Beyond Innovation and Use, or Why We Must Follow Technologies through Time
Synthesizing various studies that follow technology beyond innovation and use, this article aims to continue widening the scope of history of technology toward this perspective. It argues that we must follow technology through time and—in addition to its use—its maintenance and repair, while also ad...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Histories |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9252/4/1/4 |
| _version_ | 1827306051987308544 |
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| author | Heike Weber |
| author_facet | Heike Weber |
| author_sort | Heike Weber |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Synthesizing various studies that follow technology beyond innovation and use, this article aims to continue widening the scope of history of technology toward this perspective. It argues that we must follow technology through time and—in addition to its use—its maintenance and repair, while also addressing its so-called afterlife, encompassing topics such as reuse, reconfiguration and/or restoration, decline or deliberate ruination, abandonment, and removal and/or remains. Recent studies of these issues underscore that the temporality of technology does not end with the end of its use, suggesting instead multilayered temporalities. History of technology is thus challenged to rethink some of its established and largely unquestioned approaches, such as the “innovation timeline”, the model of “technology diffusion and substitution”, and “lifecycle” metaphors borrowed from twentieth-century theories of economic growth and innovation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:13:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9baceecc04624b15bef51fdac6069ed3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2409-9252 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:13:42Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Histories |
| spelling | doaj.art-9baceecc04624b15bef51fdac6069ed32024-03-27T13:44:10ZengMDPI AGHistories2409-92522024-01-0141516110.3390/histories4010004Beyond Innovation and Use, or Why We Must Follow Technologies through TimeHeike Weber0Institute of History and Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Literature, TU Berlin, D-10623 Berlin, GermanySynthesizing various studies that follow technology beyond innovation and use, this article aims to continue widening the scope of history of technology toward this perspective. It argues that we must follow technology through time and—in addition to its use—its maintenance and repair, while also addressing its so-called afterlife, encompassing topics such as reuse, reconfiguration and/or restoration, decline or deliberate ruination, abandonment, and removal and/or remains. Recent studies of these issues underscore that the temporality of technology does not end with the end of its use, suggesting instead multilayered temporalities. History of technology is thus challenged to rethink some of its established and largely unquestioned approaches, such as the “innovation timeline”, the model of “technology diffusion and substitution”, and “lifecycle” metaphors borrowed from twentieth-century theories of economic growth and innovation.https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9252/4/1/4history of technologytemporalitiestechnology in userepairmaintenancewaste |
| spellingShingle | Heike Weber Beyond Innovation and Use, or Why We Must Follow Technologies through Time Histories history of technology temporalities technology in use repair maintenance waste |
| title | Beyond Innovation and Use, or Why We Must Follow Technologies through Time |
| title_full | Beyond Innovation and Use, or Why We Must Follow Technologies through Time |
| title_fullStr | Beyond Innovation and Use, or Why We Must Follow Technologies through Time |
| title_full_unstemmed | Beyond Innovation and Use, or Why We Must Follow Technologies through Time |
| title_short | Beyond Innovation and Use, or Why We Must Follow Technologies through Time |
| title_sort | beyond innovation and use or why we must follow technologies through time |
| topic | history of technology temporalities technology in use repair maintenance waste |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9252/4/1/4 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT heikeweber beyondinnovationanduseorwhywemustfollowtechnologiesthroughtime |