Neighborhood Planning of Technology: Physical Meets Digital City from the Bottom-Up with Aging Payphones

What does it mean to “plan” a technology?  Designs with a footprint in public space are important hybrids, including wired bus stops and rebuilt payphones.  Our goal is to shift from designing technology for a neighborhood by planning technology as part of the neighborhood.  Aging phone booths were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of community informatics 2014-11, Vol.10 (3), p.56-70
Main Authors: Stokes, Benjamin, Bar, François, Baumann, Karl, Caldwell, Ben
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ageing
Community
Digital divide
Literacy
Neighbourhoods
Technology
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Summary:What does it mean to “plan” a technology?  Designs with a footprint in public space are important hybrids, including wired bus stops and rebuilt payphones.  Our goal is to shift from designing technology for a neighborhood by planning technology as part of the neighborhood.  Aging phone booths were purchased in LA’s historic Leimert Park.  For six months, residents joined with technologists to tackle a planning issue (gentrification).  We developed a method of “deep engagement” to sustain grassroots planning in socio-technical systems, especially around the digital divide.  The method resists “solving” the payphone problem, and instead theorizes engagement as four social scaffolds to bring technology literacy into the planning process.
ISSN:1712-4441
1712-4441
DOI:10.15353/joci.v10i3.3444