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.
system
Environmental impacts of Appropriate Technology: The system boundary
In rural development, health becomes a critical issue. As a means to improve their quality of life, rural people have applied technological solutions; however, many technologies impose high environmental impacts, meaning that rural health would be affected both in near and far futures. Due to local limited circumstance in rural communities, Appropriate Technology (AT) emerges as a comprehensive solution with less environmental impacts. Thus, research on environmental impacts of AT has become an emerging field of study. In such kind of research, positioning is taken into two different focuses: impacts imposed in AT usage, and complete overview throughout life-cycle. Both are founded on the understanding to put AT for having less environmental impacts by design. Therefore, the system boundaries incorporate all phases of AT life-cycle. There are three groups of observation, each with different observed phenomena. General overview is provided to understand each phenomenon. The positioning become foundation of observation, and the system boundaries act as the precise basis of calculation.
