[Themaintainers] The Maintainers: Winter Newsletter

[Nathan Proctor]

Hello all!

Sorry for the delay in getting our newsletter out -- we had some technical
difficulties with our newsletter software and need to find another
alternative.

(If you organization can help -- perhaps you have an enterprise
Mailchimp-like account -- let me know! As a newly volunteer-run
organization, these little hurdles are hard to bypass).

Our first lightning talks showcase mending practices, medical waste and more

The Maintainers were founded around the idea that many of the world’s most
important problems are related to maintenance and care -- but those issues
are often overlooked, as society chases after new shiny objects.

As the Maintainers transitions into being volunteer driven and
community-led, the steering team has been working on ways to keep engaging
our community around this much-needed conversation about maintenance and
care. In this spirit, we held our first round of “lightning talks”
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjD2FGkP3bA> -- short presentations on
projects from our larger community.

We heard from Deborah Streahle, a Lecturer at Yale University about “Medical
Waste and its Discontents. <https://youtu.be/bjD2FGkP3bA?t=436>” Miriam
Devlin, general contractor and arts educator shared observations and
research about shoddy fixes in building repair
<https://youtu.be/bjD2FGkP3bA?t=1347>. Regina Carra, archivist of the City
University of New York discussed a survey of the City University of New
York's archival records <https://youtu.be/bjD2FGkP3bA?t=887> as a way to
highlight the importance of why maintaining archives is important. Finally,
Betty Rexrode, a New York-based architect, shared the history of Danish
Cording <https://youtu.be/bjD2FGkP3bA?t=1776> and the process of repairs
and weaving.

Given the level of interest, we will be holding more lightning talks in
late May. Stay tuned!

International Repair Day celebrates a growing repair movement

International Repair Day, held this year on Oct. 18, is a worldwide event
to celebrate repair, and the community it fosters. Organized by a coalition
of community repair organizations -- including the Restart Project, Repair
Cafe, Fixit Clinic and many others -- the day’s celebrations featured 3,400
free community repair events worldwide
<https://openrepair.org/news/repair-day-2025/> as was recorded by the Open
Repair Alliance, a 55% increase from last year.


 [image: image.png]

Maintainers Study Guide highlights a decade of work from the Maintainers

Last fall we released the Maintainers Study Guide which reflects nearly a
decade of work across Maintainers’ conferences, the Maintainers Movement
Fellowships, network partnerships, network-wide research, global
maintenance practices, and events we’ve hosted.

Inside this guide you will find an overview of the maintenance framework,
key principles to the Maintainers perspective, case studies from our
community and fellows and more.

Download and read the Study Guide here
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UeLpYg6jn_Hb-m-KaAh_cIDzTdrFCl8I/view?usp=sharing>
.

Other highlights:


   -

   Software obsolescence in focus after Microsoft cuts support for Windows
   10. Increasingly, the lives of our physical products are determined by
   how long manufacturers decide to support its software. This issue gained
   increased attention as some 400 million Windows 10 PCs lost support last
   fall, with impacts all around the world -- leading many Maintainers
   allies to press for reforms.
   <https://pirg.org/articles/global-voices-speak-out-on-the-end-of-windows-10/>
   -

   Revising The Innovation Delusion. The Maintainers hosted a conversation
   with Andy Russell, co-author of the book The Innovation Delusion about how
   we tend to lionize a certain kind of progress while ignoring the things
   that are the most important. Check out the event summary here
   <https://themaintainers.org/revisiting-the-innovation-delusion-conversation-with-andrew-russell/>
   .



-- 
Nathan Proctor
Senior Director, U.S. PIRG Campaign for the Right to Repair
O: (857) 413-2534
C: (203) 522-3860
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