The Persistence of Technology: From Maintenance and Repair to Reuse and Disposal

Heike Weber and Stefan Krebs argue that repair should be discussed from a temporal perspective – one which reaches beyond the timescale of the repair process itself. This includes the historicity of repair, i.e. that repair practices and cultures have changed over time and should be investigated in their respective historical contexts. But it reaches beyond historicity and refers to the manifold temporalities included in processes, infrastructures and acts of repair. Maintenance and repair react to the wear and tear that happens over time and they represent interventions with the temporal aim of prolonging the time an object can stay in use.