Given our dwindling supply of rare earth minerals, emissions from manufacturing and transport, and the staggering amount of electronics either discarded or sent to hibernation globally every day, the benefits of keeping electronic devices in circulation for as long as possible seem obvious. But proprietary software, especially when deployed by vertically-integrated firms, erects barriers to the many business opportunities, digital inclusion benefits and sustainable livelihoods that a healthy repair ecosystem creates.

REPAIR will bring together experts, industry practitioners, activists and emerging researchers to discuss the ecological impact of current technology consumption, and the planetary problem of electronics repair. This event gets to the heart of the repair debate, asking: Can repairable electronics really solve the problem of product obsolescence? And what does electronics repair look like at scale?

Program

8.30am - Arrival

9.00am - Welcome
Melissa Gregg, RMIT & Professor Leanne Wiseman, Griffith University

9.15 - 10:00am - Reflections on repair scholarship
Professor Steve Jackson, Cornell University & Professor Josh Lepawsky, Memorial University

10.10 - 10.30am - Reflections on repair activism
Nathan Proctor, Head of Right to Repair Campaign, Public Interest Research Group

Discussion > Break

11.00am - Software-enhanced vehicles (SDVs): A perilous future for automotive repair
MC Forelle, University of Virginia

11.30am - Repair in Australia: Progress and obstacles
Professor Leanne Wiseman, Griffith University

12.15pm - Lunch

1.30pm - Repair as a Service: The case of CarlCare
Professor Jack Qiu, Nanyang Technical University & Miao Lu, Lingnan University

2.10pm - Mobile Phone Repair in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen, China
Yifan Wang, Artist & journalist & Changwen Chen, National University of Singapore

Discussion > Break

3.00 - Pirate Modernity to Data Sovereignty: Material Consequences of Digital India
Adrian Athique, University of Queensland

3.20 - Software Obsolescence in Smart TVs
Ramon Lobato, RMIT University

3.40 - Feminist Server Stacks to-come
Nancy Mauro-Flude, RMIT University

Discussion > Break

4.30 - Industry approaches & future collaborations
Melissa Gregg, RMIT University

5pm - Farewell drinks