Advancement of society is based on technological improvements and innovation, but what about those who have to maintain those systems for future generations? Our complex systems require myriad forms of labor and expertise to sustain. If all human effort is spent on incrementally improving existing infrastructure, where does longevity fit into things?
At “The Maintainers: A Conference,” panels of historians, social scientists, artists, activists, researchers, and engineers attempting to provide good answers to those questions. CAL Professors Lee Vinsel and Andrew Russell coordinated the three-day event, and it was the first of its kind at Stevens. The common theme that bound them together was a shared interest in the concepts of maintenance, infrastructure and repair. Presentations covered a wide variety of topics from the perils of deferred maintenance to the concept of maintenance in democracies.
The topic presented in the Opening Plenary was “What is Maintenance & Why Does it Matter?” The opening panel featured four “maintainers” from across the country. Scott Knowles, a professor at Drexel, argued that construction is a “sacred rite in American life” because it demonstrates vision. Knowles said that the west has built itself into harm’s way due to our propensity to build large coastal cities and densely populate the surrounding areas. This causes natural disasters to cost much more both in property damage and in human lives. Nine out of the ten costliest storms the U.S. has ever faced occurred during the time span between 1900 and 2012. Knowles posited that this is due to more and more people moving to the east coast.
Knowles explained that “slow disasters” are the result of deferred maintenance. He stated that “event-time” disasters are the only disasters that get showcased on the news due to their immediateness and grandeur. Knowles warned of the trend of American schools moving away from maintenance engineering towards innovation engineering. This, he said makes students desire to start new projects instead of maintain old ones. Knowles concluded by saying the American Society of Civil Engineers gave America a report card score of D+ for the quality of its infrastructure.
Zachary Pirtle, a NASA employee, offered some insight into what maintainer knowledge can be classified as: retained critical skills and hardware necessary to replicate the original innovation. He talked a bit about his time working at NASA and connected fundamental design concepts to engineering knowledge. For example, the space launch system is a descendant from the original space shuttle.
The other two panelists were Lara Houston, a postdoc at Cornell, and Daniel Kreiss, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill. Houston talked about software and computer operating systems, while Kreiss focused his talk on institutional politics and the technology-intensive campaigning done by modern politicians. He also noted how in recent times, infrastructure maintenance has become a big topic of discussion during presidential campaigns, using Republican candidate Donald Trump as an example.
After all four panelists gave their talks, there was a brief question and answer session. The conference spanned three days from Thursday until Saturday. Later Friday sessions were “Legacies of the Nineteenth Century” with speakers Ann Greene, Deepak Malghan, John Busch, and Stevens’ own Nicholas O’Brien and then “Theory, Method, Practice” with Ellen Foster, Juris Milestone, Padraig Murphy, Matt Thomas. A later session included Philip Scranton, Stevens’ Lee Vinsel, and Misha Rabinovich and Caitlin Foley in “Clones, Communists, Culture.” Closing that day was “People and Networks” Roger Turner, Heidi Voskuhl, Andrew Meade McGee, Stevens’ Andrew Russell, and Nicholas Barron.
Saturday’s session covered “Maintenance in Motion”, “Maintaining the Digital”, “Maintenance in Democracies”, “Humanity and Bureaucracy”, and “The Enduring Industrial Age.” The weekend featured speakers from MIT, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, and other well-known colleges and universities. Stevens’ own Professor Alex Wellerstein on maintaining nuclear weapons and a Stevens graduate student Hugh Lester also presented that day.
In the closing remarks by Vinsel encouraged his colleagues to keep creating these spaces for interdisciplinary discussion and analysis of innovation. Russell appreciated the quality, spirit, and tone that was maintained throughout the conversations which helped form a sense of community.
For more information about the conference, contact Professor Lee Vinsel at lee.vinsel@gmail.com
