Timeline Winter 2016 Appropriate Technology

Timeline for Appropriate Technology, Design, Winter 2016 – Activities subject to change. Please check 48 hours before class.
See the quarters Reading Questions

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

SHOP: For just the first week, meet for shop at the hangar shown in attachment below. Make sure you wear long pants and close toed shoes. All subsequent shop classes will be in Bonderson. Lastly, please read through the entire shop webpage before the first shop class: Mustang Shop Safety

hangar.png

Wednesday: Creativity. Please see these videos:
TED: Gever Tulley,
Please read about the winners of the USAID award, and then read about the rest of the awards.
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
Monday: We hope to define project groups please read
Lauren Wilcox: Tech Design,
Schumacher: Small is Beautiful
in class: What you expect from a group.
Begin Intervention #1 – Don’t throw anything away for a week.
Shop MONDAY is in the hangar. Subsequent to that, shop will be in Bonderson. Please note below where the Bonderson Shop is for shop this week.
Bonderson.png

Wednesday: Decision Matrices, divergent and convergent engineering.
Don’t Throw Anything Away! and log your week long saga on our Self Intervention Webpage
Peter Keller Talks about AID Africa: People and the Technology.
(1) Prepare for Peter’s visit by going to their website: http://www.aidafrica.net/and reading what they do and watching the short video.
(2) Peter has also requested that you read through and see the video on this website: Gates Foundation Big Bet
(3) On working in groups: IDEO, Rapid Prototyping

Please also read:
1) http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/from-the-white-house-incentives-to-innovate/ make sure you read the last three paragraphs
2) Bill Gates Drinks Poop Extract
3) see this video: How I make a new Webpage
4) See a decision matrix template based on a my design for the outdoor shower at my house.

By midnight, Saturday night, Jan 16: Establish your group’s website, complete with a picture of your group having fun.

Something to think about: Peter Keller expressed interest in achieving the following technical solutions, so you might want to consider taking on this challenge if you are not sold on your project:
1) Make insulating bricks from clay and rice husks – the problem is that the rice husks are too big, so you will have to first find a way to grind them. This project has been picked up by the rice huller / improved stove group already.
2) Make an industrial sized improved efficiency stove for a company or hospital for instance.
3) How do they continue drilling a water bore hole after they hit a rock? At present, they just move over and start drilling again.
4) Could you make a skirt for the pots they put on their improved stoves? This would allow you to increase the efficiency much more and also allow you to vent the exhaust out of the house altogether, making the home much cleaner and cooler.

Week 3
Monday no class, but on Tuesday, we still have shop at Bonderson!
End Intervention #1 – What can we do with all this stuff?

Wednesday:

Wednesday, March 19, Bhoj Rai gives talk.

visit my house. Before coming, please see the following two videos:
1) my house
2) Story of Stuff
Petes house.png

Week 4: Who are we Designing for?
Monday: Meet at the SEF, Student Experimental Farm
SEF.png
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

Wednesday
1) Bill Gates’ $1000 toilet Only 1 reading allows time to design your presentation… prototype.

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

Website update due Sunday night, midnight

  • 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
Monday –
1) By class Monday, send me an Email describing how you are getting on in your group. pschwart@calpoly.edu. Are you happy? Is everyone doing their share of the work to your satisfaction? Is everyone’s voice being heard? Respected?
2) Read how D-Rev is changing the game and reaching new audiences
3) Watch MASS’s campaign “Beyond the Buildings
In class!: Bhoj Rai, US Peace Corps Recruiter gives presentation and discussion about his experience.

Wednesday:
1) UN Development Goals: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml
2) Then read the new Sustainable Development Goals. How are they different from the MDG? Here’s what Solar Cookers International Says about the Difference. Come to class ready to discuss, and identify you favorite goals and why you think they’re so nice.
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, 2015) on Upworthy
In class: Expanding your Problem Statement.

Week 6 Fail Early, Fail Often
Monday:
Bring into class a statement addressing a “problem”. Why was this a problem?.. “because of it I couldn’t do xyz”… what is special about xyz?. Why is this a problem. Please follow this back to your fundamental priority or value. Then consider how to examine your fundamental priority. Do this for a personal experience and also do this for your group challenge.
Read Fail Early, Fail Often this is geared toward software engineering. Please understand the purpose of low fidelity prototypes, medium fidelity prototypes, and high fidelity prototypes.
Tom Kelly: on observing
Tom Kelly: Fail Early, Fail Often (Treat Life as an Experiment)
and http://www.economist.com/node/18557776
Mariah presents her senior project: Women in East Africa (her village in Uganda)!
Please watch video about Hospital in Uganda
and another about a school

Wednesday:
1. Read why Tech adoption fails so many times – but read the other article first.
(Kind of a heavy text but there are only a few pages so do your best!)
2. Empathy in Design
http://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/news/pdfs/Empathy_on_the_Edge.pdf
-empathy in design leads to problem solving
3. Please read what I’ve written on your website. Move any statements I make in red to the bottom of the website and continue to make edits.
In class
Roger comes to discuss global societal change and all other topics!
After Class Begin our Empathy Self Intervention: Consider a time when you are dealing with another person and you recognize that you are regarding them as “the other”… whether it be in a conflict, or in amusement, contempt, lust or whatever. See if you can empathize with them – how are they seeing the world? Describe this process and how it might transform your interactions with them.

Week 7
Monday – No Class,
TUESDAY! Cal Poly follows a Monday Schedule, Shop after class.
1) Tom Kelly: on the art of being creative
Read about Takachar: http://takachar.strikingly.com/ and see the video with great music.
2) Read about an important lesson we can learn by keeping an open mind.
3) Plan what your group is going to do during shop.
4) Did you record your Empathy Self Intervention?

Wednesday – Acceptance of Change
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
Read about Happiness Reflection in China I added this a little late, so you can have class time to read it.
You can watch this whole video or start it at 2 minutes and 10 seconds to just watch the part on Jevon’s Paradox
Pete’s Commentary on Jevon’s Paradox
Post your Empathy intervention on the intervention webpage.
Also consider: define second self intervention – do you want to do it as a group?

Week 8
Monday – Second Presentation/Design Reviews
(1) Please watch this video: EWB_Failure_restructuring
(2) Please present 5-10 minutes with your hardware. Be prepared to present failures and successes and lessons learned. This should include communication issues with the group.

Wednesday
(1) Read: Peace, Security, Development and the Environment
(2) Please guess what % of the US national budget goes to foreign aid, then please read NPR’s article about it
(3) Please bring in your Sustainability, Footprint
(4) Please see Guateca Information Video and Guateca Music Video
(5) Post second (Empathy) intervention before midnight on intervention page.

By Midnight, Saturday Night, Please update your website for feedback.
Week 9
Monday
I don’t have many readings today – Just work on your projects and websites, and see this article about Nitrogen, that I thought fits nicely in with our discussion about food choices. Please read the article and take the Nitrogen Footprint Survey – Link in the article.
In class, we’ll talk about the article, I’ll finish the Guateca Failure Talk, and we’ll work on the projects.

Wednesday: Application of Applied Technology
Skim this long article as we will talk about Wednesday
Steph Fellows will come to this class and requested you consider and answer these questions:
1) How has your perception of poverty changed throughout the duration of this course?
2) Do you think introducing technologies to communities in need of them is a long term solution to the poverty trap?
3) Are you more or less hopeful that you will see the end of extreme poverty during your lifetime as a result of this class?
4) Has your engagement with the world around you changed because of something you’ve learned or been exposed to in this class?
5) What’s one way you can utilize practices from the applied technology field into your daily life? Personal or professional.
6) Did you feel like you were challenged to leave your comfort zone this quarter? If so, what was/is the result?

Here it is (higher than I said): 33.5 lbs of nitrogen waste.
Pete's Nfootprint.png

Week 10
Monday: Work on final presentations
Enter your idea for your final (3rd) self-intervention on the intervention website (accessible from the main class website)
Ok, just two short readings that we can talk about… what makes it an appropriate or inappropriate technology?
Read this and be prepared to answer the question “can design save the world?”
Also, I noticed that Steph talked about Toms Shoes… I read this on March 3 in NPR: Toms at the Oscars

Contact information:
Steph Fellows: fellows.steph@gmail.com
Roger Burton: rogersburton@gmail.com

Wednesday:
Final written exam (posted on main Web Page) in class and course redesign.
Post third intervention before midnight on intervention page.

Finals Week – New and Different Final Exam
Potluck and Final Presentation: Monday 4-7 PM at the SEF – Bring a meal, bring a friend if you like. Make sure you bring a plate and fork or chop sticks or whatever.
At present, we’re planning on having the final presentations at the SEF. If it rains, we’ll have it in the classroom. As of Tuesday, March 8, they are predicting rain that morning, but likely not in the afternoon. Please check back here Sunday evening to see what the plan is. In any case, I think you’d be well advised to be prepared to present in either venue.