Annual Report April 6th 2021 - April 5th 2022
AIMS AND PURPOSES
Mattering Press is an Open Access publisher that is dedicated to increasing access to the social scientific study of expert-led knowledge in a field often referred to as Science and Technology Studies (STS). As an open access publisher we aim to increase access to research in the field of STS by making it widely and freely available in the form of monographs and edited collections.
Mattering Press established itself as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) on 15-05-2013. The object of the charity as set out in our constitution is
To advance the education of the public in Science and Technology Studies, in particular by commissioning and publishing social scientific work on an open access basis.
All Mattering books will, therefore, be available freely as ebooks and as printed books to purchase. We also support books using formats that are experimental or difficult to publish using conventional publishing models.
In shaping our objectives for the year and planning our activities, the trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, including the guidance on fee-charging. Open Access book publishing is still a relatively new phenomenon and the Open Access community is still experimenting with ways to make this form of publishing economically sustainable. The Press is partly funded through general donations, donations made for accessing books online and book sales. Mattering Press does charge fees to costs of publication, although discounts on this range from 25% to 100%. At the same time, we are working with partners in the ScholarLed consortium to develop new infrastructures and partnerships that will enable us to move away from a dependence on these fees.
During the financial year that this document reports on – 06-04-2021 to 05-04-2022 - the Press resumed its activities in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crises. We resumed production on new books and engaging with our stakeholders. Indeed, it was a busy year, including the publication of five new books.
ACTIVITIES
Books Published
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Energy Worlds in Experiment was published on 29th April 2021. The book is an experiment in writing about energy and an exploration of energy infrastructures as experiments. Twenty authors have written collaborative chapters that examine energy politics and practices, from electricity cables and energy monitors to swamps and estuaries.
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Sensing In/Security was published on 24th August 2021. The book investigates how sensors and sensing practices enact regimes of security and insecurity. It extends long-standing concerns with infrastructuring to emergent modes of surveillance and control by exploring how digitally networked sensors shape securitisation practices
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Environmental Alterities was publishing on the 10th June 2021. In the context of accelerating environmental crises and exhausted intellectual paradigms, this book asks what comes after ‘after nature’. Instead of demanding new models and approaches, it invites its readers to look to the endpoints and failures of what is already known, in order to generate alternative forms of ethical engagement with worlds both on this planet, and beyond it.
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With Microbes was published on the 10th June 2021. The book asks: what does it mean to be with microbes? Across 24 contributions, authors attune to microbes and describe their multiple relationships with humans and others.
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Engineering the Climate was published on the 6th December 2021. The book unpacks the turbulent trajectory of one of the most contested techno-political projects of our time: the idea to deliberately alter, to engineer, the earth’s climate to counteract global warming.
Project Involvement
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Mattering Press editors, Joe Deville and Julien McHardy, continued to be involved as a Co-Investigator and Consultant in the COPIM (Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs) project funded by Research England and the Arcadia Fund. For example, in March 2022, Deville presented at RLUK as part of an event on Making Open Access Books Work Fairly. Julien McHardy explored how experimental publishing might help us rethink archiving, as part of a collaborative event titled Data Books & Data Bodies: Performing Archival Data differently, as well as in July 2021
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highlighting a new experimental publishing collaboration with POP, the Politics of Patents Project. McHardy also contributed to an OASPA webinar on Business Models for Open Access in February 2022.
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
Mattering Press is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) whose only voting members are its charity trustees. The charity trustees are also the General Editors for the Press. The Editors, or the Board of Trustees meet quarterly to administer the business of the Press. All decisions are brought to the board either via email or during meetings. Trustees each have a portfolio that they are responsible for administering.
In the event of a retiring trustee, the board will meet to discuss the skill requirements needed to fill the position. In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees and Editors, the board has regard for the skills, knowledge and experience needed to administer the CIO. Nominations for the new Trustee may come from the Board or the wider STS community. The Editors will vote to accept new applications at a General Meeting. New trustees are then inducted into charity business at their first Trustees meeting. During this meeting they are briefed about their legal obligations under charity law, the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit, the Mattering Press Constitution, the committee and decision-making processes, the business plan and recent financial performance of the charity. The work of administering the charity is supported by the Advisory Board.
REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATION DETAILS
The correspondence address for Mattering Press is 8 Limley Grove, Manchester, M21 8UB, United Kingdom.
Charity Number: 1152056
The Trustees that have served during the financial year here reported and until the date this report was approved are as follows:
Uli Beisel, University of Bayreuth, Germany Endre Dányi, Bundeswehr University Munich, Germany Joe Deville, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK Anna Dowrick, Oxford University, UK Julien McHardy, Studio, Amsterdam. Michaela Spencer, Charles Darwin University, Australia Natalie Gill, Freelance, Bristol, UK
Professional Advisors
The Trustees would like to thank the following advisors and partners for their continued support.
STS Advisory Board
Geoffrey Bowker, University of California, Irvine Franck Cochoy, University of Toulouse Michael Guggenheim, Goldsmiths, University of London Casper Bruun Jensen, IT University of Copenhagen John Law, Open University
Noortje Marres, Goldsmiths, University of London Ivan da Costa Marques, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Annemarie Mol, University of Amsterdam David Pontille, CSI, Paris Volona Rabeharisoa, CSI, Paris Richard Rottenburg, University of Halle-Wittenberg Lucy Suchman, Lancaster University Anna Tsing, University of California, Santa Cruz Sarah Whatmore, Oxford University
OA Publishing Advisory Board
Edward Akerboom, Infostreams Alex Billington, Tetragon Mercedes Bunz, Leuphana University Tim Elfenbein, University of California, Irvine Gary Hall, Coventry University Eileen Joy, Punctum Books Chris Kelty, University of California Sarah Kember, Goldsmiths, University of London Ivor Williams, Amerang
Partners
CISP, Goldsmiths Centre for Mobilities Research, Lancaster University EASST Hybrid Publishing Lab Infostreams Institute for Social Futures, Lancaster University Open Humanities Press Tetragon Will Roscoe ScholarLed
This report was approved on 5 February 2023 by Uli Beisel, Endre Dányi, Joe Deville, Natalie Gill, Julien McHardy, Michaela Spencer and Anna Dowrick.
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MATTERING PRESS Charity number: 1152056
CC16a
Receipts and payments accounts
For the period
6th April 2021 To 5th April 2022
from
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Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total funds Last year funds funds funds to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
| A1 Receipts | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts from institutions | 4,065 | - - - |
- | 4,065 | 1,734 - 1,653 |
|
| Individual donations | - | - | - | |||
| Sales | 2,491 | - | 2,491 | |||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
6,557 | - | - | 6,557 | 3,387 |
| A2 Asset and investment sales, | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (see table). | |||||||||
| - | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| Total receipts | 6,557 | - | - | 6,557 | 3,387 |
| A3 Payments | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administration | 522 | - | 522 | 149 2,416 4,169 975 7,709 |
||
| Printing and distribution | 3,405 | 3,405 | ||||
| Production | 9,939 | 9,939 | ||||
| Marketing | - | - 13,866 |
||||
| **Sub total ** | 13,866 |
| A4 Asset and investment | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| purchases, (see table) | ||||||||||||
| - | - | - | - | |||||||||
| - | - | - | - | |||||||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Total payments | 13,866 | - | - | 13,866 | 7,709 | |||||||
| Net of receipts/(payments) | - 7,310 | - | - | - 7,310 | - 4,322 | |||||||
| A5 Transfers between funds | ||||||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||
| A6 Cash funds last year end | 46,622 | - | - | - | 50,944 | |||||||
| Cash funds this year end CCXX R1 accounts (SS) |
39,312 | 1 |
- | - | - | 46,622 05/02/2023 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories B1 Cash funds Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets |
Paypal Account 1 Signature Paypal Account 2 Details Bank Current Account Details Total cash funds Details Details Details |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 34,361 - 733 4,219 - 39,312 - Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - Print Name Joseph Deville |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
|||
| Date of approval |
|||
| Joseph Deville | 5th February 2023 |
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
05/02/2023
2