Re-pairing

In her essay "A Reparative Approach to Publishing", Mia Melvær describes the shifting aspect of the written word, which once considered stable, is now within the age of digital publishing, editable and contested. Melvær reminds us that the wiki page is a heavily contested space of writing, rewriting and redirecting, but also one that leaves traces. The software that powers Wikipedia, MediaWiki, keeps logs of revisions made to pages. To read these traces, one would have to filter through lists of revisions made to a wiki page over time. The revision history shows when the edit was made, by whom, the size of the revision (in bytes) and a comment on what type of revision was made.

Working with the concept that of repair introduces questions into how something should function to begin with, or what its actual value is. Repair, even when it is not performed successfully, brings one into a space of learning, nurturing a closer relation with the material world. At Rotterdam's Doe-Het-Zelf Werkplaats (Do-It-Yourself Workplace), visitors are encouraged to learn how to fix their own bicycles. A shed full of tools are there, and volunteers can offer assistance, but ultimately it is up to the visitors to make the repair. Even when they do not fix the issue, they leave with a greater knowledge of how their bicycle works.