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  • The Copenhagen Meeting, 4-7 October 2012

The fifty-fourth annual meeting of the Society for the History of Technology took place at the Copenhagen Business School in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 4 to 7 October, 2012. Members of the Program Committee were Eda Kranakis (chair), Andreas Fickers, and Audra Wolfe. The Local Arrangements Committee was chaired by Lars Heide of the Copenhagen Business School, with assistance from Mats Fridlund, Kurt Jacobsen, Ulrik Jørgensen, David E. Nye, Frank Allan Rasmussen, Louise Karlskov Skyggebjerg, Thomas Söderqvist, and Michael Wagner. Thanks also to Bente Beedholm, Morten Larsen, and Mikkel Thelle for leading this year's tours, SHOT webmaster Allen Miller, Laura Kolar for editing the program, and Bill Kelsh for assistance at registration. Special thanks go to W. Bernard and Jane Carlson.

Annual Meeting Sessions

Joint Opening Plenary with Tensions of Europe Network (ToE): Transnationalism and the History of Technology: Lessons from ToE and Other Projects
Chair: Phil Scranton, Rutgers University
Panelists: Johan Schot, Eindhoven Technical University and University of Twente; Eden Medina, Indiana University; Suzanne Moon, University of Oklahoma

Nation, State, and Sociotechnical Imaginaries in Cold War Asia and Beyond
Organizer: Projit Bihari Mukharji, University of Pennsylvania Chair and Commentator: Itty Abraham, University of Texas at Austin
Papers: "Technology and Poverty: Exploring Sociotechnical lmaginaries of Justice in Indonesian Popular Culture," Suzanne Moon, University of Oklahoma; "Negotiating Competing Sociotechnical Imaginaries between Taiwanese Technologists and United Nations Officials: A Cold War Technical-Aid Program in Electronics Science and Digital Electronic Computing, 1958-64," Honghong Tinn, Asia Research Institute and Tembusu College, National University of Singapore; "Agrotech, Petrotech, Infotech: The [End Page 144] Changing Sociotechnical Imaginaries of Popular Bangladeshi Technostatism, 1966-90," Projit Bihari Mukharji, University of Pennsylvania

Indigenous Water Control Regimes in Nineteenth-Century East and Southeast Asia
Organizer and Chair: Philip Brown, Ohio State University
Commentator: Vincent Lagendijk, University of Leiden, Netherlands
Papers: "Mapping and Controlling Waterways: A Nexus of Historical Geography and Hydraulic Engineering in Early Modern China, 1780-1820," Minghui Hu, University of California, Santa Cruz; "The Twain Meet: Japan's Encounter with Western Civil Engineering on the Shinano River, 1870-1930," Philip Brown, Ohio State University; "'To Meet the Desire of the Population': Water Distribution Arrangements on Colonial Java, 1880-1920," Maurits Ertsen, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

Technological Heritage
Chair: Håkon With Andersen, Trondheim University, Norway
Papers: "Ambiguous Technology: Reflections on Artifacts in Museum Contexts," Artemis Yagou, Free University Amsterdam, Netherlands; "Landscape Scars: Contested Heritage Processes at Ignalina and Barsebäck Nuclear Power Plants," Anna Storm, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden; "Industrial Spaces as Patterns of Production and Distribution," Torben Dam and Svava Riesto, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Digital Aesthetics
Chair and Commentator: Merritt Roe Smith, MIT
Papers: "Beautifully Disturbing: Microcinematography and Title Design in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema," David Kirby, University of Manchester, UK; "The Secret Life of 3-D Models," Rebecca Perry, MIT; "Going Digital: The Techniques and Aesthetics of Phototypesetting," Charles Berret, Columbia University

Spaces and Geographies of Expertise in Engineering
Organizer: Casper Andersen, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Chair: Matthias Heymann, University of Aarhus
Papers: "Ethnicity, Expertise, and Authority," Graeme Gooday, University of Leeds, UK; "Owning and Disowning Wireless: Experts, Judges, and Lawyers in Transatlantic Legal Battles," Stathis Arapostathis, University of Athens, Greece; "Civil Engineers and Spaces of Expertise in the British Empire c. 1900-30," Casper Andersen, University of Aarhus, Denmark [End Page 145]

The Social Origins of Personal Computing (sponsored by SIGCIS)
Chair: John Laprise, Northwestern University in Qatar
Commentator: Thomas Haigh, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Papers: "When Computers Were Amateurs: Hobbyist Computer Clubs, 1966-76," Kevin Gotkin, University of Pennsylvania; "Home Is Where the Game Is: Sierra On-Line and Women's Computer Gaming," Laine Nooney, Stony Brook University/SUNY

High Technology and Indigenous Weavers: Must They Clash?
Organizer: Daryl M. Hafter, Eastern Michigan University
Chair: Rachel Maines, Cornell University
Papers: "Can Communication Technology Empower Slow-Tech Weavers to Create Sustainable Prosperity? "David Goldsmith, University of Boras, Sweden; "The Weaving Villages of Peru: Reclaiming Tradition for Survival," Daryl Hafter, Eastern Michigan University; "New Tools Enabling Ancient Technologies: Duodji Textiles and Dress of the Sàmi People of Northwestern Eurasia (Lapland)," Desiree Koslin, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York

Dialogue Workshop...

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