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Do I need this, here, now?
- 1. DO I NEED THIS, HERE, NOW? A talk for the Geek Girl Conference, September 2014 Anjali Ramachandran PHD UK, Ada’s List @anjali28, @PHD_UK, @adaslist #GGM14
- 3. “Very few people go back the other way and live like their ancestors because the future has more choices and possibilities, and—in the end, given everything else about technology—that's what technology gives us, too. That's why we keep making this stuff. It's not really to sell more things. Yes, it's about selling things, but primarily what we're doing with technology is we're inventing new possibilities that did not exist before.” #GGM14 @anjali28
- 5. #GGM14 @anjali28 Do I need THIS? (Cool new thing vs. cool new useful thing)
- 8. #GGM14 @anjali28 Do I need this, HERE? (Cool new useful thing in London)
- 10. #GGM14 @anjali28
- 11. #GGM14 @anjali28
- 12. #GGM14 @anjali28 Do I need this, HERE? (Cool new useful thing in London vs. cool new useful thing in Lagos)
- 14. #GGM14 @anjali28 CUTTING OUT THE MIDDLEMAN
- 15. ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN NEW WAYS #GGM14 @anjali28
- 16. What ubiquitous technology is doing is changing what is possible #GGM14 @anjali28
- 17. But technology needs to overcome constraints to be successful #GGM14 @anjali28
- 18. Do I need this, here, NOW? (Cool new useful thing in London/Lagos in 2014 vs. cool new useful thing in London/Lagos in 2020 vs. cool new thing in London/Lagos, EVER) #GGM14 @anjali28
- 19. #GGM14 @anjali28
- 20. #GGM14 @anjali28
- 21. #GGM14 @anjali28
- 22. On technology and social capital “It seems that on average, because of the distinguishing feature of interactivity, the Internet is qualitatively different from the television in that its main function is not so much one of passive entertainment. At least in some areas of social engagement, the main function of the Internet seems rather one of active information and communication – which the Internet provides in an individualized form at any time – that is conducive to social interaction.” #GGM14 @anjali28 - Bauernschuster, Falck, Woessmann (2011)
- 23. adaslist.co adaslist.co/join #GGM14 @anjali28
- 24. Thanks! Anjali Ramachandran PHD UK, Ada’s List @anjali28, @PHD_UK, @adaslist #GGM14
Notas do Editor
- What is technology? We’ve always had it and we know how it changes, and with it how we progress as human beings.
- When I was asked to speak at today’s conference, the work of one of my favourite writers came to mind. Kevin Kelly, founding editor of Wired magazine and the former publisher of the Whole Earth Review spoke in his most recent book What technology Wants about the technium - ‘a word to designate the greater, global, massively interconnected system of technology vibrating around us. It’s a brilliant book that traces the history of technology, of us as people and how we’ve interacted with various kinds of technology. He says we create our own problems because of our interaction with some form of technology - as ancient as the wheel. And we use technology to solve these problems as well. So we have a choice between the two and as humans, we tend to go with solutions which tip the overall balance in favour of progress over time. I tend to agree with this.
- In as much as there are people who complain about attention deficit disorder and the like, and yes that, and trolls, are real problems, I’m confident that we’ll rise above it in the long run. 4chan probably isn’t going to be shut down any time soon, even if the Emma Watson story was a hoax, but the sheer number of people - men, women, media outlets even - who are rising up against people who troll talented women writers, gamers, celebrities is rising - that’s why I’m optimistic.
- I think it is incumbent upon us all now more than ever to be mindful of technology even as we use it. It is very easy to get lost in the flow of doing things - of checking email, stalking people on Facebook, announcing things on Twitter, communicating with your team on Slack. It’s important to stop and take stock every now and then about the relationship we have with technology and what it is doing for us that makes us better. Because that is the ultimate goal, right? It can be small things. When I realised that having my mobile phone next to my pillow was affecting my quality of sleep, I created a self-imposed rule to never bring it in to the bedroom at night. It’s been 2 years now and it’s working pretty well. Of course I wish I had that level of control in other areas of my life, but - small steps, as I said! Ask yourselves this, then: DO YOU NEED THIS?
- Do you really need that connected watch? The Apple Watch has surprised many people’s expectations of the technology that can be packed in to a watch. I’m not enamoured by it at all, even if it is a really good piece of design. I got the Pebble, I got a Nooka, I have a Fuelband - they’re all great in different ways but none have lasted because all I really need is a very basic device to tell the time! In short, it isn’t for me.
- And do YOU need this is very different from do THEY need this, they being an alternate group of people who in all likelihood live very different lives from you. This is where technology can make a tremendous impact on the lives of people who do not have the same access to resources that you might. Project Mudra is a great example of this: It is a Braille dicta-teacher built using Raspberry Pi and Arduino by a couple of Indian students. Existing resources apparently assume previous knowledge of Braille, and this teaches Braille by voice, thereby bridging a gap that was previously unaddressed.
- The next thing I think is important for us to consider is what technology means to us in our specific situation. Do we need our washing machines to message us when the laundry is done? Consider Cloudwash, a prototype for a connected washing machine. I can see some use, personally, for it in some parts of the world - in New York when I lived in a building where the laundry room was in the basement I could have certainly used that for example. But in London most flats and houses have their own washing machines, so I don’t see the value here.
- Do we need fire alarms to be more sensible (Nest), for a way of going through the barriers that doesn’t involve rummaging in a bag for a wallet that has your Oyster card (Fin)? Yes, I can see uses for all those things, as a Londoner.
- And of course one basic thing that still hasn’t been sorted yet: for self-service machines in the supermarket to be more intelligent (unidentified item in the baggage area)!
- But in a different context, these things are probably not much use at all
- But every time I go back to India to visit family, I realise how pointless all those developments would be in that environment. No tube barriers, no fire alarms in the house. Connectivity isn‘t as robust on average so that’s a priority instead - internet.org, project isizwe, brck. Governments (India, Independence Day).So no market for Nests and Fins - not a viable one yet anyway, I’m sure they’ll get there. But people have mobiles. Everyone does, pretty much - people in rural areas have mobiles where they might not have a TV or the internet. So mobiles are sorting out problems - from cutting out middlemen (M-Farm, Sokotext, e-Choupal) to providing solar energy where electricity doesn’t exist (M-Kopa Solar) to allowing refugees to text back their needs to the WFP (Geopoll) to even monitoring foetal heart beats in local hospitals (Winsenga).
- Scanadu is making diagnosis of diseases almost magical - when I first show this video to people they laugh - but if you think about it holding something up against parts of your body to figure out what’s wrong with you is quite a natural behaviour (holding hand against forehead, holding thermometer in mouth) so holding a device against say an arm rash isn’t that strange from a behavioural point of view). There’s something about making people perform the role usually performed by doctors and nurses that makes them laugh - uncomfortably, it would be seem. So it isn’t going to be mainstream soon - and it is going to rub up against regulations, so those problems will have to be sorted out. Are the inventors going to be held liable if something goes terribly wrong when someone uses it wrongly, for example? There are societal constraints that need to be considered even if technology itself - the ability to actually build this - is not a problem at all. That’s where a lot of innovation stalls, actually. It stalls because people don’t correctly pinpoint what kind of constraint they’re up against, and therefore what they need to overcome.
- Some things will probably never really have a role to play – let’s be honest!
- Back to what I said at the beginning - technology is without doubt important and life-changing in many ways. I’m not saying one lot of these technologies is better or worse than the other. But given that we will always see new technology, given that we are living in the technium as Kevin Kelly puts it, I think there is an ever bigger onus on us today, when we are assaulted by technology in ever-increasing forms - Moore’s Law and everything - to check in with ourselves every now and then to remind ourselves who the master is, what the tools are, and what we’re trying to achieve alone and together as a society.
- I will leave you with a few thoughts on what I think is one of the most important ways technology has certainly changed my life over the last few years. Over a decade ago I did my Master’s dissertation on social capital, the benefits that derive from interaction and cooperation with and between groups. Things have changed vastly since the 1970’s when Robert Putnam wrote his seminal Bowling Alone. He claimed that technology and mass media were passive entertainment channels that encouraged the creation of narrow focus groups that never branch out.
- But subsequent research indicates that ubiquitous technology brokered by the internet is actually good for social interaction. Technology has supercharged the creation of social capital today like never before.
- Ada’s List, where over 700 women now participate online sharing thoughts all the time, asking questions, helping other women get jobs, learn about new projects and tools and getting more visibility for all of us is one such community and it is amazing to see the different nodes of this network grow stronger by being a part of it. I invite all of you women in tech to join in.