Timeline, Winter 2015

Rough Timeline for Appropriate Technology, Design, Winter 2015 – Activities subject to change. Please check 48 hours before class.

Week 1
Jan 5, Monday: Personal Introductions, Introduction of Focus Groups, prepare for Red Tag Shop Test

Jan 7, Wednesday: Creativity. Please see these videos:
TED: Gever Tulley,
IDEO, Rapid Prototyping
Also, please create an account for this wikispaces website with username: “firstname_lastname”, such as mine: Pete_Schwartz. Then enter your name on the main class website by one or more projects you’re interested in and do some research. You should be prepared to state something that you learned and/or are interested in.

Week 2
Jan 12, Monday: We hope to define focus groups please read
Lauren Wilcox: Tech Design,
Schumacher: Small is Beautiful
in class: The design process, then forming groups
Begin Intervention #1 – Don’t throw anything away for a week.
Shop this week is NOT in the Hangar. Please note below where the Bonderson Shop is for shop this week.
Bonderson.png

Jan 14, Wednesday: Decision Matrices, divergent and convergent engineering.

Don’t Throw Anything Away! and long your week long saga on our Self Intervention Webpage

We will likely close the Tuesday morning shop section. Would this adversely affect you?

Please read:
The projects in the last two years of this class:
Appropriate Technology For The World’s People: Design, Winter 2014
Appropriate Technology for the World’s People: Design: Winter 2013
as well as the projects for this past fall’s theoretical class:
Development, Fall 2014

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/from-the-white-house-incentives-to-innovate/ make sure you read the last three paragraphs
Please read Bill Gates Drinks Poop Extract
in class: How we make a decision,… and lie to ourselves. Confirmation Bias

By midnight, Sunday night, Jan 18: Establish your group’s website, complete with a picture of your group having fun.

Week 3
Jan 19, Monday no class
Jan 20, Tuesday, Cal Poly follows a Monday Schedule, Shop after class.
Read about Takachar: http://takachar.strikingly.com/.
1) See the video with great music.
2) Go to the blog and read the “lessons from the field”, which are accessible from the links at left. In particular Lesson from the field 1, and Lesson from the field 2
3) Plan what your group is going to do during shop. We have an activity for the first hour.

End Intervention #1 – What can we do with all this stuff?

Jan 21, Wednesday, visit my house. Watch videos about “Our Natural Capital”:
my house
Story of Stuff
Petes house.png

Thursday, Jan 22: There is an upcycling workshop at SLO MakerSpace

Week 4: Who are we Designing for?
Jan 26, Monday
See Paul Polak’s Talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezVxt7TkyeM
Who is Paul Polak? and What book did he write? What was his original career?:
Paul Polak Wikipedia
See the video here and know Paul’s 12 Steps? Do you agree with all of them? Paul Polak’s 12 steps
Paul Polak’s “Don’t Bother Trilogy”: Do you agree with them? Are there others you may think of?: Paul Polak’s “Don’t Bother Trilogy”
Please read this statement about appropriate technology and see the video below it if you like. Please answer the question: Why is appropriate technology dead? (in Paul Polak’s Opinion), and do YOU think Appropriate Technology is dead?: Appropriate Technology is Dead?
Lastly, please consider: “How is your project consistent or not consistent with Paul Polak’s philosophy?”
More on Paul Polak: See his discussion in Seoul. Unless you are fluent in Korean, you may want to just listen to Paul’s answers at 2:45, 7:00, and 9:40. Paul Polak Digital Forum Seoul

Jan 28, Wednesday
Just one reading: Bill Gates’ $1000 toilet so you can have more time to prepare your 2 Minute Presentation on your project
Please include (if appropriate):
1) Problem statement
2) Brief Description of the People and Area you are addressing.
3) Some constraints and/or resources that pertain to the implementation.
4) A design matrix

UN Development Goals: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml

Website update due Sunday night, midnight, Feb. 1:

  • Problem statement and constraints
  • Decision matrix decision matrix template
  • Description of your target community
  • Research you’ve done
  • Your efforts in shop and what you’ve made – see last year’s websites for inspiration.
  • Any other update
  • Pictures of your group – with names and contact information if you’re willing to share it

Week 5 Design/Development Firms
Feb 2, Monday
Read how D-Rev is changing the game and reaching new audiences
Watch MASS’s campaign “Beyond the Buildings

Feb 4, Tuesday: Products
HEY!!! The questions from the quarter’s quizzes has been posted. Link is on the main page.
Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kskOwhF1HIo on design medical solutions
Read: Why Finnish babies sleep in boxes
Be familiar but don’t stress the details on: Clean cookstove models: and water purification designs
For those of you interested in women’s health, specifically menstrual and feminine care, check out this cool article that came out today (Tuesday, Feb 3rd) on Upworthy

Week 6 Fail Early, Fail Often
Feb 9, Monday
Read Fail Early, Fail Often
and http://www.economist.com/node/18557776

Feb 11, Wednesday:
Read why Tech adoption fails so many times
(Kind of a heavy text but there are only a few pages so do your best!)
Also consider: define second self intervention – do you want to do it as a group?

Week 7
Feb 16, Monday – No Class, No Monday Shop
BUT – Please Consider taking the CLA+ Assessment (it’s not today, but you can think about it today). The *POWERS* indicate that this will make you more employable and you can win money (Oh, it’s our society’s carrot, no?)… So please check out the link and see if it makes you happier.

By Tuesday night, midnight: post your moderate fidelity prototype on your website! We will be looking for it.

Feb 18, Wednesday – Acceptance of Change

Roger comes to class to talk.

5 steps of grieving: Kübler-Ross model
Pete adds talk about Happiness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJGrXgd-jxk
Read about Bhutan’s Happiness index
Read Jevon’s Paradox
Read Helicopter Invitation
See second half of Video on Jevon’s Paradox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23-s7MhZcTU
Professor Laura Hoseman promotes her Spring glass LAES 411
Roger’s Email: rogersburton@gmail.com

Week 8 Roger’s Email: rogersburton@gmail.com

Feb 23, Monday
Please do a google search for “Hand Pump Sustainability” and see what you come up with.
Please watch this video: EWB_Failure_restructuring
Visit from Pamela Crane-Hoover, Director of Programs at Lifewater
Post second intervention before midnight on intervention page.

Pamela from LifeWater’s Email: pcrane@lifewater.org

Feb 25, Wednesday.
Class at the Student Experimental Farm
Read: Peace, Security, Development and the Environment
Please guess what % of the US national budget goes to foreign aid, then please read NPR’s article about it

SEF.png

Pramod Parajuli’s Visit
Pramod Flyer.jpg

Week 9
March 2, Monday
Guest discussion facilitated by Pramod Parajuli, please see flyer above.

March 5, Wednesday: Application of Applied Technology
Second Presentations / design reviews
Read: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_bop_beckons/
and http://www.ssireview.org/pdf/2006SU_feature_Voelcker.pdf

Week 10
March 9, Monday: Work on final presentations
Read this and be prepared to answer the question “can design save the world?” If that link doesn’t work copy and past this url:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/big-idea/16/little-packages

March 11, Wednesday:
Final written exam in class

Finals Week
Potluck and Final Presentation: Wednesday 4-7 PM