Caring for Past Media from Below: Bottom-up Practices and Networks Supporting Obsolete Broadcast Technologies

This paper examines grassroots practices of care for obsolete broadcast technologies through the lens of Maintenance and Repair Studies and Science and Technology Studies, focusing on two case studies: the preservation of U-Matic video technology and the reappropriation of CRT displays in retrogaming communities. Through qualitative analysis, the study investigates how these practices operate across three dimensions of care – object, network, and ecosystem – revealing the interplay between material work, distributed expertise, and the broader ecosystems that support technology persistence. The analysis focuses on the heterogeneous actors operating outside formal institutions, including former users, retired professionals, and amateurs, and shows how their practices of care are not merely preservational but also generative. In doing so, the paper underscores their crucial role in preserving obsolete media, framing media persistence as a fragile yet productive achievement of care work.