Avoiding the 30-Pound Paperweight: Success via Contextually Appropriate Technologies

Witherspoon, Thomas; Harris, Edward L.

doi:10.1109/ghtc.2011.44

Cited by 4 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…Witherspoon and Harris [75] say that we need to listen to what resource-poor individuals in the community actually want and need in order to be effective. Two other publications, not reviewed here, illustrate the value of this principle in the area of women's healthcare in developing countries [76,77].…”

Section: Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was generally successful, but the training had to be modified significantly to be appropriate for the needs of resource-poor individuals in that area. Witherspoon and Harris [75] offer several suggestions for evaluating the usefulness of a technology in a resource-poor community and provide questions that help designers challenge their own assumptions and make design decisions that are more effective for the intended users of the technology.…”

Section: Suggestions For Using This Principlementioning

confidence: 99%

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Nine Principles for Design for the Developing World as Derived From the Engineering Literature

Mattson

Wood

2014

Journal of Mechanical Design

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This paper reviews the findings of several engineering researchers and practitioners on the topic of design for the developing world. We arrange these findings into nine guiding principles aimed at helping those who are searching for effective approaches for design for the developing world. The findings reviewed come from the mechanical engineering discipline, as well as from other engineering and nonengineering disciplines. For each principle, we provide references to various studies as a means of supporting the princi-ple. We also provide a detailed example of each principle. Based on our own experience and based on the many papers reviewed, we provide a succinct list of suggestions for using each principle. Finally, we relate these nine principles to traditional design princi-ples. Ultimately, we believe that the principles introduced here help overcome the chal-lenges of design for the developing world, which are often dominated by designer unfamiliarity with poverty and foreign culture and the constraint of extreme affordability. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4027984

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Section: Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Suggestions For Using This Principlementioning

confidence: 99%

Nine Principles for Design for the Developing World as Derived From the Engineering Literature

Mattson

Wood

2014

Journal of Mechanical Design

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“…Witherspoon and Harris () propose an evaluation framework for determining whether a given technology is appropriate and transferrable to the developing world. Their framework highlights two different types of projects: a human recipient‐based (developers identify the best method to assist a developmental cause) or technology‐based (developers have some stake in the success of a particular technology, wishing to demonstrate its use in the developing world).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How development happens: Safe and sustainable energy, community development projects, and implementation challenges in Timor‐Leste

Niner

Lay

Warren

et al. 2018

Annals of Anthropol Pract

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This article describes how seed funding from one major Australian University, designed to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations among academics, led to the implementation of a safe and sustainable energy supply at a community development project in remote Timor‐Leste. This article reflects on the process, the results, and insights developed during the project primarily from the point of view of the academics. A participatory process of co‐design was virtually impossible to implement due to time and resource constraints that barely allowed genuine collaboration between academics. The consequent nurturing of a social relationship between partners across borders, which would have allowed a genuine process of co‐design, was therefore not possible. Misunderstandings around the local context, tensions in understandings of timelines, and competing priorities all provided additional barriers to timely implementation of the development project. The final conclusion is that even with the best of intentions, if resource constraints do not allow the time and space to develop collaborative social relations and prioritize “process over product,” then genuine partnerships and participatory development have little chance of flourishing.

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“…Por tanto, las máquinas o equipos producidos en los países industrializados, que van dirigidos habitualmente a los propios países industrializados, se crean usando criterios de diseño y uso basados en el contexto de los países desarrollados, pero de poco servirían si se trasladan sin adaptación previa a comunidades en desarrollo. Por ejemplo, Witherspoon & Harris (2011) exponen un caso muy claro de tecnología inapropiada: en 2002, el Instituto de Educación de Kenia, en asociación con Worldspace (una red de distribución de contenido por satélite con sede en los EE.UU.) entregó miles de radios por satélite a las escuelas en un esfuerzo por ofrecer una programación educativa de calidad dirigida a las escuelas de Kenia.…”

Section: Tecnologías Para Comunidades En Desarrollounclassified

“…Esta autora propone un nuevo término más amplio y flexible que el de tecnologías apropiadas: innovación colaborativa. - Witherspoon & Harris (2011) utilizan el término contextually appropriate technology y lo definen como "technology solutions that truly make sense, that function as intended in a particular environment, that are operable and maintainable by the recipients, and so provide a genuinely useful service".…”

Section: Definición Y Conceptos Derivados De Las Tecnologías Apropiadasunclassified

Metodología de diseño de máquinas apropiadas para contextos de comunidades en desarrollo

Blanco Romero

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The design of industrial equipment or product in a developed country is a process characterized by creativity and, at the same time, conditioned by the fulfillment of requirements imposed by the customer, users, market and/or competition. The complexity and importance of the design process have motivated many studies and the establishment of different methodologies to help design teams to guide the process, focus on creativity and achieve the necessary requirements. These methodologies take into account many aspects in order to make design decisions: market studies, analyses of user needs, generation of specifications, proposals and evaluation of alternatives, etc. It is striking, however, that all of them assume implicitly that the product or equipment will be developed, manufactured or used in an industrialized context. This implies specific environment characteristics: highly availability of energy resources, materials and technology, reduction of time and costs, high-trained operators and users, etc. These characteristics condition the design process in a non-manifest way: it is not necessary to specify the context because it is taken for granted. However, there are projects in which the product designed is not aimed at a developed context: its main objective is to promote growth and improve the quality of life of a developing community. These projects are framed within the so-called appropriate technologies: technologies that allow people to escape poverty, improve their economic situation and cover their basic needs with the resources available in their context in a sustainable manner. In these projects, the characteristics of the context are often key for equipment or machine design: for example, the training and culture of the users, the availability of materials, the technological and energetic resources available or the geographical and climatic conditions. Equipment design projects to facilitate or improve agricultural processes in developing countries fall within the scope of appropriate technologies as they help to improve the productivity and living conditions of farmers. Their design has to be adapted to the conditions of the context to ensure a correct appropriation of the equipment to the community. Literature on appropriate technologies and design methodologies shows that there is no clear and specific procedure for the design of appropriate machines. Instead, it shows that appropriate machine design is usually structured along classical design lines. However, no stage is included to help explain the context and its characteristics in a methodical way. In this thesis, a design methodology for appropriate machines in the agricultural field is proposed taking as a basis the study of two real cases of design of agricultural machines in two different contexts. This methodology has as a purpose to include an adequate analysis of the context to the design process indicated by the classical methodologies in mechanical engineering. Special attention is paid to the initial phases of the design and the procedures of classical methodologies are extended, incorporating a stage of own entity to carry out this analysis. The methodology provides a tool that helps design teams document the context as well as the needs and characteristics of the community in a comprehensive, systematic, easy and orderly manner. This tool contemplates aspects related to the environment, the users, the infrastructures and the technological conditions of the environment and the agricultural process that the equipment develops. The proposed methodology is validated by applying it to the real cases studied initially, to a completed project that follows this methodology (an agricultural waste shredder in Ecuador) and to a project of the conceptual design of a cane peeler in two different contexts, Nepal and Ecuador. El diseño de un equipo o producto en un país desarrollado es un proceso caracterizado por la creatividad y, a la vez, marcado por el cumplimiento de unos requisitos que imponen el cliente, los usuarios, el mercado y/o la competencia. La complejidad y la importancia de este proceso de diseño han motivado muchos estudios y el establecimiento de diversas metodologías que ayudan a los equipos de diseño a guiar los procedimientos, enfocar la creatividad y alcanzar los requerimientos acordados. Estas metodologías contemplan, en las decisiones de diseño, estudios de mercado, análisis de necesidades de los usuarios, la generación de especificaciones, propuestas y valoración de alternativas, etc. Llama la atención, sin embargo, que todas ellas dan por hecho implícitamente que el producto o equipo se desarrollará, se fabricará o se utilizará a priori en un contexto industrializado. Esto implica unas características concretas del entorno: gran disponibilidad de recursos energéticos, materiales y tecnológicos, reducción de tiempos y costes, operarios y usuarios con elevada formación, etc. Estas características condicionan de forma no manifiesta el proceso de diseño: no es necesario explicitar el contexto porque se da por supuesto. Sin embargo, existen proyectos en los que el producto diseñado no va dirigido a un contexto desarrollado: su objetivo principal es ayudar al crecimiento y mejorar la calidad de vida de una comunidad en desarrollo. Estos proyectos están enmarcados dentro de las denominadas "tecnologías apropiadas": aquéllas que permiten a las personas salir de la pobreza, mejorar su situación económica y cubrir sus necesidades básicas con los recursos disponibles en su contexto, de una manera sostenible. En estos proyectos, las características del contexto suelen ser clave para el diseño del equipo: por ejemplo, la formación y la cultura de los usuarios, los recursos materiales, tecnológicos y energéticos disponibles o las condiciones geográficas y climáticas. Los proyectos de diseño de equipos para facilitar o mejorar los procesos agrícolas en países en desarrollo entran dentro del ámbito de las tecnologías apropiadas, ya que ayudan a mejorar la productividad y las condiciones de vida de los agricultores, y su diseño ha de adaptarse a las condiciones del contexto para asegurar una correcta apropiación del equipo a la comunidad. La literatura sobre tecnologías apropiadas y metodologías de diseño muestra que no existe un procedimiento claro y específico para el diseño de máquinas apropiadas, pero que éste se suele estructurar siguiendo las metodologías clásicas de diseño. Sin embargo, no se incluye ninguna etapa que ayude a explicitar de forma metódica el contexto y sus características. En esta tesis se propone una metodología de diseño de máquinas apropiadas en el ámbito agrícola, a partir de dos casos reales de diseño de máquinas agrícolas en dos contextos diferentes. Esta metodología tiene como objetivo incluir un análisis adecuado del contexto en el proceso de diseño indicado por las metodologías habituales en ingeniería mecánica. Se presta especial atención a las fases iniciales del diseño, y se amplía el procedimiento de las metodologías clásicas, incorporando una etapa con entidad propia para realizar este análisis. La metodología proporciona una herramienta que ayuda a los equipos de diseño a documentar el contexto, así como las necesidades y características de la comunidad, de forma de forma fácil, exhaustiva y sistemática. Esta herramienta contempla aspectos relacionados con el medioambiente, los usuarios, las infraestructuras y las condiciones tecnológicas del entorno y el proceso agrícola que desarrolla el equipo. La metodología propuesta se valida aplicandola a los casos reales estudiados inicialmente, y un proyecto completo que sigue esta metodología (una trituradora de residuos agrícolas en Ecuador) y a un proyecto del diseño conceptual de un pelador de caña en dos contextos diferentes, Nepal y Ecuador.

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Avoiding the 30-Pound Paperweight: Success via Contextually Appropriate Technologies

Cited by 4 publications

References 1 publication

Nine Principles for Design for the Developing World as Derived From the Engineering Literature

Nine Principles for Design for the Developing World as Derived From the Engineering Literature

How development happens: Safe and sustainable energy, community development projects, and implementation challenges in Timor‐Leste

Metodología de diseño de máquinas apropiadas para contextos de comunidades en desarrollo

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