#technicity

Source: (G. Simondon, On the mode of existence of technical objects, Introduction).

Culture ignores a human reality within technical reality - in order to fully play its role culture needs to include technical beings in the form of knowledge and in the form of a sense of values.

There are three level of technical objects (TO's): elements, individuals, ensembles. The confused rapport with technology arises in consumers, manufacturers and workers. In order to maintain a healthy relationship with technical objects, we need to become aware of their mode of existence which takes place in three stages: genesis, ensemble and becoming aware.

True nature of human is not to compete with machines but invent "technical and living objects capable of resolving problems of compatibility between machines within ensemble".

When the primitive magical relation between human and the world ruptures, it goes into either technical (figural) direction or to religious (ground functions).

While Simondon argues that “the opposition drawn between human and machine is false and has no foundation” (P.9), I cannot as yet see how is it an urgent matter, since it is quite obvious that by default culture includes technical objects too (old computers, cars, etc.)

To Simondon there are two contradictory views in culture:

TO are pure assemblages of matter, presenting utility;

TO are animated by hostile intentions towards humans.

Operating a machine is different from a master-slave position: “[hu]man is the permanent organizer of a society of TO” that need the human in the same way musicians in an orchestra need the conductor.

What I found interesting here is that he sees technical education as a necessary part of basic education for all humans the same way as basic scientific education. I can argue this, that in the Global South the idea of tech education always bears a bizzare air of potential exploitation of the workers in future as cheap remote workforce. “A child should know what regulation is, or what a positive reaction is, the same way as they know mathematical theorems” (here I may want to look up technical education in the Global South, and any existing policies attached to it, additionally to Jamaican container project, maybe I cuold find more successful projects).

Genesis has three levels (P.21):

1) Element: Climate of XVIII century optimism, the idea of infinite progress, constant improvement of human life.

2) Individual. Anxiety here rises from the idea that machine disempowers humans because it now does their job. Answer to this anxiety is technophile and technocratic excesses of the thermodynamic era - rape of nature.

3) Ensemble. the information theory of 20th century is regulative and stabilizing. “Once technical reality has become regulative it can be integrated into culture, which is regulative in its essence” (P.21)

Thus technicity can be added into culture at different stages in the following ways:

Topic: Tell us again the topic that you are planning to explore.

  My idea is to improve the existing bus stops by placing solar panels that could be used to charge cell phones. This way, I hope to help the commuters especially those who spend their entire day on the road. The goal of this project is to provide solar harvesters that would be use to recharge cell phone batteries given that my country shares plenty of sunlight and solar technology is the only feasible solution that can work here.

   What: Tell us what you learned by exploring this topic

  By working o this topic I learned a great deal about solar panels especially how it works and how useful this technology could be for the future. While working on this project, I learned to analyze social media platform to conduct my analysis on the topic. From the technical aspect of the project, I learned how off the shelf components could be used to facilitate the designing process. I learned to program microcontrollers and tried to use my knowledge to make something that could help people in the long run.

  Where: What city is the student exploring this topic in. The student would include pictures, maps, or other graphics if possible showing the topic in their location. Be sure to cite the image sources.

  This project will take place in Sharjah, U.A.E.

  Figure 1 - Side view of Sharjah Bus stop

Figure 2 - Front view of bus stop

Figure 3 - The closest bus stop is near a roundabout and is mostly used by students

Who: Tell us who you engaged through this project and how you engaged them. Explain what you learned from the people you engaged with

  I conducted a small survey in my university’s facebook page and tried to find what the students have to say about this project. The sample size was small as around 20 people had participated in the survey but most had shown positive approval to the project. Many students have expressed their concerned that such a project would be expensive to implement and that it will be really difficult to convince the local bodies to take such a step.

    How: Explain how you completed the project. Include a discussion of how this project would improve your city.

  Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms and I feel it is a perfect place for to obtain user generated data that would better help me understand what the commuter wants from its public transportation system. Read magazine webpage is also used extensively used by the commuters so it will be easy to conduct survey. The purpose behind this is to understand whether commuters would appreciate and approve the concept of charging cell phone while waiting for the bus. Moreover, people from different nationalities visit this webpage so the data set obtained would give opinions from many people.

  Data Analysis: My first step of analyzing the data is to differentiate and note the different genders using the webpage in order to find out who uses the public transport system the most.

Figure 4 - the raw data from facebook - Readme webpage

In order to filter, I used the modular class function that gave me the density of individual visiting webpage, then by applying filter that differentiate between sexes.

Figure 5 - percentage of males exceed females

From this I have come to conclusion that most of the commuters are males. When we apply force atlas layout, the graph tells us that many people are part of a community which would mean that they would know each other somehow with through work or college.

Figure 6 - different community using the webpage

The analysis of Readme magazine webpage shows that most individuals who use public transport are males and are part of communities which would mean that these commuters’ travels with their friends while going to work or are colleague of one another. This analysis also shows that commuters are in constant communication with one another which means that they prefers to use public transport because of the recommendation from their friends.

Design: Based on my survey, I decided to make myself a prototype to test my hypothesis. I wanted to make sure that my propose solution actually works in the field. By using a 5V solar panel, an Arduino and LCD screen,  I made myself a solar harvester to measure how much power is being generated by the solar cell.

  In my final design, I made an Arduino based solar harvester used to measure the voltage generated by the sunlight.

Figure 7 - Solar Harvester

The purpose of attaching Arduino is to measure the voltage at different interval of time since the weather change from time to time. The Arduino was programmed to sample the data every 20 minutes and the measurement were displayed on the small LCD screen. The result is as follows:

Voltage (V)                             Time(min)

4.8                                                 20

4.8                                                 40

4.7                                                 60

4.6                                                 80

3.78                                               100

3.78                                               120

  Table1- voltage against time - The voltage drops when the cloud covers the sun

As seen from the table the voltage generated by 5V is around 4.8. Solar panels are not perfect and it reflects around 50% of solar light when placed at an angle so getting a 5.0V is very difficult. The sudden drops in voltage are due to the fact that the sun was blocking the sun and solar panels are highly inefficient during cloudy weather.

A mobile battery is generally rated 3.3V which means a single 5V solar panel is enough to charge a mobile battery. Larger solar panels produces more voltages which could be divided among several charging points hence there could be several solar charging point on the bus stop with a larger solar panels.

From these finding I can say with confidence that cell phone charging using solar panels is feasible and a plausible solution to help commuters. The solar energy is free and installation is very cost effective. It might cost less than $15 as the most expensive components are the solar panels itself.

Hyperlapse Barcelona, Passeig de Gràcia

Completed as an assignment for the TechniCity course on Coursera.

Hyperlapse images by Google Street View Hyperlapse tool developed by Teehan + Lax Labs

I have already shared my love of Massively Open Online Classes (MOOC). in my last post. This time I am going to talk about Technicity, an online course that I am currently enrolled at. 

Compare to all the other course that are being offered by Coursera.org, this one is a breeze of fresh air. Because this course really encourage students to think outside the box and suggest improvements that you physically want to see in your neighborhood if no cities.

What impressed me the most is how the course is structured. The course does not rely on equations, charts, and mathmatical models to teach you but instead is a compilation of videos on city planner by industrial giants such as Siemens, which IMHO makes the class more enjoyable. 

The ultimate aim of the course is very simply. Look at your city, identify what you think should be added or remove that would make your and your fellow city dwellers lives easy. You are free to choose anything, I mean anything as long as you include the use of modern technology in your project.

Since I live in a near equator desert country and have been using public transport for many years now, so my idea is to Reinvent the Bus Stop and introduce in it solar harvesting points that would allow commuters to charge up their cellphones while they wait for the bus. For this I am working on a prototype using Arduino and a 5V solar panel to collect data on how much voltage will be produce by the solar panel on different time of the day given that my city shares plenty of sunlight.

NEWS FLASH:   Coursera - Technicity

Geeks, networkers, cyberpunks, code cowboys, and city planners may enjoy this free class taught by Ohio State University's Jennifer Evans-Cowley and Tom Sanchez

About the Course

We are part of the 'TechniCity'. The increasing availability of networks, sensors and mobile technologies allows for new approaches to address the challenges that our cities face. The way we understand cities is undergoing sweeping transformation, right along with the analytical tools we use to design our cities and the communication tools we use to engage people. Absorbing, studying and understanding the role of technology from a critical viewpoint allows us to generate creative ideas for improving our cities.  This course begins by examining how our cities are changing. We then jump into how technology is used to engage with the public to support decision-making. Students will be examining tools for analyzing the city. Then we move into exploring the infrastructure that makes the real-time, technologically-enhanced city possible. And rounding out the course is an exploration of entrepreneurial urbanism, looking at how creativity can spawn technological innovation. You'll hear from technological innovators and thought leaders about all of these topics. You can learn more as this course develops on  Dr. Evans-Cowley’s blog

Navigating through an endless array of technologies, that now distant notion of naturality becomes increasingly unrecognizable. As ways and means come and go, it appears as if that most primal relationship to the ground abstracts into total obscurity. Uprooted and possibly usurped by technological relations, we dwell somewhere slightly above an earth now obfuscated by concrete surfaces.

Even now, in this halfway relation to soil, we are perplexed in our proposals of a pure notion of The Natural. Here, we hesitate to think forth into just how far removed we are from means un-technical, and the danger of knowing no other way. For, it is remarkably dangerous to found a relationship upon the structure of one-way and one-means, which in its singularity, encompasses the whole of certain livelihoods.