(1st-draft) money to the tiny big journey: tracking money for revealing our relationship

7/21/2019 (1st-draft) Money to the Tiny Big Journey: Tracking money for revealing our relationship

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Money tothe Tiny Big Journey

writer:

Perus Saranurak

Tracking money for revealing our relaonship


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Project:

Money;

To the Tiny Big JourneyTrackingmoneyforrevealingourrelationship

Goldsmiths, University of London

Techno-NatureTherelationshipbetweenhumanandnatures

Writer:PerusSaranurakMADesignFutures33307884

Printonthe15thofMarch20141

stedition


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0

Contents

Introduction......................................................................................................... 1

Overview:betweenhuman&nonhuman......................................................1

Projectstatement............................................................................................ 1

Money:theobjectofvalue..................................................................................2

Whyismoney?................................................................................................. 2

Moneyin

this

project

.......................................................................................

4

Project:theTinyBigJourney................................................................................5

Collectivevalues............................................................................................... 5

Revealingmethod............................................................................................ 5

Reportonpractice............................................................................................... 6

Theprocessofcreatingastory:trackingmoney.............................................6

Pilottest

...........................................................................................................

7

Story:TinyBigJourney.........................................................................................9

Prototype:theJourneyDiary.........................................................................10

Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 13

Reflectfromthepractice...............................................................................13

Backtothekeyquestion................................................................................13

Reference........................................................................................................... 14


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IntroductionTinyBigjourney:thejourneyofmoney

Overview: between human & non-humanIn technonature class, studying about the essence of technology, it also

questionsmewhatistheessenceofhumanity,creatureorlife.Nowadaysbothof

themseemtomergeandtoenhanceeachother,whichbecomesproblematicto

distinguish them clearly. As Bradley (2006, p.3) said that the ontological

boundariesbetweenthehumanandthetechnologicalconstantlyneedtobere

drawn.

Project statementByfocusingondigitalerawearelivingin,itcanbeseenthatatonatonofdata

hasbeencreated ineverysecond,everymoveandplace.Atthesametime,the

datapossiblycouldbeseenasithasalifeandfedbyhumans.

To question on the boundary between human and technological, this project

wouldliketogiveanideaaboutwhatwoulditbewhenweseethelifelesstools

asa livething.Thustheprojectwillusesometoolstorevealthe senseof life.

Andalifelesstoolwhichthisprojectchoosesismoney.

This project tries to change the role we normally see money, as a tool for

exchangeability, to be a tiny traveller. This project will use the data which

generatewhenweusemoney for creating theunique storyof eachbanknote,

suchasajourneydiaryorpassport.


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Money:theobjectofvalueValue is an addition to the completely determined objective being states

GeorgSimmel(1990,p.60).

Why is money?Basically, money is the tools for representing value. Also, by considering the

propertiesofmoney,itseemstosignificantlyrelatetotheessenceoftechnology

thatHeidegger

(1977) states

in

questioning

concerning

technology.

For

example,

in a city life, humans are surrounded by commodities which make life easier

becausewe,asconsumers,canusemerelymoneyasastandardtooltoexchange.

Conversely,many seem tobelieve thatmoneybecomes the must for survival.

AccordingtoArthurBradley(2006,p.3),hesaidabouttheideaoftechnologythat

it can no longer be seen as tools, but it's become the basic and enabling

conditionofourlifeworld.

Thischapter

will

introduce

the

key

function

of

money,

the

object

of

value.

Economic valueFirstly, the function of money could be seen as to visible economic value. It

represents a standard value in the community to enable to exchange and to

comparetheeconomicvalueofeverything;includingproducts,objects,material,

resources, lands, experiences, story, knowledge, beliefs, also human andmany

things.Thisprocessisknownaspricing.

However,the

nature

of

money

value

is

not

same

as

gold

value.

Gold

has

avalue

fromitselffromhowrichofitsmateriality.Evenmoneycanrepresentthevalueof

gold,butthevalueofmoneydoesnotrelatetoitsmaterial.Inthephilosophyof

moneyGeorg Simmel (1990,p.120121)explains that thevalueofmoney isby

expressingtherelativityofthingsthatmakeupthevalue.Moreover,thebasisof

moneycouldbeseenasafuturepromiseandanacceptanceinthecommunity.


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In theway thatmoneyrepresentsavalue, ithas todistortthequalitativevalue

intothequantitativemeasurableunit.Thisalsoaffectsourperceptionsbecauseit

revealsonly

economic

value

and

blinds

other

values,

such

as

the

relationship

betweenpeopleintheprocessofexchange.

Exchangeability Mostinteractionsbetweenpeopleareformsofexchange,whichdevelops

toberelationships.EvenSimmel (1990,p.82)states in thePhilosophyof

Money.Actually,Moneyisproducedtobeatoolforexchangeability.Also,

heexplains(2009,p.210)thatMoneyisthepurestformofthetooland it

has

the

capacities

in

transformation,

mobility,

communication,

store

and

beingthestandard.

By itscapacity, Itcanbe transferredbetweenperson topersoncontinuously. In

another view, it could be the one of the powerful object in connecting many

peoplewho never know each other together. However, nowadays the society

becomesmorecompetitiveandisolated.Followthis,Moneycouldbeseenasthe

toolsforindividualachievement.Aswell,mostconsumerstendtoconcernmore

merelyabouttheproducttheyarebuyingandlessinthesellerswhotheytalkto.

Obviously,this

situation

usually

happens

in

ashopping

mall

where

the

economic

systemcutstherelationshipbetweenpeopletoenrichtheproductivity.

ParadigmSomecouldseethatmoneycanextendlivingconditionstobefreedom,interms

of controllable and independent life. Because, following economic patterns,

money could be used to access and achieve almost everything in our lives,

includingthestatusinsociety.

Conversely,the

economic

system

also

illustrates

the

picture

of

ameaningful

and

successful lifetomotivate itself.Hench,mostpeopletirethemselvestotherole

of consumers. By comparing with the notion of technology, Albert Borgmann,

citedbyPeterPaulVerbeek (2002,p.2),states thattechnology in termsofa

paradigm,apattern in thewaypeople livetheir lives,whichcomesaboutwhen

theyusetechnology.


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Furthermore, in thesedays, it ishardly to imaginehow to livewithoutmoney.

This could clarify the Heideggers word everywhere we remain unfree and

chainedto

technology,

in

the

worst

possible

way

when

we

regard

it

as

somethingneutral(1977,p.3).

Money in this projectHowever, inmypointofview, the importanceofmoneybelongstorelationship

and diversity. Money allows a person to contact with other persons who are

different.Ifwearelivingintheworldwithoutconnection,orifeveryoneissame,

money would be valueless. So, this project would like to reveal the value of

moneyin

the

aspect

of

the

relationship.


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Project:theTinyBigJourneyCollective valuesByconnectingmanypeopletogether,moneycouldbeusedasatoolforrevealing

therelationship.Andtheoneaspectthisprojectconcerniscollectivevalue.For

understandingthecollectivevalue,MarcusHedahl(p.1)explainsthattheessence

ofcollectivevalues istodo together,notonlycommonunderstanding. Itwould

be grounded inour collective concernwhich couldbecome the valuesofours,

wevalue

Toextend

the

idea

of

the

collective

value,

which

could

be

experienced

in

activities

or practices, this projectwould like to reveal wevalues by record them. This

couldmakewevaluetobemorevisibleforreviewingandcomparing.

Revealing methodThisprojectwill use thispotentialofmoney in interactingwithmanydifferent

crowdstorevealthecollectivevalue.Inthisprocess,thisprojectwillfollowthe

oneofmetadesigntoolsnameCollectivestorytelling,atool forthe transition

from'me

ness'

to

'we

ness'.

(Metadesigner.org).

ThisprojectadaptsCollectivestorytellingtooltobetherevealingmethod:

1. Createtheplatformwhichenablespersonswhohavethesamebanknotes

sharingtheirindividualactivities,experiencesorstoriestothegroup.

2. Track banknotes to collect the story and show the relationship between

people.

3. Transformthedata intotheunique formatofthediary,whichconnectall

activitieseachbanknotefromvariouspeopletogether.

The story will show that each person is in the part of the whole story and

experiencethesenseofthecollectivevalue.Thisisthereasonthatwhythisessay

focusingatbanknotebecauseithasanumberwhichcanidentifyandtrackonits

journeytoseeunexpectedrelationship.


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ReportonpracticeThe process of creating a story: tracking moneyFirstly, themethod for trackingof thisproject is to stickabanknotewithaQR

code because it can use as a shortcut to run a program,which the users can

accessaninstructionanduseit.

However,after ItalkedwithPeteRoger,GoldsmithsSeniorComputingTutor,he

mentions that theQR code technology is notpopular and a bit complicate for

massusers.Thus,thiswouldbehardtogetthedata.Also,hesuggeststwitter is

wouldbethebesttoolbecauseitiseasy,ithasamillionofusers,andithasmany

pluginswhichcanusetosupportthisprojectinmanydirectionsinstepfurther.

LegalconditionScriptingonabanknoteisillegalintheUK:

"Concerningnotes,theCurrency,andBankNotesAct1928saysIfanypersonprints,orstamps,

orbyanymeansimpresses,onanybanknoteanywords,lettersorfigures,heshall,inrespect

ofeachoffence,be liableonsummaryconvictiontoapenaltynotexceedingonepound.The

penaltywas

changed

to

25

in

1977

(Criminal

Law

Act,

s.31)

and

to

200

in

1982

(Criminal

JusticeAct,s.46)."

Moreover,tostickaQRcodeoraninstructoronthebanknotecouldprobablybe

illegal too, but in the pilot test I try to inform users by sticker. Even it is not

successful,butIhavearelevantissuefromthistest.

Otherprojectsintracking banknotesThis is theexistingwebsiteswhich create theplatform for report thebanknote

dataand

show

the

location.

WheresGeorge?:ThisprojectintheUSsince1998:

(http://www.wheresgeorge.com/wild.php).

Wheresyourmoney?:ThisprojectisintheUKsince2009:

(http://wheresyourmoney.com/).Thissiteaskspeopletowritetheweblinkon

thebanknote.


10/18

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10

Prototype: the Journey DiaryThe final expectation of this project is to bring thejourney ofmoney into the

tangibleperception.

So,

scrapbooks

or

diary

books

would

be

the

final

approach

of

thisproject.

However,thetrackingprocessrequiresaverylongperiod,ascanbeseen inthe

project of Wheres George? and Wheres your money?. For making a

prototype, this project will use the data from (http://wheresyourmoney.com/)

andrepresentitasapassportwhichshowsthetravellingstoryofthebanknote.

FIGURE 5:THE METHOD TO CREATE PROTOTYPE:

TRANSFORM DATA FROM WHERES YOUR MONEYWEBSITE


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ConclusionReflect from the practiceThisprojectstillhasmanyproblemswhichcouldbeseenwhiledoingthepractical

experiment.Firstly, it is lackofmotivationtobringpeopletobethepartsofthe

storytellers. In the interview,many interviewers say they do not know how it

workandwhat itwouldbe in theend.Thus, tomake theusersunderstand the

wholesystem,thisprojectshouldstartfromtheoutcomeoftheproject,suchasa

websiteorrealdairybooks.

Secondly,the

number

of

banknotes

is

quite

long

(e.g.

KC55

218411)

and

unfamiliar.Inthenextstep,thisprojectwilluseonlytheprefix(e.g.KC55),which

refertogroupsofthosebanknoteswhichoriginatedatthesametimeandplace,

fromthiswebsiteofPamWestBritishNotes.Furthermore,theidentificationby

number or code is in the format of production, nonhuman, which should be

transformed into a name. For example, the number KC55 matches with the

name Kelly in the baby name guidebook. This could encourage people to

participateanddevelopthesenseoflifeinthestoryofmoney.

Finally, the story should have some benefit back to the community. So, this

project can apply to the B (Brixton pound project), the project in Brixton,

London,UK,makemoneyworkforthatareaforsupportingthesmallshopsand

markets there (http://brixtonpound.org/).Moreover, themethodofBwould

bethegoodcontextforTinyBigJourneyprojectbecauseitisacloseareawhich

canbeeasierto informthe inhabitants.Also,theapproachofthisprojectcould

be seen as the collective storieswhich can enrich the collective value in the

community.

Back to the key questionIn my opinion, the boundary between human and technology have already

ruined.Bothhumanandtechnologyare interdependent.According to Ivan Illich

(1990,p.10),hesuggeststheideaoftoolsforconvivialitythatPeopleneednew

toolstoworkwithratherthantoolsthatworkforthem.Humanshouldchange

perceptionabouttechnology,notseeasourslave,butasourpartner.


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Reference Bradley,A&Armand,L(2006),ThinkingTechnicity.InABradley&LArmand

(Eds),Technicity.CharlesUniversityPress,Prague,pp.115.

Hedahl,M.Collectivevalues.InAcademia.edu.

https://www.academia.edu/1124996/collective_values[Accessed03/03/14].

Heidegger,M.(1977).Thequestionconcerningtechnology,andotheressays.NewYork:Harper&Row.

Illich,I.(1973).Toolsforconviviality.NewYork:Harper&Row. Lockheart,

J&

Tham,

M.

(2008)

Tool

no.52

Collective

story

telling.

In

Metadesignersnetwork(etal.).http://metadesigners.org/Tool52Collective

StoryTelling/[Accessed03/03/14].

PamWestBritishNotes.MakeMoneyfromBanknotes

(http://britishnotes.co.uk/news_and_info/make_money/). [Accessed

03/03/14].

Simmel,G.(1978).Thephilosophyofmoney.London:Routledge&KeganPaul.

The

Brixton

Pound.

http://brixtonpound.org/

[accessed

10/03/14].

Verbeek,PeterPaul.(2002).DevicesofEngagement:OnBorgmann'sPhilosophyofInformationandTechnology.PhilosophyDocumentationCenter.

WheresGeorge?.http://www.wheresgeorge.com/wild.php.[Accessed

03/03/14].

Wheresyourmoney?.(http://wheresyourmoney.com/).[accessed03/03/14].


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(1st-draft) money to the tiny big journey: tracking money for revealing our relationship

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