People and Electricity

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  • + steveportigal Steve Portigal 7 months ago
    This is a great presentation, I wish I had heard you give it since I’m sure there’s lots of good details that you’d be filling in. I like the closer look at something that is in the background and the emphasis on variations globally that really bring those assumptions to light. As well as the historical perspective that also illustrates contrast. I think a few years ago I came across a badge on a fence in Redwood City, CA that featured Reddi Kilowatt (sp?) the 50s-era mascot for the electrical company; a very different branded relationship with a utility than we have now in US.
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People and Electricity - Presentation Transcript

  1. people and electricity nicolas nova - liftlab ENSCI, Paris - October 2008
  2. what I do: observing practice, usage and reprensentation
  3. what is electricity for us?
  4. magical spin / the electrical fairy
  5. what is behind the power plug is unknown and mysterious
  6. formula: electricity as we learned how it is
  7. bills: electricity as we learnt how it can be materialized
  8. a difficulty to name electrical phenomena • “Scientific”: AC/DC, units (watts, volts), electron/ current... • Nature: thunder, lightning... • Generally easier to use artifacts (lamp) or functions (most important roles: heat and light, then cooking, cleaning and using media) • Sometimes the infrastructures help: production (power station) and circulation (cables) • Intangible till electrocution
  9. let’s observe how electricity is mediated through artifacts
  10. front-end: electrical appliances
  11. front-end: power plug/adapters
  12. front-end: electrical switchgear and meters interface with electrical infrastructure (control and consumption, measure the $ through a number often found to be unlegible by people)
  13. front-end: electrical switchgear and meters actually a mapping of the spatial environment (each button corresponds to a certain place in the home)
  14. each button corresponds to a red square
  15. in some countries switchgear are outdoor! depending on the culture, theyʼre not at the same place and not always “protected” (e.g. indoor in France, outdoor in Canada). Electrical consumption is then more public and less personal.
  16. back-end: underlying infrastructure we don’t see at home
  17. back-end: underlying infrastructure we don’t see outdoor PROJECT DATE
  18. the need to “reveal” electricity
  19. electricity revealed by warning signs
  20. revealing the infrastructure Peruvian house that actually reveals the electrical infrastructure from the meter to other house parts with white paint.
  21. aging infrastructures “The world constantly decays. Moisture gets in. Damp hangs around. Ice expands joints. Surfaces wear thin. Particles fall out of suspension. Materials rot. Insects breed. Animals chew. All kinds of wildlife war with all kinds of fabric. Humans make errors.Each process of dilapidation does its special harm and releases new ‘wastes’” Graham and Thrift
  22. accident / problems • Problems feel important if they last more than a day. • Leads to strategies, bricolage • Foreseeable (too many devices at the same time) or unpredictable (lightning strike) • Explicable and not explicable
  23. intriguing practices
  24. night life of electrical appliances approximately 15% of peopleʼs electricity bills can be saved if these lights were switched off.
  25. but blinking lights have a role too enable people to get a concrete sign of activity for their artifacts
  26. protection (for kids) in south korea
  27. stealing electricity hacking the electrical infrastructure in South America
  28. electricity ownership the airport in Brussels prevent you to “steal” electricity
  29. electricity ownership in this french bar you have to pay 1 euro to plug your laptop in
  30. modular electricity: batteries to power your home devices
  31. take aways • A complex domaine, diversity of usages • Invisible, hence mediating objects (bills, switchgear, infrastructures...) • Electricity is represented subjectively and contextually • Design opportunities: sustainability (consumption regulation), security, visibility (reveal the invisible)...
  32. producing electricity merci nicolas@liftlab.com

+ nicolas novanicolas nova, 7 months ago

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