Push-pull energy futures, and the design of everyday transactions
Date and time
Location
Online event
How can we use design to reveal critical issues and support deliberation in interactions with algorithmic transactions?
About this event
Access to the talk will be given via a Zoom link emailed prior to the event.
As digital technology becomes more integrated in everyday life, data algorithms start to play a larger role in everyday practices. While it is clear that they enable transactions to be carried out quickly, anywhere, and through various media, decisions behind data transactions are often less clear, and outcomes of practices that they mediate can be overlooked.
This becomes even more critical when it comes to algorithms that mediate distribution of resources such as energy. In this talk I will present two design projects that aimed to explore the social impacts of algorithmic transactions within decentralised systems of energy generation and consumption. The GigBliss hairdryers and the Karma kettles were designed to elicit reactions towards potential outcomes of distributed energy systems and support discussion on expectations over automated systems more broadly. The hairdryers embodied different levels of control, depicting extreme scenarios to support a deliberative process to look for preferable scenarios for such technologies. The network of Karma kettles mimicked a scenario of domestic energy storage and local distribution, where people could track how much energy was currently stored in local batteries (e.g. their neighbourhood) and how much energy was currently available in the overall grid (peak or shortage of supply), and was used to test scenarios of local distribution.
Through the two pieces and study, the talk will look at the role of design in revealing critical issues, supporting deliberation and suggesting preferred approaches that could shape algorithmic-mediated energy distribution in the future.
About the Speaker
Dr Larissa Pschetz is an interaction designer, researcher and lecturer in Design at the University of Edinburgh. She completed a Microsoft-funded PhD in 2014, having previously worked at research centres such as IBM Watson in Cambridge MA, Microsoft Research in Cambridge UK and Microsoft Research Asia, as well as interaction design offices such as IxDS in Berlin and HID in Hamburg, Germany. Her research explores socio-technological narratives, interaction with autonomous systems, and technology inclusion
