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- Convenors:
-
Sebastien Shulz
(IFRIS, Université Paris-Est)
Aurélien Béranger (Costech Lab, Université de Technologie de Compiègne)
David Flacher
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- Format:
- Combined Format Open Panel
Short Abstract:
From self-assembly cell phones to 5G telecommunications towers, construction kits are emerging as a significant force in technology co-production. We propose to explore the political and sociotechnical challenges of what we term the 'kit economy' through a practical workshop and two academic panels.
Long Abstract:
From self-assembly cell phones to objects created in makerspaces utilizing digital technologies like 3D printers and laser cutters, not to mention the recent 5G telecommunications towers, the role of construction kits in the co-production of technologies is increasingly prominent. We propose to discuss the emergence of what we term the 'kit economy.'
While the concept of a 'kit economy' may appear clear-cut at first glance, it gives rise to substantial economic, technological, and political issues. Construction kits seem to play an ambivalent role in the broader transformation of production concerning the design, manufacturing, and maintenance of technical objects. On one hand, they seem to enhance productive capitalism by accelerating material flows through streamlined supply chains and capturing consumer-generated value. On the other hand, they open up new avenues for knowledge dissemination and distributed manufacturing, paving the way for more ecological and collaborative modes of production. Despite the significant issues it raises, the implications of a kit economy remain relatively unexplored in the field of science and technology studies.
This combined open panel format aims to explore the theoretical and practical implications of the kit economy in the co-production of technology. The first panel will feature academic papers that have conducted fieldwork across a broad spectrum of activities related to technological kits, such as designing, documenting, marketing, assembling, and recycling. The second session will take place at, or in collaboration with, a fablab in Amsterdam (Waag Futurelab), involving academics and practitioners in a hands-on workshop for the construction of an actual technological kit, as a collective ethnographic exercise. The third panel will conclude by welcoming academic papers on political and organizational implications, contributing to the development of a theoretical framework for the 'kit economy'.
Accepted contributions:
Session 1Sebastien Shulz (IFRIS, Université Paris-Est) Aurélien Béranger (Costech Lab, Université de Technologie de Compiègne)
Long abstract:
The concept of the "kit economy," where users play a crucial role in the co-production of technological goods, holds a significant place in today's technological landscape from self-assembly cell phones to objects created in makerspaces utilizing digital technologies like 3D printers and laser cutters, not to mention the recent 5G telecommunications towers. Its origins can be traced back to anarchist philosophies advocating for cooperative production as a mean towards a democratic economy. Despite its historical depth and contemporary relevance, Science and Technology Studies (STS) literature has largely overlooked the kit economy, focusing instead on public action, participatory science, and grassroots innovation, coproduction, leaving technological co-production by non-experts as a blind spot.
This communication proposes to address this gap by developing a typology of kit economy forms, based on two primary dimensions: the level of user involvement on one side, and the intent to transform or optimize the production system on the other. Our analysis aims to map out how user participation in the kit economy varies along these dimensions, shedding light on the diversity of practices that encompass both democratic engagement and technocratic approaches to technology co-production.
By applying this typology to French case studies, we seek to demonstrate the applicability and relevance of our classification. Through this examination, we contribute to a broader understanding of the implications of user involvement and transformative perspectives in technological co-production, enriching the STS literature in general, and that on co-production in particular.
Solène Tixadou (Le Mans University (France))
Long abstract:
The split between globalised production systems and the Western consumer market is a phenomenon which, coupled with metropolisation, has fostered the illusion of a dematerialised urban economy. In contrast, cosmolocalism and commons-oriented peer production (Bauwens & Kostakis, 2014) aim to relocalise the material, what is 'heavy', and foster the exchange of data, what is 'light'. The Fab City concept, coined in Barcelona in the early 2010s, has drawn on these ideas to develop a vision of ‘locally productive and globally connected’ cities and regions (Diez Ladera, 2016). In the fifty cities that make up the international Fab Cities network, fablabs are at the heart of the dissemination of technological innovations that aim to bring about structural societal change, such as the spread of the use of 3D printers.
Following a theoretical approach – a critical reading of technical progress and the resistance to it (Jarrige, 2016) and pleas to ‘conviviality’ regarding tools and objects (Illich, 1973) – this contribution will look at the German case of the company InMachines. As part of Fab City Hamburg, this company manufactures 3D printers and other machine tools in kit form for fablabs and makers' communities. A study of the company is planned for spring 2024, with a view to uncovering the logics and objectives at work in this initiative, particularly in its relationship (more or less reflexive) to technology, in the impact it has or tends to have on local communities in Hamburg and in its integration into the wider Fab City project.
Tomasz Jaskiewicz (Hogeschool Rotterdam) Iskander Smit (Cities of Things foundation) Peter Troxler (Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences)
Short abstract:
This paper discusses how shared prototyping, specifically through the "Wijkbot kit" for urban robots, can democratize AI and robotics. It highlights the potential of prototyping kits in engaging the public with complex technologies, fostering an inclusive approach to future technology development.
Long abstract:
The rapid advent of emergent technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics heralds significant societal transformations. However, their complexity, opacity, and monopolization by large corporations pose substantial challenges for public and regulatory control. This paper explores how shared prototyping practices can contribute to democratising such technologies. presented work is grounded in Dewey's philosophy of “learning by doing” and “research through design” approach where prototypes are seen as means for learning and knowledge generation. In the paper we investigate the “Wijkbot kit”, a tool designed for the rapid prototyping of full-scale autonomous urban robots . It serves as a case study to investigate the qualities and dimensions of using prototyping kits for infrastructuring public engagement with near-future technology, under the emblem of “civic prototyping”. Through this lens, the paper aims to contribute to the discourse on how prototyping kits can facilitate a broader understanding and democratization of complex technologies. It argues for the strategic use of prototyping kits as a means to bridge the gap between emergent technological innovations and public engagement, thereby fostering an inclusive approach to the design and development of future technologies. This practice of accessible creative prototyping offers individuals the means to shape the role of technology in fostering what is termed as “democracy in the small”, hence rendering the fixed roles of (design) researcher and the test subject completely fluid. The creative prototyping helps understanding the contemporary things that combine surface-level simplicity with back-end hidden complexity.
Emile Devereaux (University of Sussex) michael duncan (singularitynet foundation)
Long abstract:
Recent cuts to public healthcare synchronize with the increasing popularity of at home telehealth systems and the distribution of medical kits, designed and packaged for the easy collection of blood, faeces, and other body samples. The UK-based co-produced medical study zoe.com, for example, represents these broader socio-technical transformations in healthcare through the ‘kit economy’. With the tagline, “Science for every body,” zoe.com markets biosensors, AI data, and mobile phone app technologies to both collect data at the core of their scientific research and to deliver a personalised app product for paying participants.
How might we design future directions for the co-production of medical kits that involve human participants, particularly for life extension studies? This paper assumes a shifting terrain for citizen science: one in which participants are paying to provide data for the development of science and a de-centralised science based on a blockchain model aims to counteract threats of data ownership by private companies. The materiality of the kit provides a welcome tangibility for AI narratives based on data calculations, caught up in media spectacles of the attention economy. Possible kits involve the crowd sourcing of potential therapies, transferring models from animals to humans, testing combinations of materials considered safe, and organoid studies.
Emile Devereaux has thirty years’ experience in digital media and socially-engaged interventions; more recently in participatory design approaches with bio-sensors and maker technologies. In collaboration with Mike Duncan, Computational Biologist and Chief Science Officer at Rejuve.bio, the duo are currently developing responsible AI data frameworks.