The Telescopea story about children and their technology

by Michael Moorefor CCTP-742 in Fall, 2008

Maddie, a girl who lived on the moon, was fascinated with Earth. “I’m going to make a telescope,” she said.

Maddie thought for a moment. “I will ask Danny,” she said, “He makes things all the time.”

Introducing the “hero” of our story, the Engineer

“Do you know how to make a telescope?” her mom asked.

“But how will you know what you see through the telescope?”

Maddie thought for a moment. “I know,” she said, “I’ll ask a whole bunch of people. We can figure it out together.”

Yochai Benkler, Cass Sunstein, and the (potential) wisdom of the crowds

And so, Maddie gathered a group of friends to help build and use a telescope.

the first stage of enrolment :: bringing actors together

“Well, what should it look like?”

“Should it be big or small?”

“Where will we put it?”

problems are socially constructed by stakeholders (in this case, a little girl)

“I am not sure if the telescope should be big or small,” Maddie said. “But since we are all working on it together, we should make a telescope that we can share.”

“We should build a huge, silver telescope,” one boy said. “My parents just bought a new refrigerator, and they said the big, silver one was the best.”

“Wait,” said another boy, “We should make a small, red telescope. I have a small, red birdhouse and the birds seem to like it.”

actors problematizing the world through their rhetoric

Faced with two alternatives, the children turned to a vote.

“I think our telescope should be the best telescope around,” one girl said. “And since the best things are big and silver, I vote for the big and silver telescope. It would be silly to vote for anything else.”

as alliances form, dissent becomes increasingly costly

Maddie liked the idea of a small, red telescope. But, she also wanted everyone to be happy.

She changed her mind. “I vote for the silver telescope,” she said. One by one, the other children followed suit.social politics information cascades

And so, Danny went to work building the large, silver telescope for the group.

Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan.unintended consequences are unavoidable

“You asked for big,” Danny said, “and I made it big! Isn’t it wonderful? I made the biggest, most silver telescope the moon has ever seen. It is an engineering marvel!”

elegant design is rarely practical design

While the children were happy for Danny’s accomplishment, the enormous telescope presented a problem.

Because the telescope was too big to move, the children had to leave it on the outskirts of town. This meant that they would have to walk very far each time they wanted to use it. telescopes [and technologies] have politics; technologies create specific worlds

At first, the children did not mind the long walks. Maddie and her friends would spend their time talking about the telescope and picturing what earth might look like.

we make due with what we have

But, as time went by, the children realized that it was increasingly difficult to share their experiences. Even after walking so far, only one person could use the telescope at any given time. This made it difficult for the children to share their ideas.

politics emerge when technology becomes a social practice

Maddie wondered, “Are all telescopes like this?” Was it a mistake to think that she and her friends could use any telescope together?

Maddie decided to plan another group meeting.

thoughts of technological determinism danced in her head

At the meeting, the children discussed what had happened.

“I asked my mom why we couldn’t all use the telescope together, one girl said. “She told me that’s just the way telescopes are. Only one person can use them at a time.”

from deliberation to reflection

“Wait a minute,” Maddie said, “The telescope didn’t have to be so big! We could have made a smaller telescope!”

you mean our technology was socially constructed?

“We had a choice.”

Maddie reminded the children of their first meeting. She reminded them that they voted for the big silver telescope instead of the small, red telescope.

“But we voted for the silver telescope because it was the best plan,” one boy said.

“Did we really vote for it because it was best?”

alliances built on honeyed words

“I voted for it because someone said silver would be the best.”

“I voted for it

because I wanted everyone to get along.”

“What if we had made a different choice?”

envisioning an alternative history

Maddie thought for a moment. “If we made a smaller telescope,” she said, “it would be easier to share. We could take turns bringing it home instead of leaving it outside of town.”

“And instead of using all of Danny’s time on one big telescope, he could make lots of little telescopes. Maybe we could each have our own.”

a brief technology assessment: under what circumstances can we achieve our goals

One of the children looked puzzled.

“But what if there’s a problem with all the little telescopes? If Danny makes them all the same, they will all have the same problem. And then we’ll end up with another big problem, just like with our big telescope.”

faced with complexity, spread your risks! diversify!

“Well,” Maddie said, “what if everyone’s telescope was just a little different? Then we could find out which telescopes worked best for our group.”

diversification, selection, amplification, repeat

The puzzled boy remained puzzled. “How will we know which telescopes are the good ones?”

We could ask an expert,” one girl suggested, “but I guess experts might make mistakes.”

“Maybe we should all decide together,” another boy said, “But when we all decided on our first telescope, it didn’t work out so well.”

the trials and tribulations of aggregating information

Maddie thought for a minute. “Maybe instead of asking just one telescope expert, we could ask a whole bunch.”

“But what if that group has the same problem as our group?” the puzzled boy replied. “Since we were all friends, we all agreed with one another.”

recognizing the limits of the Condorcet Jury Theorem

“OK,” Maddie said, “We’ll have to make sure our group of experts come from all over the moon. If they come from different places, they probably won’t know each other. And if they don’t know each other, they’re more likely to speak their minds.”

“And whenever our group comes up with a good telescope, we’ll be sure to test it and see how it works.”

using the power of networks to our advantage

“And if we come up with a really good telescope, we can share our ideas with other kids on the moon.”

“We‘ll need some sort of network! But one that isn’t too dense! We don’t want redundant information.”

“Oh, and we’ll need standards! How else will we compare our findings?”

the potential for non-market collaboration

OTA reborn…

Without realizing it, the children had moved on from the telescope.

Slowly, they were starting to play a new game.

Images by:

Diana Cornell

and Flickr Creative Commons users:

Clagnut http://www.flickr.com/photos/clagnut/252185030/sizes/l/

Damien Roué http://www.flickr.com/photos/damienroue/2875259386/sizes/l/

donkerdink http://www.flickr.com/photos/donkerdink/1120614555/sizes/l/

Dr. cornelius http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrec/140591890/

foreversouls http://www.flickr.com/photos/foreversouls/66272247/

Gaetan Lee http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaetanlee/267611809/

Hdptcar http://www.flickr.com/photos/hdptcar/2496807989/sizes/o/

Kill box http://www.flickr.com/photos/killbox/394841510/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Malkav http://www.flickr.com/photos/manicomi/2391828247/sizes/l/

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Never cool in school http://www.flickr.com/photos/nevercoolinschool/2785475907/sizes/l/

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Tallkey http://www.flickr.com/photos/tallkev/256810217/sizes/l/

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Tim Morgan http://www.flickr.com/photos/timothymorgan/75288771/

tom@hk http://www.flickr.com/photos/gracewong/312922513/in/photostream/

Upyernoz http://www.flickr.com/photos/upyernoz/2886657406/

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