Public Lab Research note


This is an attempt to replicate an activity.

KKMS Thermal Flashlight Project Sociology 4107

by KKMS | December 15, 2014 17:06 15 Dec 17:06 | #11460 | #11460

Thermal Flashlight Casing

   We decided to reuse a familiar piece of technology for the casing of our thermal flashlight. We used the shell of an xbox 360 controller to put the Arduino inside, facing the censor and the lightbulb out through two of the button holes for transparency and access. The firewire cable port was also easily accessible through the side of the controller that we created by altering the casing. To secure the hardware of our technology, inside the casing we added cotton to protect the wiring from coming loose if dropped or shaken.  The entirety of the casing was held together with electrical tape that provided a waxy grip and sleek finish. We choose to secure the casing with tape for easy access to the hardware if adjustments needed to be made. The on and off switch attached to the battery pack was easily accessible at the back of the casing secured with tape as well. 
In order to make our technology feminist technology we decided to recycle an xbox controller for benefit the environment as well as create a technology that is known to our culture as something inclusive to most of society. This controller is a household object that is built for all ages and genders, making it inclusive to all of its users. Leveling power structures takes away the schemas or gender scripts that are socially constructed to be attached to certain technologies. 
We did not permanently secure the hardware inside of the casing so that the users could open the casing and readjust the tech on their own without issue, this gives the user the ability to break, fix, change, and hack the tech how they see fit. This accessibility puts the user in charge of the technology relating it to a larger system of how they wish to use it, for example changing the calibration of the software to adjust to alternate locations of study as well as climate conditions. A larger system can also be created by bringing other groups together to work on how the tech is used as well as how they alter the design to use it.  

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