Sustainability Citizenship and Technological Practice

1. Sustainability Citizenship and Technological Practice Ellen Foster MS/PhD: Science and Technology Studies Research Sites Center of Gravity (Troy, NY) – The Center of Gravity in Downtown Troy is a shared space where paying members can use communally owned tools and machinery in the process of fabrication and material ‘hacking.’ It was recently opened and launched during the winter of 2012. They also have workshops open to the public for a small fee. The Hacktory(Philadelphia, PA) – The Hacktory is located in downtown Philadelphia and, like the Center of Gravity, is a shared space for like-minded individuals to gather, share tools and resources to fabricate and remix old technologies. It has a focus on the interplay between art and technology. PLOTS (Online Community) – The Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science is an Online community based with a focus on civic science. They have built a community that shares kits and open source (non-proprietary) designs of technologies that citizens and participants can use in their own local communities for weather and environmental monitoring. Abstract and Timeline This study will enhance understanding of how amateur technical practice can be organized to animate critical political insight and sustainability vision. Through observation and analysis of diverse sites of amateur technical practice, the study will characterize how different types of technical practice, skill sharing, and social interaction shape the way practioners think about broad social responsibilities and possibilities. The study will contribute to scholarly understanding of the ways civic values take shape in particular contexts. Results of the study can also help orient initiatives to create skill sharing spaces in museums, schools, neighborhoods and other public venues. The research for this study is in the preliminary and planning stages, although some beginning collection of data has been gathered. Due to this, the field sites may be subject to change once more initial data is gathered. Problem There are a myriad of makerspaces and hackerspaces popping up across the country and even the world, but how well and how effectively is the energy going in and coming out of these spaces being utilized? Currently there is an emphasis on making cool gadgets and using ‘makerspaces’ as sites of entrepreneurial innovation, which is fruitful but may have little to no positive effect on the local communities in which they are situated. Might at least some of this technical practice energy focus on a critical political insight toward bettering the immediate communities? There is a great need for meaningful scientific engagement of communities, and availability of resources, which ‘makerspaces,’ ‘hackerspaces’ and skill-sharing centers may have a large impact upon. Addressing the Problem This problem may be addressed through further engagement of skill-sharing communities and guiding them to become better involved in their local communities. Through this engagement, community skill-sharing sites can explore the greater issue at hand -- that the public is not positively engaged with utilizing or transforming technology for their benefit or more specifically with using technical practice to address problems in their local communities. It is through emphasis on a critical technical practice and critical making strategies for engagement that greater societal issues may be addressed. Research Questions What modes of making and innovation are at play and what motivates them? What is the intention behind different ‘makerspaces’ and skill-sharing communities? What modes of Citizen Science or Civic Science are at play and what motivates them? Is there an overlap with Critical-Making practices? Do local regimes of making contribute to a Technological Citizenship? How might they better do this and what issues might they address? Participant Observations These observations will be conducted by the main researcher, over 2 years. She will spend varying amounts of time involved in the communities to gain a deeper understanding of social interactions and individual motivations and a general sense of the community space and how it works. These observations will also help to situate these groups in the greater context of the greater communities in which they are situated, virtually and physically. This will help to better understand their visibility or invisibility to these communities and their engagement of local issues. Interviews Participants who have a long-standing history of involvement in a particular site of study will be asked for interviews in order to gain a deep understanding of how it is organized, the original intention behind starting the space, how it has evolved over time and the possibility for future projects. Workshops Workshops will be conducted by the researcher, but will be a joint effort of design and execution with the particular ‘making’ or skill-sharing community in mind. They will be formatted to focus on critical-making and participatory design techniques with a focus on engaging problems in the greater community and possible solutions. Key Findings This study is hoping to demonstrate that there is possibility for these spaces to engage their local communities and gain greater visibility by taking on societal problems, especially those particular to the communities in which they are situated. It also hopes to show that critical making and participatory design practices have a great potential for civic science practices and honing in on the issues that really effect local communities adversely, and the ways in which technology and science may be employed to ameliorate these problems. Research significance The findings in this study will contribute to scholarly knowledge in the realm of sociology, anthropology as well as certain design practices. Mainly, it will contribute to the field of Science and Technology studies. It also hopes to contribute to explorations in public engagement of science and work towards a sustainable future. Societal significance This study hopes to further expand critical mindset within ‘makerspaces,’ ‘hackerspaces’ and skill-sharing community centers in a way that could have great social impact. While it lauds the current trends and efforts to motivate and empower individuals to make and skill-share, it seeks to expand this practice for further social impact, particularly in the realm of civic science and addressing pressing sustainability, environmental and other sociotechnical concerns within local communities that could have great global consequences.