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.
technological appropriateness
Communities move to the center of the design process in a newly proposed methodology
Philosophers of design have been calling on humans to move to the center of the process for years, and now the maxim is formally encoded in a guideline for making appropriate technology. In “Design Methodology for Appropriate Technology: Engineering as if People Mattered,” Corinthias P.M. Sianipar at the Institut Teknologi Bandung in Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat province, Indonesia, and an international team of collaborators have drafted a plan for designing culturally appropriate solutions in developing countries.
