Mark just let me know that the first of the Situated Technologies pamphlets, our Urban Computing and its Discontents is now available from Lulu. It can, of course, be downloaded for free, or you can spring fifteen bucks and get it as a rather nifty POD book.
And again, don’t forget our launch party for the series, 14 December at the Architectural League, 457 Madison Ave between 50th and 51st Streets. Hooah.
Did “Urban Computing and its Discontents” get pulled from Lulu?
Only temporarily. Have a look back tomorrow – and please accept my apologies for the hassle.
No apologies needed. Thank you for following up.
Erg, how frustrating, I really want a copy. I actually only found your post and explanation after digging around a bit. Someone should really put something here explaining that it’s not available yet. I know that’s probably not something you’re responsible for, but if you know the parties who are… perhaps a word would help. ;~)
hehe got it already ;)
It seems to be back online.
Adam, how does the desire for “participation”, as opposed to “just showing up”, gel with the 1:10:100 idea that 90% of people are content just to show up? Even if 1:10:100 is only a semi-useful fiction, (why) are you privileging “participation”? Isn’t there something to be said for “just showing up”?
Mark seems to disparage just showing up (p42) but his examples could be seen as delegations of agency instead of dis-engagement.
To me, Ben, everything depends on the context.
In order to function as intended, democracy requires a certain amount of engagement on the part of its citizens – a certain minimal effort toward understanding issues, policies, positions and so forth.
And I feel like this is relevant to the UC discussion because so many of the latent patterns brought to light by nominally “participatory” projects – patterns of air pollution, for example, or street crime – have real implications for those whose presence generates the data. There’s a political dimension here that simply isn’t being fully acknowledged and dealt with.
So in this regard, I very much *do* have a problem with “just showing up.” There are many words you could validly use to describe a milieu in which the actions of 10% of the population shape the options of the remnant 90%, but one of them isn’t “democracy.”