db+Study+Components

Work that aims to not only understand a social phenomenon, but also do productive and creative work, requires immense planning, help from a variety of people, and careful execution. While a key aspect of both critical making and participatory action research involves intense negotiation and collaborative work with the intended participants at an early stage, it is also crucial that the lead researcher be familiar with the critical literature they hope to contribute to and be in dialog with. That is why the Spring and early Summer of 2013 will be spent collecting and reviewing literature on direct action, consensus decision-making, mesh wifi networking, alternative economies, and community-led urban planning. This will run parallel to initial fieldwork in all three sites where technologies of public space are found. Conferences on independent media, Internet freedom, and local economies will provide context for the “state of the art” in many of the relevant fields. Conferences already attended include the Theorizing the Web conference at the CUNY Graduate Center and the Freedom to Connect conference in Silver Springs, Maryland. Initial interviews with open source developers will not only provide technical support for initial pilot phases of the WiFi mesh network, but also establish a rapport with the larger open source networking community. Future conferences include the "Changing the Climate" convergence held at the Sanctuary and the Critical Making panel at annual Society for Social Studies of Science

A combined four weeks of fieldwork in Kumasi, Ghana have already been conducted during the summers of 2011 and 2012. During that time, data was collected on condom purchasing habits and possible locations for condom machines. Off-the-shelf condoms machines were tested in pilot locations around the city of Kumasi. Three RPI engineering students have spent a total of three months across two years in the field, testing equipment and evaluating the area’s capacity for vending machine production and parts supply. Additional fieldwork and a fully working prototype built from local parts is expected in the summer of 2013.

Planning and design meets of Freedom Square are scheduled through 2014. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with citizen participants and planners. Most people that will be interviewed from mid 2012 through 2015 will have been introduced to the researcher through initial meetings and community presentations. Design meetings and collaborative work will be punctuated by interviews that cover and recap existing working relationships and future expectations.


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Games and critical thinking exercises that help non-experts give substantial input into network design will be developed in consultation with other critical makers, commotion wireless developers, and game designers. In the Fall semester of 2012 I conducted an Independent Study titled “Community Wireless Theory/Practice” with Dr. Branda Miller, professor of Media Arts at RPI and Arts and Education Coordinator at the Sanctuary for Independent Media. During that semester I worked with Sanctuary volunteers to set up a “mesh” Wi-Fi network using the Open Technology Institute’s (OTI) Commotion Wireless software. A mesh Wi-Fi network relies on multiple points of access to blanket a wide area in a single Wi-Fi network. An antenna is currently broadcasting “Troy Community Wireless,” making it one of the first installations of the Commotion Wireless software without the direct assistance of OTI’s staff. I have conducted interviews with OTI’s field analyst and technical director. Through the Sanctuary I also have access to the Vice President and Director of OTI, Sascha Meinrath. In the coming year, I and Sanctuary volunteers will help conduct beta testing of new versions of the Commotion software in collaboration with OTI’s core production team. I aim to use OTI’s case study in Red Hook, New York as a model for my work in North Central Troy (OTI 2012).