Section Name Description
Course Documents and Questionnaire File Syllabus Contract

Syllabus Contract

File Quick Reference Schedule
Page Attendance Comments
Essays and Technical Exercises Page Responsibilities for Group Project
Brainstorming Page Initial Ideas for Projects
Page Useful Links and Other Resources
Page Current Discourse

A few media programs that refer to relevant course topics

URL National Academy of Engineering Video Contest

Watch several 1-2 minute videos about "Mega-Engineering".  You can vote for your favorite by 12:00PM on Thursday September 1, or watch them at your leisure to inspire more ideas for your essays or project.  Perhaps you will be able to critique the videos through the lens of appropriate technology.

Course Introduction File Allen vs Diamandis Perspectives

Exploratory Exercise: Allen vs. Diamandis perspectives on technology

Page Syllabus Contract and Essay Guidelines

Syllabus Contract, Essay/Project Guidelines, and Group Designations

Introduction to Appropriate Technology File Sponsoring Research in Appropriate Technology

URL/Ref: Papadopoulos, Frey, Castro, et al., “Sponsoring Research in Appropriate Technology”, ASEE 2014.  Read pages 4-8 (Sections 2 and 3).

 Study Questions and Comments:

  1. E.F. Schumacher was a "radical economist" who wrote what famous book?
  2. What practice did Schumacher criticize as a solution to solve the problems of the developing world (i.e., poor countires)?  Does this practice contiue today?
  3. According the Schumacher what are two twin criticisms of modern mass production?
  4. How did Schumacher propose to address these problems?  Who inspired him?
  5. What was the original name of the organization Practical Action (notice that Practical Action is the author of the next reading)?
File What is Appropriate Technology

URL/Ref: Practical Action, "What is Appropriate Technology?" (ITDG 1993).  Read entire article (pp. 1-6).

Study Questions:

  1. What two regions of the world are identified as having unequal power relations with each other?  Were these regions identified by Schumacher (see previous reading)?  In which of these regions do you live?
  2. Think about what is meant by 'appropriate' and 'inappropriate' technology.
  3. React to the following statement: "need determines technology; technology does not determine need".  Do you agree or disagree that this should be the case?  Do you agree or disagree that this is historically true?
  4. In the article, the use of High-Yielding Varieties (HYV) rice was explained to be problematic in the Asian Green Revolution.  Can you think of other examples of technologies that might have have negative, unintended consequences?
  5. Give a reason, based on the article, to suggest why some peoples are denied choice in determining technology that is appropriate for their needs.
Introductory Concepts of Energy and Power File Human Domination of the Biosphere: Rapid Discharge of the Earth-Space Battery Foretells the Future of Humankind

URL/Ref:  Schramski, Gattie, and Brown.  "Human Domination of the Biosphere: Rapid Discharge of the Earth-Space Battery Foretells the Future of Humankind", PNAS 112(31), August 4, 2015, pp. 9511-9517 (read entire article).

Study Questions

  1. What is the PNAS (in the bibliographic citation)?
  2. How is energy defined in the paper?
  3. What is meant by "low quality" and "high quality" energy?
  4. What is the relationship between photosynthesis and respiration?
  5. What was a key turning point in human civilization with respect to expanding human energy consumption beyond the hunter-gatherers?
  6. What is meant by "recoverable" and "non-recoverable" energy?
  7. What is "net primary production" and how large is it?
  8. What are the two main types of organic chemical compounds that supply energy for human civilization?
  9. Verify the following calculations:
    1. p. 9514, column 1: 74.6x109J/person/yr is equivalent to 2,370 W (1W = 1J/s)
    2. p. 9514, column 1: total annual energy consumption (per person) is 0.53 ZJ (1ZJ = 1021J = 1015MJ)
    3. p. 9514, column 1: 2000 Cal = 8.4 MJ (consult http://www.onlineconversion.com/energy.htm)
    4. p. 9514, column 1: the metabolic rate is 100 W (8.4 MJ/day)
    5. p. 9514, column 2: the average human power demand is 24 times that of the ancient hunter-gatherer (divide one of the above numbers by another - do you see which ones?)
  10. Do the authors make any predictions about the future of human civilization and the earth?

 

URL The Toaster Challenge: Robert Förstemann
URL The Toaster Challenge: Ida Ingemarsdotter
File Energy Unit Conversion Calculator

Here is a good energy unit conversion calculator.  The spreadsheet provided is a simplified version for some common units.

File Introduction to Energy and Power
File Slow Electricity: The Return of DC Power?

URL/Ref: DeDecker.  "Slow Electricity: The Return of DC Power?", Low Tech Magazine, April 27, 2016.  Read entire article

Study Questions

  1. What are the main factors that make DC systems attractive again?
  2. What is the relationship between power loss due to cable resistance and current?
  3. List at least 4 Native DC Power sources or devices (that naturally produce DC power or DC loads)
  4. Besides a hybrid DC-AC system for high power appliances, what is the other alternative presented?

 

Page Optional: How to Calculate Power from Wind Turbine

n/a

File Optional Reading: Energy and Equity

 From Iván Illich. Electronic link

Page Resources RE Calculating Energy Use

Please check out this article from Low-tech Magazine.  It may form the basis of a future assignment.  Other sources will be added later.

URL The Oil in your Oatmeal

How much energy goes into producing and delivering your food, compared with the energy that you actually derive from the food?  I.e., how efficient is our food system?  Also, check out the comment about 'truth in packaging'.

Appropriate Technology and Humanitarian Engineering as General Theoretical Frameworks File An Integrated Framework

URL/Ref: Chapter 10 from Willoughby, Technology Choice: A Critique of the Appropriate Technology Movement, Westview Press, 1990 (link requires access to Biblioteca General).

File Study Guide and Video for An Integrated Framework

Please read the study guide as you read the article and watch this video that will serve as an initial example for discussion of the framework.

Page In-class Exercise

Divide into groups and discuss a key summary and key example for each sub-section of the reading.

Page Visit of Kelvin Willoughby to UPRM 2012
File Humanitarian Engineering

URL/Ref: Chapter 3 from Mitcham and Muñoz, Humanitarian Engineering, Morgan & Claypool, 2010 (link requires access to Biblioteca General).

Study Questions:

  1. How do Mitcham and Muñoz distinguish science from engineering?  Does this relate to any themes from the previous tow readings?
  2. What are the origins of the profession of engineering?
  3. How do Mitcham and Muñoz segue into the topic of engineering ethics?
  4. How do Mitcham and Muñoz define humanitarian engineering?  How does this relate to our discussion of "Appropriate Technology"?
  5. What was one of the major insights of Fred Cuny?
  6. What do Harry Truman's comments about the sharing "technical knowledge" with other "peace-loving peoples" reveal about his attitudes about technology (think about what you read in the previous two readings)?  Do these attitudes views generalize to attitudes embedded in US foreign policy?

 

File Supplemental Reading: Humanitarian Engineering

Entire book: Mitcham and Muñoz, Humanitarian Engineering, Morgan & Claypool, 2010 (requires access to Biblioteca General).

File Supplemental Reading: From Philosophy to Technology

By Carl Mitcham, 1994.

Page Required Case Study Exploration
Strength and Weaknesses of AT Frameworks File A Review of Plausible Criticisms

URL/Ref: Chapter 11 from Willoughby, Technology Choice: A Critique of the Appropriate Technology Movement, Westview Press, 1990 (link requires access to Biblioteca General).

File Notes from Willoughby Chapter 11

PPT Presentation corresponding to "A Review of Possible Criticisms", Chapter 11 from Willoughby.

Critique of the Current Global Development Narrative File The Role of Economics and Buddhist Economics

Ref/URL: Chapters 3 and 4 from E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, Harper & Row, 1973.

Unauthorized(?) electronic versions here and here.

Page Editorial (optional): Small is beautiful – an economic idea that has sadly been forgotten
File Notes on Schumacher Chs. 3 and 4
Page What Others are Saying about Autonomous Technology

 

File Conventional Wisdom – The Current Development Narrative and Why It Doesn’t Work

URL/Ref: Section 1 (Chapters 2-4) from Practical Action, Wellbeing, Technology Justice, and Sustainable Development, 2012 (Unpublished/communicated to Marcel Castro, November 2012).

Related (optional): http://practicalaction.org/technology-justicehttp://policy.practicalaction.org/policy-themes/technology-justice

Study Questions:

  1. What is the relationship between economic growth and happiness?
  2. What are some of the quality of life indicators presented?
  3. What measure appears to be well-correlated with quality of life problems?
  4. Which is the more critical limit on growth, exhaustion of resources or environmental/ecological damage?
  5. What is problematic about the way scientific research is often funded?
  6. What did Schumacher say that exemplifies the concept of non-neutrality of technology?
Technology and Social Justice File What is Design for Social Justice

URL/Ref: J. Leydens, J. Lucena, and D. Nieusma, What is Design for Social Justice, 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Expositiion, Indianapolis, IN.

Study Questions

  1. What is your conception of justice?  Social justice?
  2. What is the authors' basic definition of social justice, as applied to engineering?
  3. What are the four basic design strategies that the authors identify?  Can you give a 2-3 sentence summary of each one?
  4. Reflect on your own courses so far at UPRM.  Even if you are not in engineering, which strategy do you think is the most dominant?
  5. What is perhaps the most dangerous word in a typical engineering or science textbook assignment or problem?
  6. What are the seven social-justice criteria that the authors identify?  Can you give a 2-3 sentence summary of each one?
  7. Reflect on your own courses so far at UPRM.  Can you think of any examples in which a topic or assignment could be integrated with social justice criteria (even if that was not required or examined in your actual class)?
  8. What do the authors propose are the basic arguments for and against integrating social justice criteria into traditional engineering courses?  What might be other arguments?
Page Optional References

These are some very important references that relate to engineering, technology, and justice.

Page Videos/Resources Related to Mining Industry

Study Questions

  1. Identify the various attitudes and values held by the native people; the mining companies; the government; foreign governments; international development agencies.
  2. How might "contextual listening" be applied to a mining engineering project?
  3. What further questions do you have that would help you to better understand the story and context of Berta Cáceres and many activists like her?

For further thought:

  1. Where do the raw materials originate - and how are they extracted - for the myriad of products that we use?
  2. Has history repeated itself with the rise of industries of different epochs, such as cotton, steel, and gold?
Page Other Cases (optional)
URL Video (optional): A CEO's Perspective

Interview with Peter Brabeck, former CEO of Nestlé: what does the interview reveal about his attitudes about technology and social issues?

Compare: http://www.nestle.com/ask-nestle/human-rights/answers/nestle-chairman-peter-brabeck-letmathe-believes-water-is-a-human-right

Compare: http://naturalsociety.com/nestle-ceo-water-not-human-right-should-be-privatized/

Page Some General Questions
  1. Read various narratives of a given issue and compare them.  Do "mainstream" documentaries about "things" or "technology" raise issues of justice?
  2. Pick your favorite large development project or man-made "wonder".  Investigate its history through the lens of justice.  Who benefited?  Who was exploited? What was its footprint? Etc.
  3. Reflect on your current courses or projects.  How might you bring some of the principles and criteria of justice to your work - even if it is not part of the "official" assignment?
Philosophical Theoretical Framework to Analyze the Technological Culture of our Times (I) File Albert Borgmann: Technology and the Character of Everyday Life

URL/Ref: Pieter Tijmes, “Albert Borgmann: Technology and the Character of Everyday Life”, in Hans Achterhuis, editor, American Philosophy of Technology: The Empirical Turn. Trans. Robert P. Crease. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2001, pages 11-36.

File Las láminas de Huyke en torno a Borgmann
Bringing Wellbeing into Development Practice Page Responsible Wellbeing and Energy Threshold

URL/Ref: Castro-Sitiriche, Marcel J. and Luis Jiménez-Rodríguez. "Responsible Wellbeing and Energy Threshold". ETHOS Gubernamental: Revista del Centro para el Desarrollo del Pensamiento Ético, Oficina de Ética Gubernamental, No. VII, San Juan, Puerto Rico, pp. 64-126, June 2014.

Page Optional: Denmark is Happiest Country

n/a

URL Wind Turbines in Peru

Here is the direct link to the file.  The top page is located at practicalaction.org/cross-curricular-case-studies.

La sustitución de las cercanías File La sustitución de las cercanías por la lejanía

URL/Ref: Héctor Huyke-Souffront. “La sustitución de las cercanías por la lejanía”, en Tras otro progreso: Filosofía de la tecnología desde la periferia. Cabo Rojo, Editorial Educación Emergente, 2013, capítulo 6, pp. 107-124.

Atención a los siguientes puntos:

  • Un fragmento de vida cotidiana (Subtítulo 6.2)
  • Acoplamientos fortalecedores
  • Acoplamientos debilitadores
  • Tecnologías arraigantes
  • Principio de las cercanías

 

Page Press and Reaction to Tras otro progreso

File Las láminas de Huyke en torno a la sustitución de las cercanías
Thermodynamics Page Engineering Thermodynamics and 21st Century Energy Problems: A Textbook Companion for Student Engagement

Ref/URL: Riley, D.   Engineering Thermodynamics and 21st Century Energy Problems: A Textbook Companion for Student Engagement.  Synthesis Lecture Series, Morgan & Claypool, 2011.

PLEASE READ PP. 1-6, 9-18, 20-28, 31, 41-42, 46-48, 55-57.

Requires access to UPRM Library Database: http://www.uprm.edu/library/cre/listdbsp.php >> M >> Morgan & Claypool (second page)

Page Additional Readings/Videos
File Thermodynamics Presentation

Brief introduction to some basic concepts of thermodynamics.

Structures and Materials Page Introductory Resources on Structures and Materials
File Introduction to Structural Behavior

This is the presentation outlines broad principles of structural behavior via a review of common structural forms.

Page Introductory Resources on Permaculture and Bioconstruction
Folder Permaculture and Bioconstruction (Optional)

This folder contains all of the documents and presentations contributed by Owen Ingley from Plenitud Iniciativas.

File Earthbag Building in the Humid Tropics (Optional)

This article introduces basic concepts and practices of earthbag construction.  PLEASE READ PRIOR TO LECTURE.

Ethical Theory: Questions and Issues on Climate Change File Las láminas de Huyke en torno a Jamieson
Course Closing Activities File Las láminas de Huyke en torno al segundo ensayo