Jen van der Meer

5 minute video involving several leaps of faith for the future of the internet of things. To be fair, one of the narrators at the end admits these are the baby step years for the internet of things.

Internet of Things defined as the point when data about things is greater than data about people.

You might be sending text messages, but the sidewalk you’re walking on has sensors, and the water mane and the bus and the trains - all of these independent systems have the potential to one day talk to each other, and autonomic-ly self-organize.

The smarter planet potential:

1. Produce greater efficiency, as we learn to coordinate systems of systems and better use the resources of the earth.
2. Generate greater insights, watch new forms of social relations emerge for how we can organize to live on this planet.

April 19th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (2,407)

We try to get hopeful in this class, on the way to final presentations.

April 18th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (1,526)

It’s not every day that we get to see a Federally-funded hack:

More of the story here if you want to make one yourself.

April 18th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (3,284)

Op-Chart in the NYTimes on the weekend of the iPad launch - a lifecycle analysis of the iPad, timely for discussing the core element of analysis in LCA - the functional unit.

Daniel Goleman, author of Ecological Intelligence and Gregory Norris, LCA software expert at Harvard authored the “chart” comparing e-readers. The authors compared the Kindle, the iPad and a book by determine the functional unit as the reading of 1 book, and measured the “payback” of how many books one would have to read on an e-reader to = the ecological impact of a regular non electronic book.

With respect to fossil fuels, water use and mineral consumption, the impact of one e-reader payback equals roughly 40 to 50 books. When it comes to global warming, though, it’s 100 books; with human health consequences, it’s somewhere in between.

All in all, the most ecologically virtuous way to read a book starts by walking to your local library.

As an avid library user, even I find this conclusion smug. It makes me want to stop going to the library, and buy an iPad. The students also felt that this statement encouraged people even further to make the jump and buy an eReader, because 40-50 books seemed like a reasonable goal for someone buying such a device.

In class however we determined several other “functional units” of the iPad that were not analyzed in the LCA:

_Use of a bazillion non e-book apps.
_Listening to music.
_Watching hulu. Nope can’t do that because of the flash problem.
_Making art with digital fingerpainting apps.

And then we also identified more emotional/cultural uses that we would never be able to measure in an LCA:

_Showing off/bling status/class status.
_Give us ideas future world-saving (or at least world-distracting) apps we will build.
_Provide ideas for making SPIMES that would be materialized only on the iPad screen.
_Acquiring something to put in our Gucci bag designed specifically for the iPad.

And all of this points right to the limits of LCA. If you believe the device has the potential to change the culture for the better in the future (only 1/3 of students believed so), how do you account for the ecological impacts today?

April 18th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (2,417)

Stakeholder management is an alternative to shareholder-based management, but shareholders are still at the table. In this class we look at the impact of shareholders on how things are made. Review of sources of competitive advantage, limits to growth theories, and emerging alternatives to the current organizational structures available. Social entrepreneurship, Coops, Conscious Capitalism discussed and debated.

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March 9th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (2,516)

For the rest of this course, 11 students will become obsessed with 11 things. How these things are made. Where they are made. Who makes them. Who consumes them. How people make money of of these things. How these things are marketed. How governments regulate these things. How activists and NGOs advocate to change the way these things are made. The greenhouse gas emissions that result from this thing being made, consumed, and landfilled (or recycled). The environmental effect of this thing on human health, environmental health beyond greenhouse gas emissions. And then, we will find a better way to make these things.

Here are the 11 things:

Eyeglasses
A Smart Phone
M & Ms
A Sandwich with Prosciutto and Mozzarella Cheese
Cigarettes
Iceberg Lettuce
Condoms
Legos
Electric Car Batteries
Algae-Based BioFuel
Zipcar

March 9th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (2,352)

What role does government and regulation play in determining how stuff is made? Short answer - it depends on local, regional, state, federal, foreign governments, and international organizational administrations. In a stakeholder view of how things are made, regulation is one of the fastest changing, hardest-to-predict forces and as makers, we need to work in advance of legislation, to lead the market.

March 9th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (1,793)

NYU ITP class on life cycle assessment, systems thinking, and stakeholder management. Week 3: In a stakeholder management model, what role to local community groups, activist organizations, workers’ advocacy groups, and other NGOs play in determine how stuff is made?

March 9th, 2010 | Category: Backstories, ITP | Comments (1,964)

Discussion of initial LCA research as a background to product story.

Consumer behavior as a lever of change.

February 1st, 2010 | Category: Backstories, Behavior Change, ITP, Uncategorized | Comments (2,360)