In common engineering educations, the idea of technological appropriateness is only learned in as part of a specific learning subject, which results in a siloed understanding. On the other hand, liberal arts deliver unique ways to learn something through subjects that have an indirect or almost no relationship with it. It gives an opportunity in which the abstract meanings of appropriateness might be learned based on interconnected understandings. This article aims to discover the opportunity to learn Appropriate Technology from the perspective of liberal arts. It would be useful for engineering educators to deliver a wider coverage in understanding technological appropriateness without giving excessive numbers of specific subjects to students.
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Technological solution for vulnerable communities: How does its approach matter?
Vulnerability is an emerging term for both scientific communities and practitioners. Vulnerabilities attributed to a particular community are then aggregated to state it as a vulnerable community. Vulnerability-related study is recognized as an interdisciplinary one due to the complex characteristics of vulnerabilities in each contextual situation. In common understandings, technology is recognized as an interdisciplinary solution, making it possible for supporting any activity in eradicating vulnerability. This study aims to observe such possibilities. Literature survey is taken to investigate the interconnection between vulnerability eradication and technology. Brief comparison between several developing countries and particular focus on Indonesia become a medium of further investigation to reveal issues surrounding technology-related efforts for vulnerability eradication in vulnerable communities. The study reveals that developing countries, particularly Indonesia, tend to adopt approaches from Northern hemisphere, including transferring technologies from developed countries without proper propagation. It means that local knowledge and power are largely ignored in the pursuit of local problem solving for vulnerability eradication. These facts become a signpost to emphasize that approach in implementing technological solution for such purpose is the critical mechanism to ensure the success in every contextual situation. Then, looking at the results of this brief study, its emphasis indicates further requirements to shift the paradigm of typical community development to contextual community empowerment in order to ensure the continuity of every technological solution for a consistent eradication of local vulnerabilities, including possible changes of required approach alongside the shift.
Design and technological appropriateness: The quest for community survivability
The extent of exposure to which a societal group is possible to fall into a critical condition or crisis is defined as the vulnerabilities embedded in the group. Vulnerability eradication is then characterized as having particularities in each circumstance. The eradication effort addressed to a vulnerable community with situational limitations is becoming interesting to study. Technology, as an interdisciplinary solution, is potential to be a powerful solution for the eradication. Although vulnerability eradication has been widely discussed, the discussion is rather fragmented that compiled in historical way. This study aims to analyze the quest of community survivability through technological appropriateness and design. Information are gathered from literature to be properly ordered based on the position of each phenomenon in history. Facts are compared and contrasted to deliver clear understandings on the chronologies. The historical explanations indicate that the pursuit of technological appropriateness was tightly related to the rising of technological independence in Southern hemisphere. Also, design methodologies were developed to address challenges in each own time frame, yet each one has its own benefits and disadvantages; hence engineers need to carefully choose appropriate methodology to produce an “appropriate” technology. Then, this study gives a notion that the quest is still waiting to have further development of design methodologies for AT.
New article in Sustainability
A new journal article titled “Design Methodology for Appropriate Technology: Engineering as if People Mattered” has been officially published in Sustainability journal, volume 5, issue 8, pages 3382-3425. Sustainability journal is a Scopus-indexed journal, and tracked for the next release of Impact Factor from Thomson Reuters. It is published by MDPI A.G., an international publisher headquartered in Switzerland. The article is published based on Open-Access scheme, meaning that it is publicly available for free download.
Design methodology for Appropriate Technology: Engineering as if people mattered
Since the emerging of its idea circa four decades ago, Appropriate Technology (AT) had been proven as a comprehensive solution in a limited condition. However, practitioners & academia have different opinions with engineers on how an AT must be designed. Researchers had noted the crucial factors in the issue as such, and they gave a notion of the urgency for a dedicated design methodology for AT. This study, therefore, aims to provide it. Such methodology is developed by incorporating AT characteristics, fundamental issues in community empowerment, and the principles of existing design methodologies. The methodology emphasizes combination between bottom-up and top-down design approaches. It means that an AT must be started purely from local conditions rather than given technical specifications, and be given back to local people to be seamlessly integrated into their routines. It also underlines the crucial importance of community involvement throughout design stages. By looking at previous design methodologies that were developed based on pure Engineering Problem Solving (EPS), this study delivers a fresh and comprehensive one that covers surrounding issues and concepts to produce an AT based on the real meaning of technological appropriateness.
Materials selection in Appropriate Technology: Four focuses in design thinking
Appropriate technology is widely recognized as a good solution in providing alternative technology for underdeveloped people who live in a very limited circumstance. However, it is often seen as an idea without clear explanation from engineering perspective. One of critical process in appropriate technology design process is materials selection. This study aims to provide applied logic for selecting materials in the design process. The logic is constructed by surveying previous notions from researchers. Reasoning techniques are explored by using design thinking. This study reveals that there are four focuses which must be applied to find sufficient materials for an appropriate technology. This study also concludes that, unlike pure engineering efforts which tend to substitute materials given in a technology design with locally available ones, appropriate technology start from existing resources to produce its design. It requires soft selection by involving local people in exploring any potential materials which already available in their own area. By looking at previous studies which tended to ignore the contribution from local people in exploring potential materials, this study turns it back and encourages insights for further research around it.
New article in European Journal of Sustainable Development
A new journal article titled “Seven pillars of survivability: Appropriate Technology with a human face” has been officially published in the European Journal of Sustainable Development (Eur. J. Sustain. Dev.), volume 2, issue 4, pages 1-18. This paper belongs to a special issue publishing selected and peer-reviewed papers from the International Conference of Sustainable Development (ICSD) held in Tirana, Albania. The EJSD is published by the European Centre of Sustainable Development, an emerging regional scholarly community headquartered in Italy.
Seven pillars of survivability: Appropriate Technology with a human face
There were evidence for the inappropriateness of just three pillars of sustainability when engineers have attempted to construct appropriate technology for underdeveloped communities. Engineers from developed countries have tended to conduct technological adaptations by treating communities as objects, rather than engaging them as subjects of development. As objects, communities could not decide what they wanted to be and were even forced into systematic development that was more likely to benefit the developed countries. However, as subjects, communities can determine their own sustainability and achieve survivability. In this study, seven pillars of survivability are outlined: technical, economic, environmental, social, cultural, judicial, and political. The first three are tangible aspects, and the last three are intangible. The social aspect is the intermediary, the bridge to emerging technological appropriateness. Tangible aspects can be measured numerically, whereas the intangible ones cannot. The tangible and intermediate aspects are what engineers must address, and both the intermediate and the intangible ones are what they must address specifically to diffuse appropriate technology into local daily routines. Tiers of technological appropriateness are also provided to understand the position of a designed appropriate technology in terms of survivability levels. A holistic approach that takes these pillars into account will empower communities to reach self-survivability beyond sustainability.
New article in Procedia Environmental Sciences
A new journal article titled “Community empowerment through Appropriate Technology: Sustaining the sustainable development” has been officially published in Procedia Environmental Sciences, volume 17, pages 1007-1016. Procedia Environmental Sciences (Procedia. Environ. Sci.) is published by Elsevier B.V., one of the world’s biggest international publishers headquartered in Netherland. The guest editors for this issue are Dr. Nuki A. Utama, Benjamin C. McLellan, Dr. Hagus Tarno, Dr. Suharman Hamzah, Dr. Arif Bramantoro, Dr. Apip, and Dr. Agus Trihartono. The article is released based on Open-Access scheme, meaning that it is publicly available for free download.
Community empowerment through Appropriate Technology: Sustaining the sustainable development
Rural communities are the major entities in developing and third-world countries. While outsiders want to develop local community, they should develop the local conditions and sustain the result. In order to get sustainability among rural communities, technology become a booster to reach it. However, the success rate of many community development projects result only compare between “before” and “after” condition of technology implementation. Furthermore, when its result reaches sustainable condition of community development, many communities cannot further maintain as well as develop their sustainable development because low level of empowerment. This paper attempts to develop conceptual framework how to reach the sustainable development in a community which is strengthened through the implementation of appropriate technology in order to reach empowerment. The framework will be constructed through literature survey and then combined with several sample cases to provide a comprehensive discussion. This paper concludes that empowerment is the next shape of sustainable development. Three stages of community development are revealed. Appropriate technology can be positioned as the bridging point in reaching empowerment of rural communities. By looking at previous efforts which treat sustainable development as the final purpose of community development projects, this paper give new lights how to reach beyond it. Empowering rural communities, sustaining their sustainable development.
NGO as Triple-Helix axis: Some lessons from Nias community empowerment on cocoa production
Community empowerment is one of the main purposes of development in developing countries. While development only result in a ratio between the ‘before’ and ‘after’ condition, empowerment can keep the continuity of the development through the good relationship between related parties, in terms of knowledge production and field application. Since the parties in community empowerment are tightly related with Triple-Helix model, Non-governmental organization (NGO), as a non-profit organization in community empowerment projects, should catch its opportunities as the axis of those three helices. The case of Nias community empowerment on cocoa production presents some lessons which seek to illustrate the links between parties in a community empowerment project. While each of three helices makes its movements by itself, NGO fill-in the gap in interactions between helices as well as interaction among sub-entities in each helix. The convergence between helices builds opportunities for each connection, so it is analyzed carefully through internal information to find the most appropriate relationship in the field. By focusing on the gathering of new thought of the Triple-Helix approach, this paper proposes a simple model as the initial step to develop new applications of the concept, then emerges a new thought that Triple-Helix can be implemented in wider phenomenon among societies, and give opportunities for further research around it.
