<div dir="ltr">Dear Paul. et al,<div><br></div><div>if you go to the Engineering for Change website at <a href="https://www.engineeringforchange.org" target="_blank">https://www.engineeringforchange.org</a> and then click on news the E4C reference to the paper - Appropriate Technologies in a Globalizing World: FAQs should show up. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Otherwise, you can read the paper which is exploring the tension between technological appropriateness and well established cultural norms by clicking on: <a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=06763244" target="_blank">http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=06763244</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>Here are a few of my reflections on AT in a Globalizing World and the E4C program which you may find interesting:</div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">It appears to be associated with the cross disciplinary HESE program (Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship) at Penn State Un where 3 staff and/or students have recently published a very insightful interrogation of the increasingly out of date tenets of Gospel of AT according to the previous generation of abstract technology visionaries, designers and development activists such as Fritz Schumacher, Ivan Illich, Bucky Fuller, Murray Bookchin, and many others. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Crispin did you read this article yourself or only recommend that I should read it on your behalf. I think it should be shared with the WB CSI team ASAP. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">My quick take on the thrust of this insightful and strangely constructive critique of the venerable Tenets of AT was that the last 30 years has necessarily exposed the technical and political short comings of the counter-culture critique of the urban industrial Western society – fixated in the era of 60’s and 70’s – when a motley band of young counter-culture scientists, engineers, and community organizers in Europe and the USA set out to radically transform or even reverse the dominant Euro-American urban industrial ('bigger is better') paradigm of progress.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">The AT’ers of that time were attempting to envision and materialize the ‘return’ to smaller, simpler, and more human scale technologies of production, DIY houses, self help energy and water systems, community centred economies, and affordable/sustainable infrastructure that equitably empowered the low income majorities and villagers of the Planet. The counter-culture ‘techies’ of that generation sought to radically change the struggle for progress at home and in developing countries by moving away from the centralized technologies of mass production and urban centred mass distribution that today dominate Western industrial societies. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">The proponents of a more ‘appropriate’ technology within the reach of low income families and communities – who constitute the global majority “at the bottom of the pyramid” - emphasized the need for a <b>drastic paradigm shift</b> from cities, super highways, shopping malls, and the technologies and energy systems required to mass produce and distribute the products to which a westernized global middle class was increasingly accustomed. The AT’ers proposed to replace the urban industrial paradigm of efficient (cost minimizing) mass production and consumption “for all” with what Schumacher once called the values and visions of the ‘home comers’. These back-to-the-land ‘home comers’ were the off spring of Helen and Scott Nearing and Mahatma Gandhi who imagined and also demonstrated the possibility of creating a human scale society in which millions of villages and billions of rural and township dwellers would be technologically empowered by AT devices which - when combined with accountable and transparent local self-government – were believed to have the potential to generate full employment and prosperity for all. Gandhi persuasively argued long ago that what the emerging world system most needed was <b>production by the masses in the villages</b>, not mass production by a small urban work force (proletariat) with the unemployed becoming functionless ‘drones’ who become the playthings of urban elites, planners, politicians, engineers, scientists, and corporations. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:12pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:12pt">The gospel of AT according to Schumacher and Gandhi attempted to correct the failures of big science and technology operating at national and global scales of consciousness, operation, standards, costs, and social and environmental impacts. It radically reconfigured all technology for development solutions and initiatives to prioritize the interests of the mass of humanity at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP). Instead of the urban elites and their institutional agents, the AT paradigm called for privileging the following objectives, variables, and interests in the search for optimum development solutions:</span></p>
<ul type="disc" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:15px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">the world views and moral imperatives (values) of villagers, tribes, farmers, and small town dwellers , </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:15px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">the craft skills and culturally encoded ethno-science needed to conserve and manage the nearby environment, and</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:15px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">the creation of full employment equitable distribution of wealth and opportunity within local and regional economies</span></li>
</ul><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">In retrospect, the tenets of AT emerged from the effort <b>to democratize the benefits of science and technology</b> so that all interest groups and constituencies within that society will have equal opportunity to apply the world S&T knowledge base to help them create a customized technological vehicle or substructure that – within the S&T limits – faithfully expresses and – within the funding and capacity limits of the implementing team – actually advances the social interest and cultural patterns of particular civilizations and ethnic communities. <i>What happens when the indigenous spiritual, cosmological and ethno-science ‘capital’ – values and meta-models of reality – have access to the same S&T power and resources at the disposal of DuPont, Apple, or Microsoft?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt">
<font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3">Although the conflation of development with the Americanization and Europeanization - really the Westernization of the majority at the BoP - is still after nearly 50 years confusing theorists, policy makers and implementers, the brave tenets of AT attempted to lay out a number of dimensions of technology assessment that over the last 30 years has helped to differentiate between follow-the-self appointed-leader style "westernization" and more appropriate development which is deeply rooted in the indigenous culture, ethno-science and environmental conditions. </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt">
<font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3">If anybody is interested I will send them a historically interesting Appropriate Technology Checklist compiled long ago (1976) by Jerry Yudelson and Lyn Nelson when they worked for the first and possibly the last State (California) Office of Appropriate Technology under Gov Jerry Brown. I have taken the liberty to revise this eclectic technology assessment methodology over the past 35 years while here in South Africa ... but nobody in high or low places seems to be interested in its potential here or any where else I have recently worked as a stove anthropologist. </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3"><br></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3">Yudelson and Nelson captured 20 big Technology Assessment dimensions and reduced them to easy 'indicators of appropriateness'. These 20 critical dimensions and about 100 indicators were created to assist </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"></p><ul><li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">distracted politicians, </span></li><li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">busy government officials, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">specialized scientists, </span></li><li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">tunnel visioned technology designers, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">profit sensitive manufactures, </span></li><li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">sales oriented distributors and retailers, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">community minded NGO gooders,</span></li><li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">big funding agents trying to serve the abstract common good, and </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">the ultimate end users of any technos/device who gradually figure out how to optimize their</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium"> multiple cultural, communitarian, economic, environmental,etc. interests and preferences</span></li>
</ul><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">to </span><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3">perform quick, comprehensive <b>'back of the envelope' assessments </b>of the relative appropriateness of competing technologies on offer to perform necessary tasks and infrastructure services. I see no reason why such an AT Checklist cannot be adapted and adopted for use to differentiate between and rate candidate stoves in terms of their relative appropriateness for particular end users in particular cultures, communities and environments. </font><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3"><br></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3">In service,</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3"><br></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3">Cecil Cook</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3">TechnoShare</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3">South Africa</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p></div>
<div><br></div><div> </div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 7:12 PM, Paul Anderson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:psanders@ilstu.edu" target="_blank">psanders@ilstu.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div>Crispin,<br>
<br>
I have tried several times on different days and I am not able to
access this site. Can you assist? I assume others have had the
same difficulty.<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
<pre cols="72">Doc / Dr TLUD / Prof. Paul S. Anderson, PhD
Email: <a href="mailto:psanders@ilstu.edu" target="_blank">psanders@ilstu.edu</a>
Skype: paultlud Phone: <a href="tel:%2B1-309-452-7072" value="+13094527072" target="_blank">+1-309-452-7072</a>
Website: <a href="http://www.drtlud.com" target="_blank">www.drtlud.com</a></pre><div><div class="h5">
On 4/24/2014 11:55 AM, Crispin Pembert-Pigott wrote:<br>
</div></div></div>
<blockquote type="cite"><div><div class="h5">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">THE
BIG DESIGN QUESTIONS: IS TECH APPRO-PRIATE IF IT VIOLATES
CULTURAL NORMS? <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><a href="https://www.engineeringforchange.org/news/2014/04/13/the_big_design_questions_is_a_technology_appropriate_if_it_violates_cultural_norms.html" target="_blank"><span style>https://www.engineeringforchange.org/news/2014/04/13/the_big_design_questions_is_a_technology_appropriate_if_it_violates_cultural_norms.html</span></a></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">“</span>Culture
is dynamic and should not be museumified.”<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">This
is of course relevant to stove design and performance.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Always
ask Big Questions!<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Regards<br>
Crispin<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<br>
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