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EyeDuino project: a study of community-engaged automated gardening systems powered by renewable energy

Niculescu, Viorel Hamilton (2023) EyeDuino project: a study of community-engaged automated gardening systems powered by renewable energy. Master of Arts thesis, Dublin City University.

Abstract
This study aims to address the digital divide amongst particular communities in Dublin through an innovative assemblage of gardening, renewable energy and bespoke automation systems. Through the combination of gardening (as a social and cultural activity undertaken in specific communities), automation, digital technologies, and networked practices (including a bespoke phone app), this project investigates the social outcomes and attitudes emerging from the gardening system developed for the project and the issues it raises in relation to digital literacy, sustainability and community empowerment. The number of technologies being embedded into the fabric of our society is ever increasing. However, the exposure level to such innovative solutions is not evenly spread across the population. Various determinants ranging from financial to cultural factors shape the process of engagement and adoption of technology, which in turn shapes the population's attitude towards innovations as Hill (1988) and Winner (1989) observed. This uneven diffusion of technologies uptake may result in a potential decrease in people acquiring new skills and knowledge, leading to an increase of the digital divide(N. Taylor et al., 2018). To this end, the author designed six automated gardening systems and deployed them at six community gardens located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland with the intention of discovering the actors that influence the stakeholders' adoption of innovative technologies and reveal the 'accidents' (Virilio & Lotringer, 1983) that happened following this engagement process. Moreover, as these experimental installations are powered by renewable energy produced by photovoltaic solar panels, the participants' sustainability awareness and acceptance are imparted and discussed. The niche innovative gardening systems assisted the participants with their tasks around their garden, while trying to fill the 'attitude-behaviour gap' (Claudy et al., 2012; Ozaki, 2011; Peattie, 2001) regarding adoption of renewable energy sources. Apart from aspects of social, financial and education attainment nature, this study confirms that the 'labor illusion' (Buell & Norton, 2011), a concept providing that people expect to see that the technologies are 'working hard', plays a critical role in stakeholders' willingness to learn new skills related to using those technologies. The participants did not assign a financial value to the gardening automation systems, which were offered to them as a 'gift'. However, they used the systems to advertise their higher affluence within their community, and as an opportunity to show-off their new acquired skills. This played a major role in their engagement with the artefact. Furthermore, the younger participants who are still living with their parents proved that niche innovations may act to breaking the cultural barriers regarding a set of mutually accepted cultural rules within their communities regarding engaging in tasks which are not necessarily perceived as socially acceptable, such as gardening in this instance. The bespoke artefact designed specifically for this project allows the author to reveal and discuss the factors that influenced the participants' attitude related to renewable energy sources. Also, determinants acting as barriers/incentives towards participants from Dublin, Republic of Ireland in engaging with innovations and the resulting outcomes following this interaction are examined.
Metadata
Item Type:Thesis (Master of Arts)
Date of Award:November 2023
Refereed:No
Supervisor(s):Tuite, Declan and Morgan, Trish
Subjects:Social Sciences > Communication
DCU Faculties and Centres:UNSPECIFIED
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. View License
ID Code:29011
Deposited On:03 Nov 2023 14:14 by Declan Tuite . Last Modified 03 Nov 2023 14:14
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