UNDP's Asia Pacific Regional Innovation Center based out of Bangkok, Thailand
http://asia-pacific.undp.org
https://www.facebook.com/undpasiapac
https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/the-era-of-development-mutants/
http://synthesiscenter.net/projects/alter-economies/
Synthesis 2019 Research-Creation
Dear Dr Sha
When would be a good time to connect?
I’d love to see the work you’ve done on experiential, (whole-body) immersive simulations of weather or of heatscapes + urban structures as vehicles for grappling with more general lessons about complex open-ended systems. And of course, the Alternative Economy modelling.
Let me know what works please?
Thanks and I really look forward to it!
Millie
From: Xin Wei Sha <Xinwei.Sha@asu.edu>
Date: Monday, February 17, 2020 at 6:00 PM
To: Giulio Quaggiotto <giulio.quaggiotto@undp.org>, Prateeksha Singh <prateeksha.singh@undp.org>, Milica Begovic <milica.begovic@undp.org>
Cc: Brandon Mechtley <bmechtley@asu.edu>, Ariane Middel <amiddel@asu.edu>, Andrew Luna <Andrew.Luna@asu.edu>
Dear Giulio, Prateeksha, and Millie,
We also found it very inspiring and encouraging to talk with you and Prateeksha! We approach this with some modesty, knowing that we rely on the deep experiences of everyone who has been grappling with world-scale matters whose complexity exceeds every expertise.
Our basic design approach is to be guided by some anthropological tact, and abductive methodology:
we’ll adapt techniques of articulation and observation as we go, based on access to technoscientific / conceptual / humanistic-artistic know-how. We set up scenarios in which people can palpably encounter concepts and situations, and articulate their own variation. This requires some in-depth preparation, so maybe I can start by witnessing present concerns and practices.
Let me respond more in detail inline.
Looking forward!
Xin Wei
On Feb 10, 2020, at 3:59 AM, Giulio Quaggiotto <giulio.quaggiotto@undp.org> wrote:
Dear Dr. Sha, all,
Thanks again for the call last week and for staying up so late to talk to boring UN bureaucrats!
At least on my side, I could not stop thinking about our conversation over the whole weekend. Thanks for the inspiration.
A few quick things as a follow up to what we discussed:
I mentioned the upcoming Istanbul Innovation Days event (April), which this year is focusing on Next Generation Economies. It’s a bit of a flagship event for us, which this year will involve also the Club of Rome. I mentioned to the organisers our brief exchange around your Alter-Eco work and the lines of inquiry you are pursuing around that. They are very much interested in following up with you to explore potential collaboration opportunities. If of interest, Millie (copied) can provide you with additional background.
Millie, thank you for the IID_SB.pdf; the “ Next Generation Economies” vent is tremendously exciting. What are the dates for this event — and is it in NYC? (In April 21-25, I will be in Copenhagen.)
It’d be great to participate in this discussion, to see how I / Synthesis can best contribute this time around. Perhaps we can connect with others interested in prototyping alternative ecology-economies and work on some experiments?
Would you like to send some possible times (time zone?) for a phone or zoom conversation, cc. my assistant Andrew Luna ?
New York events/dinners: you mentioned that there might be an opportunity to open up the upcoming events you are planning in NY to UNDP participants. I already talked to Haoliang Xu, our Assistant Secretary General in NY and there’s definitely interest in pursuing this opportunity, if you think it’s feasible/appropriate, as a way to educate our senior managers on the possibilities opened up by your work. This is very much in line with our ambition to begin the journey of building new competencies to operate in complex systems. Grateful if you could let us know whether this might be something we can pursue (and if so, what would be the best way to make it all happen). Independently of the events, Haoliang has expressed interest in meeting with you when you are in NY, if you are available.
The events are still indeterminate, which is good. We tailor the format and content of participatory events to the concerns and capacities of the participants. The formats we’re considering include: (1) an “augmented" meal as a setting for informal but in-depth facilitated conversation, (2) an immersive “blackbox" space in which people can explore realtime responsive simulations of atmosphere or heatscapes. This depends on local partnerships and sponsorships.
“Anthropology” of UNDP: we had some initial internal brainstorming around what/where might be the most useful conversations for you to be part of as a way to understand our current thinking and way of operating. We have at least a few organizational “use cases”/scenarios which we think might be helpful for you to be part of to assess how best the Synthesis center can help us moving forward. Happy to explore options around your upcoming trip to China (corona virus permitting!) or otherwise explore other dates for you to visit Bangkok and/or one of our country offices?
The trip to Tsinghua and Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, which was set for early May, has been postponed due to the corona virus.
Perhaps we can get a sense of current practices by witnessing work in whichever UNDP setting is most convenient and relevant.
Again, our interest would be to eventually come up with some form of activity (workhop/training) that we can use to help colleagues (and government counterparts) have meaningful conversations around operating in complex systems (1. Why more data is not necessarily helpful; 2. What are the connections/interdependencies that our linear planning does not allow us to see; 3. What are options that we could explore that are equally plausible given the current state but we don’t usually consider, etc.)
Yes! To be more effective, we’ll do some pedagogical preparation sensitive to the audience’s experience and expertises. As we discussed, we could use the existing richly developed experiential, (whole-body) immersive simulations of weather or of heatscapes + urban structures as vehicles for grappling with more general lessons about complex open-ended systems.
Or we could partner to design and compose some participatory, improvisatory events in which people can articulate alternative social forms, and prototype them at lifescale. This would be a longer process, but this is what we’re prepared to engage in, with partners who have scenarios to explore, and who can marshal support for grappling with them.
Finally, grateful if you could share the dates of the October workshop in Malta if you have them already – never too early to put it on our radarscreen (assuming of course it’s open to our participation).
Let me consult the European Graduate School with which Synthesis co-convened the Alter-Eco colloquium last year. I’m pretty sure the EGS would very much welcome this. We need everyone at the table.
Speaking of this, my senior advisors — Gary Dirks and Sander van Der Leeuw, at ASU — have both suggested engaging with the Club of Rome …
Sander van Der Leeuw, Social Sustainability, Past and Future, Undoing Unintended Consequences for the Earth's Survival (2020)
Thanks again for your time and consideration. Much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Giulio
From: Giulio Quaggiotto <giulio.quaggiotto@undp.org>Subject: RE: Exploring possibilities: Reaching out from the UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Innovation CenterDate: February 6, 2020 at 3:23:58 AM MSTTo: sxw asu <sxwasu@gmail.com>, Prateeksha Singh <prateeksha.singh@undp.org>, Ariane Middel <ariane.middel@asu.edu>, Brandon Mechtley <bmechtley@asu.edu>Cc: Ariane Middel <amiddel@asu.edu>, Todd Ingalls <Todd.Ingalls@asu.edu>, Andrew Luna <Andrew.Luna@asu.edu>Thank you! Very much looking forward to it. If I may add one link, perhaps this post might provide a bit of additional background for our conversation tomorrow. We developed a sensemaking protocol for UNDP staff dealing with complex development challenges and we are now thinking of how to augment it with additional tools (experiential, 3d, etc.) that can help decision making in complex environments.
From: sxw asu <sxwasu@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 6, 2020 5:17 PM
To: Prateeksha Singh <prateeksha.singh@undp.org>; Giulio Quaggiotto <giulio.quaggiotto@undp.org>; Ariane Middel <ariane.middel@asu.edu>; Brandon Mechtley <bmechtley@asu.edu>
Cc: Ariane Middel <amiddel@asu.edu>; sxw asu <sxwasu@gmail.com>; Todd Ingalls <Todd.Ingalls@asu.edu>; Andrew Luna <Andrew.Luna@asu.edu>
Subject: Re: Exploring possibilities: Reaching out from the UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Innovation Center
Dear Prateeksha, Giulio, Brandon, Ariane,
Looking forward to our videoconference by zoom at 730 pm MST = 9:30 pm EST February 6.(Bangkok 9:30 am February 7, I believe).
Here are some links for convenience:
UNDP's Asia Pacific Regional Innovation Center based out of Bangkok, ThailandHead of Regional Innovation Center, Giulio Quaggiotto
Here are some links for convenience:UNDP's Asia Pacific Regional Innovation Center based out of Bangkok, Thailandhttps://medium.com/@undp.ric
http://asia-pacific.undp.orghttps://www.facebook.com/undpasiapacHead of Regional Innovation Center, Giulio Quaggiottohttps://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/the-era-of-development-mutants/
________________________________________________http://synthesiscenter.net/projects/participatory-steering-of-complex-adaptive-systems/ (Brandon Mechtley, Sha Xin Wei)http://synthesiscenter.net/projects/sensable-heatscapes/ (Ariane Middel + Brandon Mechtley)http://monass.org/sensing-synthesising-steering-a-visit-to-arizona/ (Beth Cullen, Monsoon Assemblage)
I am with the UNDP's Asia Pacific Regional Innovation Center based out of Bangkok, Thailand. Our team is uniquely positioned as the only regional innovation center within the global UNDP ecosystem, and our work cuts across a number of portfolios from supporting anticipatory governance at a national policy level, to getting regional offices to shift in their work from single point projects to wider systemic transformation portfolio's within specific problem areas (and development challenges).We came across the Synthesis Center and your work via this Beth Cullen blog entry called " SENSING, SYNTHESISING, STEERING – A VISIT TO ARIZONA" and wanted to see if we could discuss how the environments you are creating could help us with our interactions with governments – or perhaps explore having a customized version of the training your ran for Beth Cullen and co. We are also thinking of participatory steering for complex systems and are proactively looking for a partner who can help us with the visualization/sensory component of that process. To that effect, would you be open to having conversation with my team, including the Head of Regional Innovation Center, Giulio Quaggiotto?
I really look forward to hearing from you. Thank you so much for your time and incredible work as a collective.
Warmly,
Prateeksha
Prateeksha Singh
Head of Experimentation, Regional Innovation Centre
Bangkok Regional Hub
United Nations Development Programme
3rd Floor United Nations Service Building
Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand
prateeksha.singh@undp.org
Cell.: +66 64 009 4346 (BKK)
Skype: prateeksha.singh
Brandon Mechtley, PhD
Synthesis / synthesis.ame.asu.edu
School of Arts, Media and Engineering / ame.asu.edu
Ariane Middel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Arts, Media and Engineering (AME) | School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering (CIDSE)
@ArianeMiddel
TEDx Ecosystemic Design • Synthesis 2019 Research-Creation
_________________________________________________
Sha Xin Wei • Professor + Director School of Arts, Media and Engineering • Synthesis
Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts + Fulton Schools of Engineering • ASU
Senior Fellow Building21 McGill • Fellow ASU-Santa Fe Center for Biosocial Complex Systems • Learning Alliance
Professor European Graduate School • Associate Editor AI & Society Journal • Founding Director Topological Media Lab
Lithopia: Prototyping Blockchain Futures
EDITOR’S NOTE: Lithopy, curated by Denisa Kera and Petr Šourek along with a second project entitled Out of Power Tower, represents the Czech participation in the XXII Triennale di Milano, Broken Nature. The projects arise from a survey centered on the significant mineral resources of the Czech territory––in particular, lithium. Lithopy questions the practice of this mineral’s extraction and its use. The Czech pavilion was commissioned by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague with the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
Lithopia Design Fiction movie scene.
The Lithopia Project1 offers a design method for anticipatory governance7 of emerging blockchain and DLTs that goes against the current hype of anticipatory and frictionless design promises of full control over user decisions2,11. Instead of predicting user needs that ultimately serve one version of the (industry defined) future, anticipatory prototyping involves the users as stakeholders in the adoption of the emerging technology. It offers templates of blockchain services that present the future scenarios and dilemmas, which can be modified and iterated to support inclusive and democratic “future-making”14,15 that combines prototyping with deliberation.
The Lithopia prototyping templates consist of a dashboard featured on Figure 1 and a design fiction scenario (Figure 2 and 3). While the dashboard integrates the existing social and technical infrastructures (social institutions of marriage and property ownership on the ledger with data from satellites, Hyperledger Fabric REST API, and various open APIs), the design fiction presents exaggerated and artistically rendered use cases that hint at the potential (mis)uses. In this fictional village, some common gestures have unexpected meaning if caught by satellites, and the Lithopians are forced to invent bizarre strategies of hiding under umbrellas to escape their satellites and the blockchain. They also indulge in various techno-superstitions, such as horoscopes of satellite locations, which they use to interpret geopolitical events.
The scenarios are intentionally ambiguous and exaggerated to provoke creative uses of the Lithopia templates on the Github. In the Lithopia context “Sunny days are made for transactions. No clouds prevent satellites from keeping an eye on contracts being made and assets changing hands. People exchange goods, make payments, marry and divorce. All the hustle and bustle of sunny days is recorded by the decentralized digital ledger of the blockchain. Hugs are big and kisses are many to make sure satellites recognize and the blockchain records affection, love, and friendship. In Lithopia, all social contact is a smart contract.”8
Anticipatory prototyping
The Lithopia project serves as an educational tool, but also a participatory probe to critically evaluate the promises of DLTs’ future, in which governance will merge with automation over smart contracts, and we will have a tool to control data tempering, fake news, or even AI simulations. The anticipatory prototypes explicitly connect design with ethical deliberation and policy negotiations by engaging the public directly in the design process rather than predicting user behavior and promising “anticipatory” design.
The prototypes utilize existing open source tools (Hyperledger Fabric and Composer for the blockchain contracts; Node-RED and various open APIs for the dashboard) to create templates on GitHub that support creative and exploratory uses of such technologies. The goal is to help the general public and various stakeholders to understand, experience, experiment with, and deliberate upon the future of blockchain and its integration with other existing technologies.
Blockchain governance and design
While the first decade of blockchain and DLTs was mainly on transactions between humans (Bitcoin blockchain and numerous crypto-alt-currency projects), we are entering a phase that emphasizes integration of these emerging technologies with existing infrastructures and corporate and institutional actors (Ethereum, Ripple, and Corda platforms and protocols) along increasing machine-to-machine transactions, including AI and IoT scenarios (IOTA). The original, libertarian, and crypto-anarchist emphasis on privacy and anonymity of the individuals is transforming into a pragmatic search for convergences of the DLTs with existing social, but also technological, infrastructures (satellites, IoT, banks, and supply chains)4,13 .
...
ActualRealityMove over VR... make way for ACTUAL reality! #reallife #gooutside #nature #wild
Posted by Green.TV on Tuesday, August 14, 2018
…a subject can be a very different object to the perception of other subjects, as Uexküll describes with the example of an oak tree, being an environment for humans, beetles, foxes, birds, and so on:
In the hundred different environments of its inhabitants, the oak plays an ever- changing role as object, sometimes with some parts, sometimes with others. The same parts are alternately large and small. Its wood is both hard and soft; it serves for attack and for defense. If one wanted to summarize all the different characteristics shown by the oak as an object, this would only give rise to chaos. Yet these are only parts of a subject that is solidly put together in itself, which carries and shelters all environments – one which is never known by all the subjects of these environments and never knowable for them.*
Thereby, every organism forms, together with its surroundings, specific contexts of experience…