[Themaintainers] Question from a journalist

[Lee Vinsel]

Hi, Lynn!!

I'm sure others will have other examples, including examples that should be
coming to my mind (it's Friday!), but what first comes to me are some
examples that David Edgerton highlights in Shock of the Old of bicycle and
radio repair sectors in, I think, Japan leading to the birth of new
(innovative) industries there, including the much larger electronics
industry. My copy of Shock is at home rather than here at my office, but I
can get you a citation if needed.

I'm very interested generally in repetition, or how I think about and teach
it more often as . . .  human habit . . . as well as organizational
routines. Both habits and routines are central to the
history/sociology/economics of maintenance, I think.

Best,

Lee

On Fri, Apr 19, 2019 at 5:25 AM Lynn Berger <lynn at decorrespondent.nl> wrote:

> Hello Maintainers!
>
> Short version: I'm a journalist working on a story about the value of
> repetition and why we usually overlook it because we're more interested in
> novelty. I draw a parallel to how we tend to prefer innovation to
> maintenance and want to point out that this is silly, not least because
> maintenance is often a condition for innovation. And now I'm wondering: do
> the people on this list have some examples of when maintenance work led to
> new insights that led to innovation?
>
> Slightly longer version:
> My name is Lynn Berger and I've been on this list for some time. I have a
> PhD in communications from Columbia University (I studied 19th century
> photography and the law) but for the last six years I've been working as a
> journalist at De Correspondent, an online journalism platform based in
> Amsterdam. I cover technology and culture there; a few years ago I wrote a
> piece about the rediscovery of maintenance, with pride of place for the
> maintainers. (Those who read Dutch can find it here
> <https://decorrespondent.nl/6816/he-innovators-gamechangers-en-disrupters-vergeten-jullie-het-onderhoud-niet/227102304-f476506a>,
> and a short followup I wrote on repair, here
> <https://decorrespondent.nl/7414/waarom-het-recht-op-repareren-ons-allemaal-aangaat/247027066-a9e9bbdc>
> .)
>
> Currently I'm working on a story about the value of repetition and how we
> tend to overlook it because we're more interested in novelty. I draw a
> parallel to how we tend to prefer innovation to maintenance and want to
> point out that this is missing the point, not least because maintenance is
> often a condition for innovation.
>
> And now I'm wondering: do the people on this list have some examples of
> when maintenance work led to new insights that led to innovation?
>
> I'd be grateful for a few good and concrete examples. And for your time,
> of course!
>
> Thank you in advance and keep up the good work (!)
> Lynn.
>
> Lynn Berger
> De Correspondent <http://www.decorrespondent.nl/lynnberger>
> Barentzplein 7BG
> 1013 NJ Amsterdam
> @LynnBerger1984 <https://twitter.com/LynnBerger1984>
> 06 24102193
>
>
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-- 
Assistant Professor
Department of Science, Technology, and Society
Virginia Tech
leevinsel.com
Twitter: @STS_News
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