The Digital Politics of Hackspaces and Autonomous Vehicles

The Digital Politics of Hackspaces and Autonomous Vehicles ROYAL HOLLOWAY, 6 T H MAY, RHUL & OU C DT IN CYBER S ECU RITY INT ERNET OF T HINGS WORKSHOP

Aims of my Research To understand the political and social dynamics of the internet’s development: The Internet of Things Autonomous Vehicles & Hackspaces Understanding the details of how it is done Historical analysis of ARPANET Wider range of industrial, political and public actors Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1

Political Communication and Science and Technology Studies (& Philosophy & SCOT). Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1

Theory: Digital Politics & ANT Digital politics is understood as the complex and continuous tension between the maintenance and transformation of the social organisation of power, enacted by various political actors who are motivated by competing meanings and practices, in which crucially, technologies have a key constitutive role (Coleman & Freelon, 2015, p. 2) Actor-Network Theory: tracing actor-networks of entities (human, non-human, machine, symbols, words, algorithms, documents, values, norms…) in action. Looking at the relations between entities and how they assemble together. Doesn’t assume a ‘force’ is acting in the world that makes things happen. World is not separated into ‘domains’, i. e this is political and this is technical. It is all happening at the same time. Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1

The Internet of Things Everyone here has a definition and an understanding. Based on an acquired array of knowledge; everyone’s is important in someway. Basic definitions: The “rapidly growing network of everyday objects that have been equipped with sensors, small power supplies and internet addresses” (Howard, 2015, p. xix). Collection and communication of information (data) on a massive scale. Embedded-technology of a sophistication and scale we’ve never before seen. Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1

The Internet of Things (2) The ‘Internet of Things’ can be a problematic term: Too vague and abstract Too homogeneous Lacking in history Overly instrumental (A term that is finding it’s meaning) Is there really a revolution happening? Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1 UK Government Office for Science (2014)

An Interdisciplinary Approach Different knowledges not only induce different perspectives and understandings, but also different ways of ‘doing’ or developing the internet of things. A need to understanding the way in which different knowledges work in relation to one another. Providing useful repertoires based on political/technical/social/moral/personal/business/government concerns. These are inherently related to each other in any given moment of technological use or design. Dealing with complexity. A pragmatic approach to use and design. Unforeseen circumstance will arise, no matter how rational and careful we are. Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1

‘Pax Technica’: Political & Social Issues? Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1

The GATEway Project The Greenwich Automated Transport Environment (GATEway) is an £ 8 million project jointly funded by business and Innovate UK. The stated aim of the project is to “understand overcome the technical, legal and societal barriers to implementing automate vehicles in an urban environment”. The project, based in Greenwich, London, will trial automated vehicles use in different contexts, with the results helping industry, policy makers and the public understand the implications of automated vehicles- and convince them to invest or support it. I have fieldwork access to interviews with project staff, project documents and correspondence, visits to HQ, project meetings, live tests and public-engagement as well as the publicly available material like tweets, pressreleases and their website. Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1

Hackerspaces, et al. Hackerspaces, fablabs or makerspaces, can be basically defined as open workshops, with a variety of different tools and equipment, where people can go to make, or break, stuff. People in the space often engage in, but are not limited to, woodworking, computing and electronic engineering. However, there are many distinguishing differences and specialties between hackspaces, making an encompassing definition of the spaces, as well as the ‘makers’ and ‘hackers’ within them, difficult. The number of active hackspaces around the world has exploded in recent years- and numbers continue to grow. My fieldwork is based around interviews and observations that I carried out, during weekly open evenings, in four different hackspaces and two fab labs across the southern United Kingdom. Access was informal and based around willing participants on the night, although came to be based in part around the familiarity that I built with the hackspaces- some more than others. This fieldwork is scheduled to last from September 2015 to December 2016. Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1

Preliminary Findings: A Distributed Politics 1) Actors find, and add political, social and moral value to their technical environments. HP: freely, but constrained by ethos. GW: Code of practice, government objectives and vision, mix with consortium interests and private beliefs in value of technology. 2) Actors share their skills and knowledge, these skills and knowledge translate additional value. HP: Non specific-goal. GW: specified goal, mandated as part of a consortium funded by government 3) Heterogeneous and conflicting socio-technical environment. HP: Parts from China, leaseholders, ‘open-source’ and anti-consumerism all in one place. GW: Concerns of actors can interfere, aspects of open-source emerge. Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1

Preliminary Findings: A Reified Public and it’s Concerns (2) Strong concerns with social responsibility, community and public problems. Duty based on power to act. “We can so we should mentality” “We should design our transport systems to be as safe as is practicable. Now, at the moment, we accept on UK roads, 5/6 people will die every day. 10 times that number suffering life changing injuries, every day. I don’t think that’s acceptable. ” “The last student I helped, she had these fantastic ideas, and we built all the prototypes and it all worked and she’s gone into, straight into a managerial position in a gift and gadget company, thinking up these crazy ideas and productions. ” Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1

Preliminary Findings: Keeping The Lid off the Black Box Ajar (3) In both cases, the lid is very much open. Hackspaces use this as purposeful practice. They want to look inside, literally and metaphorically. GATEway appear to be incidentally keeping the box open. Lots and lots of value being put in- how long will the lid stay open? Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1

What Kind of Political Agency Do We Need for The Internet of Things? Declan Mc. Dowell-Naylor, RHUL @Declan_djmn 1