Blog

COVID-19 and Maintainers

Dear all, We’ve been thinking a lot about all of you, the members of The Maintainers community as well as all of the maintainers out there keeping our world going during this startling and troubling moment. We know that members … More →

Why Do People Neglect Maintenance?

This post is by The Maintainers Co-Directors Andy, Jess, and Lee. A big part of our job involves talking to other people about maintenance and how both maintenance and the lives of Maintainers can be improved in our culture today. … More →

Introducing Jessica Meyerson, Our New Maintainers Co-Director

The Maintainers has been changing a lot over the past few years. We (Andy Russell and Lee Vinsel) got The Maintainers going first by making jokes online. Soon thereafter, and with the help of many others, we organized two conferences … More →

Maintaining Disabled Bodies and Identities: The Body as Evidence (2)

This is the second of two interrelated posts by the disability studies scholar Hanna Herdegen who is pursuing a PhD in Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech. “What have you got in there, rocks?” I’ve gotten comments on the … More →

The Soup’s On Us: Introducing the Information Maintainers

This post is by Information Maintenance Community Member Monique Lassere Many of us are familiar with the term “maintenance,” and we may even have ready-made ideas of what maintenance looks like, whether as an occupation or what we just realized … More →

Maintaining Disabled Bodies and Identities: Disability as Dirty Work

This is the first of two interrelated posts by the disability studies scholar Hanna Herdegen who is pursuing a PhD in Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech. When I was first diagnosed with POTS, my cardiologist suggested that I … More →

Researching “What Do Engineers Do All Day?: Innovation, Maintenance, and Everyday Engineering.”

This post is by The Maintainers Co-Director Lee Vinsel. A couple of weeks ago I heard that joyful news that my Virginia Tech colleagues Jenni Case, Marie Paretti, and I were awarded a grant from the Institute for Society, Culture, … More →

Maintainers III: Meet the Track Leaders

This post is by The Maintainers Co-Director Andy Russell. As we near the May 13 deadline for proposals for Maintainers III, I have been thinking about how far this conference has come. For Maintainers I and II, the “program committee” … More →

Defining Core Values

The Maintainers has come a long way since Andy Russell and I co-founded it on accident, back in 2015. We thought it would be useful to share some reflections on how The Maintainers community has grown, and the values that … More →

Maintainers III is coming: how you can get involved

Now that a little bit of time has passed since we announced the dates (Oct 6-9), place (Gallaudet University in Washington, DC), and Call for Papers for Maintainers III, I wanted to share a few thoughts about different ways to … More →