MAKING MEANING

MITALEE PARIKH MDEF 2019-20 IAAC + ELISAVA + FABACADEMY CONTENTS

Summary Area of interest and weak signals...... 1 Area of intervention and description of your intervention...... 5 State of the art...... 9 Interventions (Term 1 and 2) and reflection on their results...... 11 Future scenarios...... 19 Designing in emerging contexts: COVID-19...... 21 Hyper-local / Hyper-Global...... 23 Project and personal identity...... 33 Projecting interventions into the future...... 35 Final Reflection ...... 39 SUMMARY

This study is an inquiry and exploration into how we make things by gaining in- sights into how we buy, use and sell things.

After the industrial revolution, manufacturing processes have become so efficient that mass-producing things has become faster and cheaper by the day. The technologies we have developed have a way of keeping up with our imaginations. The question then is - what futures do we imagine? We have systems for mass customisation using automation as well as making machines for markets of one, so how we make things that make sense and add value to the world, is an important part of the exploration.

The systems and patterns of capitalism, consumerism and consumption that have shaped the Great Acceleration are evident not only as climate change but also in social and economic equalities, human health, and relationships with other species. Our relationship with objects has changed way beyond their intrinsic value and our aspirations attached to owning things. Influenced by the psychoanalytic methods used in advertising and propaganda, this exploitative nature of the systems that we have created are now failing us.

My aim through this research is to deconstruct or reduce the value of a thing to its core and then re-attach a meaning to it in a way that it accounts for the intangible positive as well as negative impact it creates in surrounding spheres.

The first part of the study is about understanding what we have put out there, what it’s like to make our own things, and what it means to live with the minimum. It focuses on the fast moving consumer goods industry, because cleaning prod- ucts, soaps are used by everybody all over the world, and they are bought again and again.

Learning from the mistakes of the past industrial revolutions, progress and growth need to be redefined by how the peripheral conditions have affected our planet and how we have come to build the Anthropocene. Designing and making for the long term must not only balance it’s own systems but also make amends for the past. Natural resources can not be treated as infinite and free anymore. The direct relation between shorter product cycles and increased waste make redesigning not only objects, but systems, cultures, habits for a just future inevitable.

The second part of the study deals with more specialised manufactured objects like electronic parts, and explores the possibilities of being self-sufficient in a mar- ket that is majorly dependent on global supply chains.

Finally, adapting to the new constraints created by the pandemic situation the final part is about using the advantages of distributed open source design and the power of distributed local manufacturing to add value to society.

“ Designing for emergent futures needs inquiry into not only why we The study concludes with a model/framework to make meaningful interventions in do what we do, but also and especially, how we do it. ” the world and understand what it means to make things that make sense. AREA OF INTEREST

INTEREST FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING / production technologies & circular models CONCERN CULTURE OF CONSUMERISM / consumption and capitalism

AREA OF INTERVENTION HOW WE MAKE stuff < > HOW WE USE stuff

Hack into the patterns and models of consumption, consumerism and capitalism to redesign the future of manufacturing and production.

The advancement of mechanical and digital technologies has made production of things so efficient, that buying new things has become easier, effort-wise and cost-wise, than maintaining, repairing, or fixing broken ones. We throw away a whole, instead of repairing a part. Because buying just a part is more difficult and sometimes impossible. By buying the whole again, we create more demand. And that increases supply. Building in quantity is cheaper to make and cheaper to buy. More things = more waste, more energy, more imbalance. The advancement of capitalism and its narration has made human aspirations connected to buying and owning things. (ref: work of Edward Bernays, Century of the Self, all modern advertising campaigns) Climate-emergency, land-fills, plastic waste are all proof of the imbalance.

Possible experiments / personal research areas: FINDING CONNECTIONS by studying the area between

MAKING < > USING History and future of making - man- The mindless habits and patterns ufacturing - production - distributed of consumption - consumerism in a design - distributed manufacturing - bits cultural context in different parts of the to atoms - global / local - mass cus- world - sociology and consumerism , tomisation, digital optimisation - mega politics and capitalism, economic evolu- factories - consumer = creator = main- tion of capitalism - social status - cheap tainer = destroyer - industrial revolutions - convenience - observe & document 1/2/3/4 - circular models of economy buying habits of self or others - niche - product life cycle evolution - logistics - practices like minimalism, the tiny globalisation - deconstructing practices house movement, zero waste lifestyles, - deconstructing projects that attempt decluttering - Innovation is born out of similar interventions necessity - define (un)necessary Making Meaning

1 2 WEAK SIGNALS

Life in the times of surveillance Designing for the anthropocene After the Nation State Contextualizing AREA OF INTERVENTION using an ATLAS OF WEAK SIGNALS capitalism Climate Conscience Making world Governance The weak signals serve as a lens to inquire about my INTEREST and CONCERN. Attention Protection Inter-species collaboration Rural Futures Dismantling Filter Bubbles Long-termism Pick your own Passport Some signals are directly relevant, while some may potentially connect, and some Circular Data Economy Carbon Neutral Lifestyles Refugee Tech Truth Wars Fighting Anthropocene conflicts Welfare State 2.0 are favourable as by-products of the intervention. Redesigning Social WEAK SIGNALS: ReDESIGNING FOR THE ANTHROPOCENE Life after AI - the end of work kill the heteropatriarchy

Technology for equality Non-heteropatriarchal Innovation Make for the LONG TERM Fighting AI bias Non-western centric futures with CARBON NEUTRAL LIFE CYCLES Imagining new jobs Reconfigure your body Making Universal Basic Income Gender fuildity through a system of CIRCULAR DATA ECONOMY work Disrupt ageism using HUMAN MACHINE CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS Human-machine creative collab- oration LONG TERMISM & CARBON NEUTRAL LIFE CYCLES Learning from the mistakes of the past industrial revolutions and globalisation, progress and growth need to be redefined by how the peripheral conditions have affected our planet and how we have come to build the anthropocene. Designing and making for the long term must not only balance it’s own systems but also make amends for the past. The direct relation between shorter product cycles and increased waste make redesigning not only objects, but systems, cultures, habits for the long term inevitable. Ref: Climate Change and Capitalism

CIRCULAR DATA ECONOMY A circular system is better for eliminating waste and the continual use of resourc- es. Data being an asset that also takes up physical space in the way it is stored and transported, and, considering the exponential increase of data in the recent past and the upcoming future, it makes sense to have a circular structure to its creation, use and death.

HUMAN MACHINE CREATIVE COLLABORATION Machines were invented as tools, to make human life better, easier, more efficient. Redefining what machines can and cannot do, keeping into consideration the unfortunate consequences created by exploiting human capabilities and greed, and re-balancing purposes for both man and machine will be inevitable to human and planetary survival in the future.

If we design for necessity, question the necessity. No necessity is FAKE, because things have different meanings to everybody. Necessity is relative - dynamic - attached to meaning - intangible value - what they stand for. Supply - demand is a vicious cycle - people need = companies make more be- The intersection of these cause its cheaper - people buy because it gets cheaper and more convenient… areas defines my potential AREA OF INTERVENTION. taking responsibility for stuff that you make and buy.

Making Meaning Surplus of energy / stuff vs scarcity of energy / stuff - balance by redistribution? 3 4 AREA OF INTERVENTION Further focusing my area of interest, while learning about various subjects through the weeks of term 1. Here are some key ideas that represent my design space. Bits <> Atoms Biology - Digital Fabrication BITS <> ATOMS The Central Dogma of Biology is about the transfer of information to function and matter. From bits to atoms. How can we replicate this in our systems of manufac- ture? Can we program information to build itself into a material or perform specif- ic functions? On the opposite page is a comparison of digital fabrication to the biological phenomena.

MAGIC MACHINES Magic essentially jumps time and effort. A magic machine is a physical artifact meant as a tool for asking questions, inclusion, open exploration, development, Magic Machines etc. This tool can help physicalize ideas quickly to carry out experiments, like the Need-Want experiment -where I asked people to chose between everything they will ever need or everything they ever wanted. This expeiment helped me gain insight into peoples aspirations.

NETWORKS Critically looking at centralised, decentralised and distributed networks helped me make sense of how the world works today in various aspects like manufacturing, economies, logistics, distribution systems. And what we need to make more inclusive societies.

1:9:90 wikipedia has stated that For every 1 creator, they have 9 who engage and 90 Unpacking machines who consume. This imbalance in the creator-consumer can also be seen in the Pyramid of Capitalist physical world. Getting more consumers to participate in the production may lead System to more mindful consumption.

PROPAGANDA The psychoanalytic methods of Edward Bernays, used in public relations and advertising has led peoples’ aspirations connected to owning and buying things. Capitalism as we know it exploits these methods. How can we use it to make change for the better?

ECONOMY OF SCALES While unpacking electronic machines in class, I learnt that creating whole new ob- Need - Want experiment jects has become easier effort-wise and cost-wise than replacing a part or repair- ing broken ones. This has created huge amounts of waste of perfectly good parts or objects. Making large quantities is chaper to produce and more convenient. How can we break this economy of scales?

CAPITALISM - DRIVER OF INNOVATION The pyramid of capitalism shows consumers at the base and corporations at the peak. Why do we need constant innovation in the name of progress? Do people need better things constantly? Who/what drives the need for innovation? Networks THE TYRANNY OF CONVENIENCE Driver for Innovation In pursuit of speed and ease a lot of tools we have developed have made conve- nience even at the cost of the planet and other species more attractive. Dispos- 1:9:90 able waste, packaging, fast fashion are all ways in which convenience is served

Propaganda Making Meaning with no regard to imbalance in peripheral systems. 5 6 Intrinsic DESCRIPTION FOR THE [ in-trin-sik, -zik ] adj. belonging to a thing by its very nature: INTERVENTIONS ANATOMY (of certain muscles, nerves, etc.) belong- ing to or lying within a given part.

Externality [ e-kstə-nali-ti ] Noun, plural: externalities ECONOMICS a consequence of an industrial or commercial activity which affects other parties without this being reflected in market prices, such as the pollination of surrounding crops by bees kept for honey. PHILOSOPHY the fact of existing outside the per- ceiving subject.

Our relation with things has changed from the past. Before the industrial revolu- tion, we used to make everything that we used - houses, roads, food, clothes, tools.

Statistics suggest that if the land mass were divided amongst the whole popula- tion, each person would get 5 acres of land and each person needs 1 acre to grow the food that they consume.* But human capability and seasons allowed that not all people need to farm. Some can do it better, and this freed up other people to do other things - that’s how the first beginnings of art and culture came about. Since every person is better at something different, it made more sense to distribute tasks and then exchange. That is how trade started and that is why it is important. Because not everyone can and should do everything by themselves. With more advancement and discoveries, coal - energy - electricity, transportation came innovation in technology and tools to help people make things easier and in more quantity. The development of currency systems as an intermediary unit of exchange is when we started quantifying the value of things in terms of what they were and what they did. To sell more of these things, we created a narrative around them such that the value assigned to these objects now talked to peo- ple’s desires and not necessarily their needs. Marketing, advertising public rela- tions, all aimed at getting more people to buy more things. With the second industrial revolution, the assembly line manufacturing system, made it so efficient to make things, that they became cheaper and therefore, it became easier effort-wise and cost-wise to buy something new rather than repair- ing something broken.

Our relationship with objects has changed way beyond their intrinsic value and attached to the meaning attached to them by third parties. This system complete- ly ignores the externalities that the things create.

My aim through the interventions is to deconstruct or reduce the value of a thing How can we change the things we make by changing the way we to its core and then attach a meaning to it in a way that it accounts for the intangi- make things? Making Meaning ble positive as well as negative impact it creates in the world in other spheres. 7 8 STATE OF THE ART

Nike’s flyknit technology revolutionized the way Patagonia is a garment comany that takes big shoes are made. By 3D weaving exactly the initiatives to reduce consumption, like that add quantity ofmaterial required, it makes a hugh that urges the public no to buy stuff they don’t difference in a system that would generally pro- need. A commercial entity having strong values, duce a lot of waste. and communicating them has led to a new type of user.

Minimalism is intentionally living Distributed Design Market Platform Precious Plastic is dedi- by removing the distraction of acts as an exchange and network- cated to enabling grass excess possessions so one ing hub developing the connection roots plastic recycling can focus more on the things between designers, makers and the efforts by providing that matter most. market. essential equipment for small scale plastic re-pro- Maker Shaker are automated robot arm that MW is an open cessing and production. mix cocktails. The robot contributed towards access directory of The alternative plastic the upskilling of indivduals to get them ready fabricators, suppliers, recycling system enables for tomorrow’s profession. It is a model for and manufacturers. people to start their own human machine collaboraton and collabora- Phonebloks is an plastic businesses. tive jobs of the future. open-source modular smartphone concept created primarily to re- The MTM project Amazon Go store uses several technol- duce electronic waste. develops machines, ogies, including computer vision, deep modular components, learning algorithms, and sensor fusion to end effectors, frameworks automate much of the purchase, checkout, Leka makes honest and circuits to allow rapid and payment steps associated with a retail food, committed to prototyping of rapid proto- transaction. the environment with typing equipment for use global thinking. in fab labs.

The Tiny House is an architectural and Fab City Global Initiative is enabling this shift away from social movement that encourages living the industrial paradigm of Product-in Trash-out, by a simpler life in smaller spaces. enabling the return of manufacture to cities supported by a Data-in Data-out urban model. A network of cities, The Restart Project encourages and regions and countries that have pledged to work towards empowers people to use their electron- producing everything they consume by 2054. ics longer in order to reduce waste.

The Ordinary is an evolving collection of Zero waste living is Soapack is a student project treatments offering familiar, effective clinical a lifestyle that aims that used vegetable oil-based technologies positioned to raise pricing at reducing waste soap dyed with natural plant pig- and communication integrity in skincare. that ends up in ments to create a collection of By selling un-blended chemicals, it landfills with strat- toiletry bottles, which melt away leaves up to the user to use only what is egies like refuse, once they reach the end of their necessary. reduce, reuse, life. By reimagining disposable recycle, rot. packaging as something of utility, it is a new way of thinking about Refill Station is the first bulk store in Thailand where you can existing systems to reduce bring empty containers of shampoo, shower gel and detergent waste. to refill. that little things that we do everyday can make a change also bunches of various alternative items to reduce unnecessary waste in your daily life. Lush is a cosmetic company that makes vegetarian products with reduced packaging and has a strong core ethics charter. Making Meaning

9 10 INTERVENTIONS (TERM 1 + 2) AND REFLECTING ON RESULTS

Some experiments done in Term 1 and their learnings: Term 1 started with my interest - the future of manufacturing, and my concern - habits, and patterns of capitalism, consumerism, and consumption. How can we make stuff better by gaining insights from how we use, sell and buy stuff? To do this, I focused on the fast-moving consumer good industry. Focusing on cleaning products - soaps, since everybody all over the world uses them, they are bought again and again, in large quantities. And it is essentially transfer of what is mostly water from part of the world to another.

EXPERIMENT 1: WHAT IS AVAILABLE IN THE MARKET. I went to the local supermarket - Carrefour @ Glories intending to take pictures of every cleaning product that they have to offer. I started with one shelf, and not before long I realized this was a massive task. They had thousands of things. Shelves, aisles filled with different kinds of products. I ended up taking panoramic images of the aisles and it still took me a couple of hours to finish the task.

Important insight: a huge variety, too many choices

Why do we have so many different kinds of things to clean? Reducing cleaning to the idea of a soap. How is soap made?

EXPERIMENT 2: MAKING SOAP AT HOME The process of saponification needs only two core ingredients - oil and caustic Trying to document the soda. Everything else put in soap adds additional properties to it. cleaning products’ section I gathered ingredients to make my own soap and discovered that it seemed like a at a supermarket fairly easy process once you have the raw materials and tools. Caustic soda took some time to find. I got it from a friend in another neighborhood. Oil was easily available at the corner shop.

Insights: Soap making has both, an easy ingredient, and a more toxic one. This makes making it at home more difficult. Also the process of boiling oil seemed like a messy activity.

EXPERIMENT 2.5: SPREADING THE HOW-TO KNOWLEDGE I took part in a fermentation workshop at the FabCity Hub. Jess taught a group of us how to make Kombucha and Ginger beer. The process was fairly easy. And very doable. I tried to continue maintaining my starters.

Fermentation Workshop Insight: People do not want to make everything they use themselves all the time

at FabCity Hub Making Meaning even if they can. 11 12 User feedback

EXPERIMENT 3: USER FEEDBACK I asked my MDEF classmates to send me pictures of all the cleaning products they used at home, along with their thoughts about why they bought them. From all the pictures and comments collected I could see common reasons and patterns of why people bought stuff.

Insights: A lot of people bought stuff because of the Price, Packaging, brand-val- ue, eco-value, and their function. Not necessarily in that order.

EXPERIMENT 4: EMBODIED EXPERIMENT I got referred to a company called Dr. Bronner’s. They make a 17-in-1 use soap DrBronner’s 17-in-1 soap that can be used for everything from cleaning the floors, to dishes, to clothes, to bathing shampooing, for pets, etc. I decided to test it out. I used Dr. Bronners for everything I cleaned for a week. Even though it worked I did not like to use the Sourcing Facts same product for every function. 30 uses per bar (120g) Use size (4g) Insights: Conditioning plays an important role in how we perceive objects. This

Foot-print per bar meaning goes beyond their intrinsic function.

Distance 12400 Putting all these lessons together made me question the way we value things. Ingredient sourcing Distance in km* Everything has an intrinsic value - what it is and what it does. Sodium Hydroxide 2000 Everything also has extrinsic value - the way we see it, the stories and meaning Oil #1 200 we attach to it. Oil #2 700 Everything has an impact in peripheral spheres - we usually don’t account for Glycerin 1500 Water 50 these. Essential Oil #1 8000 Total This and That 100 EXPERIMENT 5: REDESIGNING A LABEL This How do you communicate value in a different way? That Can we redsign labels/packaging to reflect new values that are more coherent Magic Ingredient with redesigning for the Anthropocene?

Factory - Warehouse What is the message? Warehouse - Distributor

Distributor - Retailer An attempt at recreating this was a sourcing label, similar to a nutrition label, Retailer - You where the carbon footprint of the object including all its constituent materials can

* Distance in km is how far an ingredient was sourced from. Designing a label for re- be communicated. This proved to be a harder task - as retracing all the intangible Distance from retailer - you is for the end user to fill. cording carbon footprint Making Meaning aspects that go behind the making of the products are imposible to measure. 13 14 Through my interventions in term 2, I wanted to focus on more specialised man- ufactured objects - things that people cannot make in their homes. Like electron- ics. To explore the this, I selected a the FabISP board to explore: The meaning of how we buy - retail, online, narratives, aspirations, necessity, customisation, parts, packaging... The meaning of how we sell - advertising, propoganda, marketing, narra- List of things needed to make tives, logistics, distribution, supply chains, warehouses, inventory the original version of the The meaning of how we make - limits of diy practices, self-sufficiency, FabISP dependencies, tools, assembly, materials, manufacturing techniques, process of design... The meaning of how we use - function, social, political, cultural, environmen- tal, dispose, recycle, death…

The aim is to understand the whole ecosystem that contributes towards capi- talism and consumption, consumerism, production and it’s perpheries like the economy and the environment through an electrical object. INTERVENTION T2 : EXPLORE THE THINGS WE BUY

MAPPING THE FABISP Out of all the raw materials we can buy, to assemble into a product for use, elec- The FabISP tronics are maybe one of the more complex-to-make specialised objects. For this intervention, my idea is to take something complex enough that people can’t make easily in their homes - like electronic components; and map them back to their sources. For this, I use the FabISP as an object to deconstruct into its components and test out how local we can make this.

WHY THE FABISP? The FabISP is an in-system programmer for AVR microcontrollers, designed for production within a FabLab. That is, it allows you to program the microcontrollers on other boards you make, using just a USB cable. Tracing components with their Since the FabISP enables fablabs - a place to make (almost) anything, to pro- IDs gramme (almost) anything, it seems fitting to try to make the enabler, the FabISP itself locally. And going by the local atoms-global bits ideology of distributed mak- ing, I want to test if it is truly possible today.

In the bigger scale of making cities self sufficient, this research is meant to under- stand where we stand right now in making not simple things, but things that need more specialization in terms of knowledge as well as physical components.

PART #1 WHAT WE USE RIGHT NOW. I started by listing down all components that make the FabISP. After some inquiry, I found that FabLabBCN gets all these parts from a Digikey, a thrid party distribu- tor. I tracked down the product parts using the IDs and traced them back to the

Locating Manufacturers Making Meaning country of origin. All parts were made in countries like China, Japan, Taiwan, USA. 15 16 Local context

One difficult thing to do was to determine all the different stages of the supply chain.There were some grey areas between the manufacture, the central digikey warehouse in germany and the delvery to fablab. The middle men were not easy to find.

The next part of the intervention was to explore if it was possible to actually make this board locally wihput depending on global supply chains.

PART #2 (HOW) CAN WE MAKE THIS BOARD LOCALLY?

I talked to Jess and Alessandra because of their experience with distributed de- sign market platform and make.works.

They suggested it was a good exercise to reach out to local manufacturers. And make an article to share this idea with the make.works community through their blog and see how they can help me.

TO-DO#1: Use the makeworks template, modify it and then reach out to manu- facturers.They shared with me a list of electronics manufacturers. When/if they reply, we go and meet them together. TO-DO#2: Make a timeline/plan of action for the project TO-DO#3: Make a write-up of who I am and what/why I’m doing this exercise to share with the make.works community.

Making components is a highly specialised manufacturing process. It was not really possible to find local versions of these components. Is it possible to make these components from scratch? Is it possible to reduce travel distance by changing the distributor?

Making Meaning This exercise was cut short because of the CoVid19 pandemic situation. 17 18 FUTURE SCENARIOS

NATURAL RESOURCES ARE NO LONGER CONSIDERED IN- FINITE. We give back more than we take. All our actions of consumption are regenerative and we are more mindful with what we consider luxuries. Star de- signers and brands no longer exploit aspirations. The fragile economy has made people realise that money matters are not dependable securities. The way they live is totally dependent on how they make/get things for their comfort or needs. Out of everything a person needs, ⅓ rd is made by zimself, ⅓ rd is produced locally as a community and ⅓ rd is produced at faraway geographical location be- cause of its complexity, super-speciality. Similarly everybody participates in making or maintaining common assets.

THE ECONOMY OF SCALES HAS FINALLY BROKEN. Production does not depend on costs but rather is direct to demand. People have to plan and pre-order things they buy. The fastest way to get something is by making it oneself. To make these things, knowledge is abundant and freely available over the open-webs. People appropriate this knowledge and elevate it by using local/ spare materials/objects and crafts.

THE CONCEPT OF TIME HAS CHANGED. Fast food is the worst kind of food. Fast fashion is frowned upon. The old and aged are valued. Things are designed for the long term. And used for even longer, because maintenance is a virtue everybody practices. And repair is a skill everybody possesses. This dras- tic shift in mindsets after the century of abundance was possible because of the dedicated commitment human civilization made to evaluate their actions, systems, infrastructure and things by the peripheral impact they create and not solely on their intrinsic and semantic values.

PARTICIPATING IN PRODUCTION HAS MADE PEOPLE MORE MINDFUL OF THEIR CONSUMPTION HABITS. Daily consumables, food are made in communities. A lot of people in the world turned vegetarian, when they were challenged to kill their animal before they eat them. Hunting remains a right of passage to eat meat. Clothes, and construction are crafted at a local level. These things take time, because everything is produced by order, so as to keep no waste inventory. People therefore plan their need in advance, and therefore buying things on a whim is no longer a practice.

CAPITALISM HAS EVOLVED. Social beliefs are based on how every node in the system impacts the rest of the network. Social, political, cultural, environ- mental impacts are directly and constantly evaluated in a system of monetary exchange. The more value you add to the system, the richer you are. The less negative impact you have on these peripheral domains, the richer you are. Every- thing including other species, the earth and its elements, the political, social and

Making Meaning technological actors are all nodes in this system of value assessment. 19 20 DESIGNING IN EMERGING CONTEXTS: COVID-19

SPACES TOOLS desk workspace fabricators' workshop zoom computer living room city mighty EF notebook dining room volunteers' homes whatsapp phone garden hospital riot coffee telegram too many softwares (FabA) RESOURCES open-source projects WORK gitlab AMD-SHIELD user feedback PROJECT STUDY MDEF & FABACADEMY

MISSING PEOPLE dad police POC electronic hardware reflections mom hospitals POCs time-management documentation MY DOMESTIC grandma 7 volunteers EXPERIMENTAL home helper fabricator + 2 driver 4 material vendors LABORATORY brother-in-law Jaydip - collaboration KNOWLEDGE 2 NGOs

internet books M I T A L E E P A R I K H movies / shows kitchen experiments people TOOLS computer lasercutter MISC phone car with permit SOCIAL whiteboard instagram RECREATION whatsapp home baby! FAMILY & FRIENDS HEALTH youtube facetime friends website houseparty family whatsapp zoom HEALTH

garden zoom kitchen

During the pandemic, my context had changed drastically. I was 5000km away, in my hometown in India. My planned interventions that depended on local busi- S P A C E S A T H O M E nesses in Barcelona had to now be thought about differently.

MY NEW ME Being back home in India had changed a lot of things for me. I couldn’t access a FabLab or even order tools or materials online with all the lockdown restrictions.

A C A R W I T H Moreover continuing the Masters’ completely virtually without a classroom experi- P E R M I T ence took some time to get used to.

MAPPING MY DOMESTIC EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY In the new normal, a lot of parts of my design space changed. The first task was V O L U N T E E R ' S H O M E S to map all the tools, spaces, resources, people, networks, knowledge I did have access to in a pandemic situation. On the left is a representation of all the things

T H E C I T Y that make up my domestic experimental laboratory.

The next part was to recognise how it was possible to intervene in this new nor- mal. That and the Cuban research project, understanding the state of the world,

Making Meaning that inspired me to contribute in a meaningful way. 21 22 HYPER-LOCAL/HYPER-GLOBAL

INTERVENTION T3: AMD-SHIELD The AMD-SHIELD is a reusable face-protection shield developed for the police, healthcare professionals and other unsung heroes who are most vulnerable to Covid-19 infections. It is ideally meant to be used in addition to the N95 / 3-ply breathing masks, creating an extra layer of protection against droplets and fluids. The AMD-SHIELD was conceptualized and created in Ahmedabad to meet the growing need for locally manufactured PPE in the current pandemic situation.

PART #1: RECOGNIZING THE NEED It was evident that the regular supply chains were failing. Hearing stories from the people in the field, my father who is a doctor - the growing need for Personal Prototyping various open- source designs Protective Equiptment during this time of the pandemic was super evident. Being inspired by other colleagues in other cities who used their 3D printers to make face-shields at home, I too felt like doing something to help the people. After a meeting with the police commisioner of the city, it was reinstitated that there was a dire need of PPE of all kinds.

PART #2: PARTNERS / COLLABORATORS I reached out to some fabricators and vendors to explain the idea and convince them to open shops. After some cold calls, and reaching out through references I managed to get key material vendors and a lasercutter assuring them with gov- ernment permissions to function. Through my dad, I also reached out to the government hospitals that treated infected patients to check if they required face shields. Through a police inspector, I reached out to the city police HQ to distribute shield within the police, sanitation workers and civil defense personnel who were on duty on the front-lines of the most infected red-zoned areas. To help me reseach the crowdfunding platform, payment gateway, website, I also reached out to a colleague of mine, Jaydip, and set it up.

Fabrication & Assembly PART #2: PROTOTYPING Starting with as many open-source designs that I could find, I prototyped as many as possible - as the available material and tools allowed. I made a comparative chart to evaluate material use, wastage, comfort wearing for long hours, time for production and assembly, ease of assembly and reusability. After some initial feedback, I made my own version adopting features from differ- ent designs to make the first batch of 250 shields. I sent this out the local police, starting from the mosting affected areas, to gather

Local police, doctors, and civil feedback and explore options of assembly - foolproofness, foam-lining material,

defense personnel Making Meaning elastic fixing, etc. 23 24 AMDshield website

Whatsapp PART #3: COMMUNICATION After the first batch, I needed to start gathering funds for the production of 10,000 shields. For this, Jaydip and I set up a website, that explained about the shield, its use and a general documentation. It was specifically for the contributors to en- courage them to donate from the safety and comfort of their homes. GIT repo I also set up an Instagram account to visually market the progress and impact of assembly videos the shields. A GIT repository allowed me to share all desgin files and steps of assembly with information and share the project as open-source. I used Whatsapp as the primary way of spreading informatin about the project - as it was a huge medium of hearing news and information at this time. I also shot simple step-by-step assembly instruction videos that people could follow.

Instagram page PART #4: FUNDING After researching various ways of crowdfunding, I settled on an independant website with a payment gateway linked to my bank. This allowed me flexibility to access the funds at anytime even before reaching the goal. This was important to act fast during this time of urgency. Crowdfunding was also a measure of reinsti- tating the value of the project. The city paid for 10,000 shields in about 12 days days and shields were donated completely free of cost to the healthcare workers and police.

Volunteers’ homes PART #5 : DISTRIBUTED MANUFACTURE After doing the first couple of batches with a single fabricator, someone suggest- ed another facility that was not only cheaper, but also faster and of better quality end result. A couple of people reached out to start making these in their school / workshops / makerspaces, but getting permits turned out to be a problem. For assembling these shields, I worked with a team of volunteers, whom I would send parts to, for assembly and pick up finished shields reguarly. Some super volunteers by the end had made more than 1000 shields single-handedly.

PART #6: OUTREACH Giving away the boxes of shields was set up through my dad’s hospital. A gover- Police distributing ment hopital or police person would pick them up from my father’s hospital, and then distribute the shields within their respective teams internally. This was a safe

Making Meaning way to establish distribution for all the stakehilders involved. 25 26 THE BUSINESS MODEL VALUE PROPOSITION CHANNELS

Rapid Production - @200 pieces/day Marketing and Communication Local procurement - because global Marketing through Whatsapp, Insta- supply chains are broken currently. gram, Facebook, Twitter, to reach out DESIGN FEATURES KEY PARTNERS Distributed Design - using collective to as many people as possible intelligence to reduce time for testing, Full Face Protection Material Partners: design development. Washable & Reusable Shree Chamunda Traders - for cel- Supply / Distribution Distributed Manufacturing - Laser For Ahmedabad City Police: Police Simple & Comfortable design lulose acetate sheets (175 micron cutting at local fabricators and assem- Inspector FM Qureshi Adjustable for different head sizes 12”x18”) bly at a different place to comply with For Government Hospitals: Gopi Plastics - for acrylic sheets (4mm social distancing guidelines and safety. Superintendent Dr. Gunwant Rathod - TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 4’x8’) Collaboration with users - continuous Ahmedabad Civil Hospital Fabrication Partners: feedback from the healthcare person- Deputy Superintendent Dr. Bhavesh Dimensions / 17 x 17 x 22 cm Amazing Laser Technology + Shine nel and police to improve design. Dave - SVP Hospital Ahmedabad Weight / 45 grams Associates - for laser cutting parts No-profit work - public funding at cost, They take care of internal distribution, Materials / Acrylic and Cellulose cost at ₹75 per shield. and provide feedback over the phone. Acetate Approved by the AMC to work for es- Reusable and washable - with sanitizer Fabrication Techniques / Laser- sential services during lockdown. or soap and water to maintain sanita- cutting and some hand assembly They provide materials/services at cost. tion and not produce waste. CUSTOMER SEGMENTS Usage / Over masks Wash with / Sanitizer / Soap and KEY ACTIVITIES The AMD-SHIELDs are meant for Water CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS people who are most vulnerable to Replaceable parts / Visor Design development with testing trials, CoViD-19 infected people - these Manufacturing Cost Per Unit / Continuous communication for feed- user feedback, and limited material include ₹75 per shield back from users through the POC as availability. Police who patrol and are posted at per distribution channels. Collection of public funds to produce the most affected areas of the city, For Ahmedabad City Police: Police and assemble parts. Ahmedabad - Jamalpur, Rakhial, Inspector FM Qureshi Deliver to Ahmedabad Police and the Mirzapur, etc. and the doctors, nurs- For Government Hospitals: 2 govt. Hospitals for workers in direct es, anesthetics who treat and care Superintendent Dr. Gunwant Rathod - KEY RESOURCES contact with CoViD-19 infected pa- for infected patients or test potential Ahmedabad Civil Hospital tients. patients at govt. Hospitals - Civil and One car with lockdown exemption Deputy Superintendent Dr. Bhavesh SVP. permit - for transportation of raw ma- Dave - SVP Hospital Ahmedabad terial and distribution of product

COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS Being not-for-profit, we accept public funding in multiples of ₹75 as to keep Material /acrylic ₹42.3 (₹4531 per sheet) costs at par with production. We do this through the website https://amdshield. Material / cellulose acetate ₹5.3 (₹11 per sheet) org/# linked to Razorpay as a form of payment. For internation trasaction and Material / foam lining and elastic band ₹3.6 (₹120 per roll) transaction above ₹18,750 we also accept direct bank transfers. Fabrication / laser-cut ₹22.5 Assembly / ₹1.2 Marketing and Communication / - GOAL TOTAL per unit ₹74.9 Our goal is to reach 10,000 shield donations to the police and hospitals. Equal to ₹7,50,000 in donation. While maintaining these costs, AMD-SHIELD focuses on value-addition at this This is subject to change as per demand, funding, operations, lockdown mea- crucial time and using optimum limited available resources to achieve this in the sures. fastest way possible. Making Meaning

27 28 UNDERSTANDING THE INTERVENTION This intervention was a good way to understand closely and more pragmatically, value of distributed design, power of distributed manufacturing, local production actors and agents, selling and marketing aspects, crowdfunding... amongst other things. Rethinking the initial inquiry: How we make things <> How we sell things <> How we use things… I use the fab.city framework to analyse these aspects of the intervention.

ECOLOGICAL tion going while I was dealing with other The lockdown situation made it very things. My grandma was the first to difficult to procure different materials. start work at home each morning. My Especially, biodegradable or reused/ dad’s medical community was easier to upcycled sheets of non-absorbant laer- reach out to. The headpiece and the cuttable material. The choice of acrylic visor were packed separately to make and cellulose acetate sheets was it flatpack and east to transport in large based on availability and limited stock in numbers. So the users assembled warehouses in the city. Even in normal those pieces themselves. Feedback circumstances, getting environmentally from them was continuously integrated friendly material is difficult to find and in the process. Our payment gateway buy, and more expensive. Maybe this cancelled all fees to support the cause. is the reason why so many businesses The production was completely funded use plastics - cheap and easy. by the people of the city. The power of participation from various stakeholders INCLUSIVE made the value of the project more Instead of starting from scratch, I used than just the shield itself. various open-source projects. Tried them all out depending on availability of GLOCALISM materials, and modified them according The open-source designs I adapted to user feedback, ease of assembly, were modified according to the specifi- tools on hand and packaging. While, cations of the materials that were then there weren’t any design contribu- available locally. Collective kno tors, there were some inquires about Acrylic sheets - 4’x8’x3mm/4mm producing these, but they could not Cellulose Acetate sheets - 12”x18”x- see through because of government 175micron permissions. The power of distributed These materials while not produced design and collective intelligence made locally (acrylic in Indonesia and cellulose it possible for me to develop a good- acetate in Mumbai) were in stock with for-use shield in under two days. local suppliers and therefore accessible with government permissions. I noticed PARTICIPATORY in just a couple of weeks, the cellulose The material vendor suggested the acetate sheets were going rapidly out thickest material he had in stock. The of stock and I had to find new vendors laser cutter nested his own files claim- or decide to import them from a neigh- ing he was better than the automated bouring city. I wonder how long this scripts for nesting maximum number of would last. What if the pandemic went shields cut from each sheet of acryl- on and we need to be more self-reliant. ic. He changed a couple of corners We are so dependant even for simple for faster and neater cutting. Somone materials. Eg. Buying an arduino or oth- donated empty boxes to package the er electronics was impossible for more shields. A group of enthusiastic volun- than 2 months.

Making Meaning teers kept the momentum of produc- 29 30 ECONOMIC GROWTH & HOLISTIC EMPLOYMENT I tried to make the process more inclu- The first fabricator I worked with got sive by opening it up for contributions, super enthusiastic about making participations at various levels. While shields and ended up partnering with a people did contribute in various ways, colleague of his to mass produce these from donating boxes, to helping with by injection molding. And he was able distribution, to volunteering for assem- to start sell higher quantities at much bly, to spreading awareness, I think it lower prices. needed to be more inclusive so that it could carry on without me being a part LOCALLY PRODUCTIVE of it. While the cutting and assembly were done locally in a distributed manner, OPEN-SOURCE PHILOSOPHY I wonder if the production of the raw I used some details from the Happy material themselves could have been Shield, the M-19, the Rapid Response local and not imported. Even though shields by Georgia Tech and the I bought them frmo distributors in the COVID19 DIY masks by Trotec Cana- city, the acrylic originally came from da. And made my version of the AMD Indonesia and the Cellulose acetate shield. I put this out back as an open- sheets came from another city. source project for others to use, modify, contribute to. PEOPLE-CENTERED The idea and design came from peo- EXPERIMENTAL ple, the shields were manufactured All decisions during the course of the keeping in mind the stakeholders along intervention were pretty opportunistic the way, they were funded by the and experimental. I tried various op- people, they were made by people and tions, iterations, ways to do something were given out to protect people. While and the situation, or network paved I would’ve liked to make them better for the way forward. eg. to test skills of the environment along the way, it was assembly, I sent out smaller batches of definitely a people-centered interven- 50 shields and made sure of the quality tion. before sending bigger batches to slect- ed volunteers.

This intervention was almost a pop-up business, that let me explore aspects of making - designing, resources, materials, geometry, participatory, prototyping... aspects of selling - crowdfunding, social media marketing, website for contribu- tors, making a narrative... aspects of using - testing and designing, continuous user feedback, repetitive buying by certain users...

Making Meaning aspects of buying - procuring materials, understanding supply chains... 31 32 PROJECT AND PERSONAL

IDENTITY PROJECT BIOGRAPHY Making Meaning will be a collective of frameworks, businesses, actions, people all working towards making meaningful interventions in the world. It’s aim is to find the next steps of manufacturing by exploring the extents of self-sustainability and local production at the scale of an individual, a community, a neighbourhood or a city. The AMDshield project was a first in a long list of interventions.

The project can be further explained by clarifying its mission vision and a commu- nication strategy for outreach.

VISION A world where we make things that make sense.

MISSION To create a system of making things that go beyond the user-centric, and work for the material, the technology, the time, the people and the planet to add value. To repair the past and create better futures. To inspire individual actions to create collective change.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY The project requires working with a lot of stakeholders. Therefore communicating it effectively and appropirately to the respective audience is very necessary. By clarifying objectives, barriers, chaneels of reaching out to each stakeholder made it easier to manage and more effective. The table on the opposite page shows the distinction and strategy of communication. Creating a narrative - Why we need to make things that make sense, how can people contribute towards this, what has been done, next steps, and ways of collaboration are all important parts of taking the project to the next step.

AUDIENCE Everyone Future partners, Peers, Future collaborators, teachers, collaborators / employees, people academics employers who want to participate in the project OBJEC- To get them To get them to To fulfil graduate To put all requirements, to relevant info about interested contribute / TIVES participate communicate the the project in an process of the accessible and project in relatable way

BARRIERS Wide subject matter Complex web of How to scale / What does it all ideas put in a linear replicate the mean in pragmatic narrative process terms

KEY MES- We need a change There are a lot of This project makes This is how it came and this is worth ways to contribute sense and should to be SAGE trying towards this be developed further personal constituency ACTIONS Learn more Get involved Support it further Collaborate, get involved, contribute

Website Website Website Website Making Meaning CHANNEL 33 34 PROJECTING INTERVENTIONS NEW WEAK SIGNALS in the future scenario: Faded: DESIGNING FOR THE LONG TERM INTO THE FUTURE CARBON NEUTRAL LIFECYCLES Augmented: HUMAN MACHINE CREATIVE COLLBORATION New: EMPATHETIC COEXISTENCE CIRCULAR DATA ECONOMY

MACROTRENDS #DistributedDesign / #CollectiveIntelligence / #SharingBits #DistributedManufacturing / #ThinkGlobalMakeLocal / #PowerOfTheNetwork #LocalCraftmanship / #SupportLocalBusinesses #DigitalPersona / #OnlineStreetCred #Self-sufficientFood / #GrowYourOwn / #FarmToTable #MarketsForOne / #MassCustomisation

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES MEGA TRENDS Services around an open-source prod- Resilience uct Distributed networks Spare parts Collective actions New BioMaterial based products Personalisation Partially DIY Local grown WILD CARD Locally-made PPE High Impact Cleaning Products Instagrammable Immunity Boosters Empathetic Value

CARTOGRAPHY My future scenario is a hybrid of societies and has some of these aspects:

HYBRID OF HYGIENIC + CO-NEIGHBOURHOOD SOCIETY

DRIVER Societal, Economic METAPHOR Post-Tech, Pre-Industrial PREVIOUS MACROTRENDS Individual Action - Collective Results SOCIAL & HUMAN BEHAVIOUR Individualism, Digital Personality, Community belief POLITICS & ETHICS Distributed systems BUILT ENVIRONMENT Cities with localities, shared infrastructure HEALTH & WELLBEING Ancient knowledge, AI dictated expertise PRODUCTION & CONSUMPTION Local Production Local Consumption Mobile services Local craftsmanship 2.0 ECONOMY & EMPLOYMENT Social Agents, Coaches ENVIRONMENT Regenerative CULTURE & EDUCATION Peer to Peer Digital Mediums Hybrid

Making Meaning TRAVEL & EXPERIENCES AR, VR 35 36 LOOKING FORWARD Development framework Scalability of the project to other contexts and a possible professional develop- ment plan.

The diagram on the left shows the iterative spiral development model to create meaningful interventions in the world. The inner circle represents the final intervention of the masters. It starts from finding signals and recognizing opportunities in the world. Then uses the power of distributed design and open-source networks to find parts that work together to create a whole that is dictated by the available resourc- es - tools, materials, people, etc. After prototyping and initial user feedback, the development of a business model and finding funding, preferably crowd-funding reinstates the value of the project. Distributed manufacture and inclusive participa- tion makes delivering the product and sharing designs a highly efficient process. Carrying forward the lessons, resources and evolving the network for the next circle takes it forward and makes it better. The process can be scaled up and repeated over and over again each time gain- ing from the previous. The product changes with every loop.

After the masters I would like to continue this spiral development as the process of my practice focusing on exploring the extents of local production and self-sustain- bilty.

The idea is to keep building this network of people, technology. skills, community, knowledge to create opportunities for emergence to occur.

How far can we be self-sustainable, as individuals, a communities, a city? Can meaningful businesses be created through this framework? Can I integrate the systems of business, technology, community, design to shape

Making Meaning emergent futures? 37 38 FINAL REFLECTIONS

Term 1 was about learning a lot of things about a lot of things. I particularly enjoyed the intensity and range of subjects that allowed multiple perspectives to think about while defining an area of interest and situating it. Term 2 was about explor- ing through interventions, aspects of the study in first, second and third person perspectives to get more holistic insights about the way things are. The pandemic situation while shifting contexts, also added a lot of constraints to making a final in- tervention. The state of the world pushed important parts of the project into action.

Through this project, I specifically have learned to create a hybrid profile in a way that works as a practice. Having and finding core values as a person and as a designer has made me empowered to work towards my goals and purpose.

A lot of tools learnt during the masters - like the design space, defining attitudes and skills, the network radar, the business and communication model canvases, mapping an atlas of weak signals, forensic reports as an investigation, designing hypothetic experiments, randomness as a design process for speculation, reflect- ing on my own work and process, curation, creating future scenarios, creating narratives, making effective use of communication tools has all enabled me to do what I want to do in a more valuable manner with more confidence.

When I started this project, I belived that the role of a designer was to solve problems. But going thorugh the process of the masters I understand that the role of designers is also to create an environment for emergence to occur, to recog- nise weak signals in the world today and make interventions to shape preferable futures.

Working with people from all over the world, all working on very different but also quite similar projects, very interesting speakers and guests, developing making skills of various kinds and going through this process of designing emergent futures has been a very enriching and cherished experience. I hope to carry all the

Making Meaning learning forward and make meaningful interventions. 39 40 This thesis is written by Mitalee Parikh in 2019-20 as a part of the Master in Design for Emergent Futures at the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and Elisava Design and Engineering Barcelona in collaboration with FabAcademy and FabLab Barcelona.