The 41st Symposium of the International Committee for the History of Technology will be held in Romania at the turn of July and August of 2014. The main theme of the meeting will be “Technology in Times of Transition”. The aim is to examine major breaks and turning points in technological development with the following conversion periods in a multidisciplinary framework. The membership in ICOHTEC is NOT required to attend the meeting.

The general theme is tailored for the site, while the intention is to examine flexibility of technology to adjust to major societal transitions in the past and present. Times of transition refer to rapid and even revolutionary phases of history when major societal structures changed and nations had to bend to new conditions. Industrial revolutions of the 18th and 19th century, restructuring the economies during and after World War I,  depression of the 1930s, post-war period of reshuffle and economic growth and collapse of the Soviet regime in the 1990s are examples of times of transition. In addition, the idea of the symposium is to promote dialogues between East and West as well as North and South and – if possible – also to compare experiences of various countries in the similar circumstances.

ICOHTEC welcomes individual paper and poster proposals as well as the submissions of entire sessions to this symposium. The tendency is to favour compact and coherent session proposals where presentations communicate with each others.

The symposium programme will include scientific and plenary sessions, poster presentations, business meetings and the general assembly of ICOHTEC as well as social events such as excursions, receptions and a banquet, and possibly pre- and postconference trips. The premises of the Transilvania University of Brașov will serve as venues for this meeting.

The programme committee suggests the following subthemes for the consideration of session organizers and contributors.

SUBTHEMES

1. Technological basis for the breakthrough of industrialisation

2. Technology for warfare and post-World War I industrialisation

3. Technology during the interwar economic recession and other depressions 

4. Post-World War II restructuring of production and markets

5. Technology during the Cold War

6. Post-1989 deindustrialisation and reindustrialisation of Eastern Europe

7.  Restructuring in memories: experiences on technological transitions

8. Technology policy in retrospect

9. New insights into the industrial and cultural heritage

10. Skilful hands: Handicrafts under the pressure of mass production

11. Extensions of the human hand and brain: Advanced technologies

12. Technological utopias and symbols of technological progress

13. Technology in constructing gender in the market and former socialist economies

14. Artistic presentation of technology and technological perspectives of visual culture

15. Technology, design and new materials: How they have shaped society

16. Special topics

 The committee will also consider submissions not directly related to the symposium theme as long as they can be regarded to be related to the history of technology broadly defined. They can be included in "Special topics" sessions.

 In preparing your paper, remember that presentations are not full-length articles. Depending on the number of papers in the session, you will have no more than 16-20 minutes to speak, which is roughly equivalent to six – eight double-spaced typed pages. For more suggestions about preparing your conference presentation, please consult the guidelines at the conference website. Contributors are encouraged to submit full-length versions of their papers after the symposium for consideration by ICOHTEC’s journal ICON.

 If you have any questions related to the scientific programme, paper, poster or session proposals, please, do not hesitate to contact Slawomir Lotysz, the chair of the programme committee, via email s.lotysz@gmail.com

PROGRAMME COMMITTEE:

Sławomir Łotysz (chair), Poland

Maria Elvira Callapez, Portugal

Christopher Neumaier, Germany

Alexandre Herlea, France

Timo Myllyntaus, Finland