Conceptual foundations for representing robotics history in a non-linear digital archive
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the conceptual foundations and motivation for creating a digital archive to display the developments in the field of robotics over the past 50 years.Design/methodology/approach – The paper proposes that the archive should be based on the conceptualization of science as an “ecology of knowledge”, composed of diverse sets of human and nonhuman actors evolving through associations across multiple social, epistemic, and temporal units of organization. The paper also discusses the roles of different data sources as memory practices primarily used in situated and systemic studies of science.Findings – The paper shows the value of using full capabilities of the current technology to allow for non‐linear representations of the material within a digital archive.Originality/value – The paper contributes to the discussion of the implications of new information technologies such as digital archives for memory practices in science studies and the sciences.