gm=
ail-m_-1416356795677185795gmail-m_2798792511445214470__MailbirdStyleContent=
" style=3D"font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div><div s=
tyle=3D"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><div id=3D"gmail-m_42863605=
60127516890gmail-m_-2819767305553885886gmail-m_-6685274216540900495gmail-m_=
-1416356795677185795gmail-m_2798792511445214470__MailbirdStyleContent" styl=
e=3D"font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div><div style=
=3D"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><div id=3D"gmail-m_428636056012=
7516890gmail-m_-2819767305553885886gmail-m_-6685274216540900495gmail-m_-141=
6356795677185795gmail-m_2798792511445214470__MailbirdStyleContent" style=3D=
"font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div><div style=3D"fo=
nt-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><div id=3D"gmail-m_428636056012751689=
0gmail-m_-2819767305553885886gmail-m_-6685274216540900495gmail-m_-141635679=
5677185795gmail-m_2798792511445214470__MailbirdStyleContent" style=3D"font-=
size:12pt;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div><div style=3D"text-ali=
gn:center">
                              <font face=3D"georgia,serif"> </font>
                              <div style=3D"text-align:left"><p>----</p>
    <p><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">Track:=
 <font size=3D"2"><b><font face=3D"georgia,serif"><span style=3D"font-famil=
y:sans-serif">Disappearance, maintenance and reinvention in the biographies=
 </span><span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif">of technical objects.</span>=
</font></b></font><font face=3D"georgia,serif"><i><b><font size=3D"2"><span=
 style=3D"font-family:sans-serif"><span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif"> <=
/span></span></font></b></i><b><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:=
sans-serif"><span style=3D"font-family:sans-serif">Perspectives on the tran=
sformative vulnerabilities of technology at the intersection </span><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:sans-serif">between <span>STS</span> and Media Studies<=
/span></span></font></b></font></span></font></p><font size=3D"2"><span sty=
le=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">
    </span></font><p><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans=
-serif">Convenors: <br></span></font></p><div style=3D"text-align:left"><sp=
an style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size=3D"2">Sergio Minniti, =
University of Padova, <a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"=
_blank">[email protected]</a></font></span></div><div style=3D"text-a=
lign:left"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size=3D"2">Di=
ego Cavallotti, University of Cagliari, <a href=3D"mailto:diego.cavallotti@=
unica.it" target=3D"_blank">[email protected]</a><br></font></span>=
</div><div style=3D"text-align:left"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-=
serif"><font size=3D"2">Simone Dotto, University of Udine, <a href=3D"mailt=
o:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank">[email protected]</a></font>=
</span></div><p><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-seri=
f"></span></font></p><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans=
-serif">
    </span></font><p><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans=
-serif"><b>Description of the track:</b></span></font></p><font face=3D"geo=
rgia,serif"><u style=3D"font-size:10pt;line-height:17px">
                                  </u></font></div><div style=3D"text-align=
:left"><div><font face=3D"georgia,serif"><span style=3D"font-size:12pt"></s=
pan><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span sty=
le=3D"line-height:1.5">Over the last years, we have seen an increasing inte=
rest in the overlapping areas of <span>STS</span> and Media Studies towards=
 examining the multifaceted vulnerabilities of technical objects. Within <s=
pan>STS</span>,
 research on maintenance and repair practices has been attracting=20
growing attention since the works of Susan Leigh Star (1999) and=20
Marianne de Laet and Annemarie Mol (2000), which set the ground for the=20
study of the vulnerability of sociotechnical networks. A number of=20
contributions have then addressed issues relating to obsolescence and=20
fragility, durability and tinkering, adaptation and re-use, to the=20
extent that a distinctive interdisciplinary field of inquiry =E2=80=93=20
Maintenance and repair studies (MRS) =E2=80=93 has emerged. Among the valua=
ble=20
insights offered by this field of inquiry is the transformative power of
 moments of vulnerability, which becomes evident when we consider how=20
innovation emerges from obsolescence, maintenance and repair, and how=20
new sociomaterial, ethical and political orders, as well as new=20
geographies of responsibility are established through the practices that
 deal with technical vulnerability.</span></span></font></font></div><div><=
font face=3D"georgia,serif"><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:ari=
al,sans-serif"><span style=3D"line-height:1.5"><br></span></span></font></f=
ont></div><div><font face=3D"georgia,serif"><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D=
"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style=3D"line-height:1.5">Similarly, i=
n Media Studies,=20
growing attention has been paid to the to the ever-shifting relations=20
between =E2=80=9Cold=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9Cnew=E2=80=9D media, to the suppr=
essed, the outmoded and the=20
technological dead ends in media history =E2=80=93 see, for instance, Huhta=
mo=20
and Parikka=E2=80=99s Media Archaeology: Approaches, Applications, and=20
Implications (2011) - to how =E2=80=9Cold=E2=80=9D media may survive in res=
idual=20
conditions and be reactivated or reinvented in multiple ways (see=20
Acland=E2=80=99s Residual Media [2007]), and to how allegedly =E2=80=9Cdead=
 media=E2=80=9D can=20
be materially revived by a politically infomed art method which Jussi=20
Parikka and Garnet Hertz notoriously described as =E2=80=9Chardware hacking=
=E2=80=9D=20
(2012).</span></span></font></font></div><div><font face=3D"georgia,serif">=
<font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style=
=3D"line-height:1.5"><br></span></span></font></font></div><div><font face=
=3D"georgia,serif"><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-s=
erif"><span style=3D"line-height:1.5">Way beyond the strictly historiograph=
ic level, the discussion
 on these topics raised new social concerns, problematising the effects=20
of the planned obsolescence pursued by commercial industry as well as=20
the material aspects of mass-produced technology =E2=80=93 which enhanced a=
=20
focus on the conditions of hardware circulation, accumulation, disposal,
 decomposition, recycling and renewal also from an ecological angle.<br>Thi=
s
 growing awareness that the study of media change should include their=20
life cycles as material objects, reflects a more general interest in=20
taking into account the moments of transformation in the social=20
biographies of media technologies which often correspond to their=20
critical moments of vulnerability.</span></span></font></font></div><div><f=
ont face=3D"georgia,serif"><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:aria=
l,sans-serif"><span style=3D"line-height:1.5"><br></span></span></font></fo=
nt></div><div><font face=3D"georgia,serif"><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"=
font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style=3D"line-height:1.5">We aim to ena=
ble a fruitful discussion between exponents from the fields of <span>STS</s=
pan>
 and Media Studies concerning the manifold processes of transformation=20
fostered by or related to the vulnerabilities of technical objects over=20
the course of their biographies. Thus, we call for papers which address,
 among others, questions about differences in understandings and=20
vocabularies as well as explorations of empirical, methodological, and=20
theoretical overlappings.</span></span></font></font></div><font size=3D"2"=
><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">
                                </span></font><div><font size=3D"2"><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style=3D"line-height:1.5"><br><=
/span></span></font></div><div><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:=
arial,sans-serif"><span style=3D"line-height:1.5"><span style=3D"color:blac=
k" lang=3D"EN-US">Deadline for abstract submission: <b>February 9, 2020</b>=
</span>
                                    </span></span></font></div><font size=
=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">
                                =20
                                </span></font><div><font size=3D"2"><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style=3D"line-height:1.5"><br>
                                    </span></span></font></div><font size=
=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">
                                =20
                                </span></font><div>
                                  <div><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font=
-family:arial,sans-serif"><b>Abstracts
                                        submission</b></span></font></div>
                                  <font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-fami=
ly:arial,sans-serif">Submission
                                    (to the <span><span>conference</span></=
span> email address <a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_b=
lank">&lt;[email protected]&gt;</a>
                                    and to the emails of convernors&#39;
                                    selected track) should include:</span><=
/font></div><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">
                                </span></font><div><font size=3D"2"><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br></span></font>
                                  </div><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"fon=
t-family:arial,sans-serif">
                                </span></font><div><font size=3D"2"><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">1. Author&#39;s
                                    name and surname, affiliation and
                                    email address</span></font></div><font =
size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">
                                </span></font><div><font size=3D"2"><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">2. Presentation
                                    title</span></font></div><font size=3D"=
2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">
                                </span></font><div><font size=3D"2"><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif">3. Abstract
                                    (less than 300 words)</span></font></di=
v><div><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br><b=
r></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div=
></div></div></div></div></div><div><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_signatu=
re" data-smartmail=3D"gmail_signature"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div><div dir=3D"lt=
r"><div><div dir=3D"ltr"><div><div dir=3D"ltr"><div><div dir=3D"ltr"><div><=
div dir=3D"ltr"><div><div dir=3D"ltr"><div><div dir=3D"ltr"><div><div dir=
=3D"ltr"><font style=3D"color:rgb(136,136,136)" size=3D"2">Sergio Minniti, =
PhD<br></font><div><font style=3D"color:rgb(136,136,136)" size=3D"1">Resear=
ch Fellow</font></div><div><font style=3D"color:rgb(136,136,136)" size=3D"1=
">Department of </font><font style=3D"color:rgb(136,136,136)" size=3D"1"><s=
pan>Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology (FISPPA)</span>=
</font></div><div><span><font style=3D"color:rgb(136,136,136)" size=3D"1">U=
niversity of Padova, Italy</font></span><br></div><div><font style=3D"color=
:rgb(136,136,136)" size=3D"1"></font><span></span></div><div><span style=3D=
"color:rgb(136,136,136)"></span><div style=3D"color:rgb(136,136,136)"><font=
 size=3D"1"><br></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></di=
v></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><=
/div>
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
General list info and FAQ: <a href=3D"http://comm.umn.edu/~grodman/cultstud.html" target=3D"_blank">http://comm.umn.edu/~grodman/cultstud.html</a>

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