KEYWORDS Defamiliarization domestic technology Kenya rural solar - PDF document

1 KEYWORDS Defamiliarization; domestic tec
KEYWORDS Defamiliarization; domestic technology; Kenya; rural; solar; sustainability. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from Permissions@acm.org Uwimbabazi, and N. Simiyu. 2018. Defamiliarizing the Domestic: Exploring ÒM-Kopa SolarÓ and Sustainable Practices in Rural Kenyan Household for critical reflectionÓ about the design of domestic technologies [3]. to recent efforts to

2 develop ICTs that support the remembran
develop ICTs that support the remembrance of dead family members in Japanese homes [44]. The breadth of family types, geographic regions, and cultures examined in this research demonstrates that Òhomes are not the same everywhereÓ [3], and shows the varied ways ICTs have, and will, become integrated into peoplesÕ domestic lives. However, significant gaps in the literature remain, and Ð as Desjardins et al. found in their comprehensive review of these studiesÑthis research overwhelmingly takes place in American and European contexts. They write that this narrow focus Òcreates a western view of the home,Ó adding this is a limitation of research in the fiel[10]. At the same time, interest in ICT use in Africa and similar contexts (generally described as ÒdevelopingÓ countries) is growing, as evidenced by a number of studies conducted in Kenya (e.g., countries prompt critical reflection on taken-for-granted aspects of home life (e.g., not all homes are single-family dwellings and Ònot everyone has broadbandÓ)[5]. She wr

3 ites that this defamiliarization process
ites that this defamiliarization process Òopens up new possibilities for the design of domestic technologiesÓ, adding that technologists Òneed to find strategies Figure 1: Flyer produced in June 2016 advertising M-Kopa Solar system, that includes the control box, solar panel, radio, from studying sustainable practices in the Òdeveloping worldÓ (e.g., [22]), and as Bidwell et al. acknowledge, most discussions of sustainability in these fields neglect Òthe 50% of the world that live on less than $2.50 a day and the 70% of the (É) worldÕs poor who live rurallyÓ [4], despite these populations being archetypal examples of sustainability. However, barring the exception of Shrinivasan et al.Õs research investigating energy conservation in Indian homes [39], there are few examples of such research in these fields. 2.2 Solar Home Systems in African Households Evaluations of commercially-available products used in developing countries are uncommon in HCI/ubicomp; however, such studies exist in other disciplines (e.g., e

4 ngineering and development studies). Nie
ngineering and development studies). Nieuwenhout et al. reviewed studies of solar home system conducted in developing countries. They concluded that Òan adequate service infrastructure is required to make projects viable,Ó adding that a limitation of these studies was Òa lack of documentary information on actual experience of households with solar home systemsÓ [29]Ñan omission we Òd.light D20gÓ solar home lighting system in Ugandan households [7]. As with other studies described, these studies are quantitative. Their findings provide mixed perspectives regarding the benefits of adopting solar home systems in African households. Our qualitative design-oriented approach contributes to these debates, as does our focus on M-Kopa Solara system that was not yet commercially available when many of the aforementioned studies were conducted. 3 BACKGROUND: BUNGOMA AND M-KOPA SOLAR Kenya straddles the equator, and thus solar resources are plentiful; this makes the country an excellent site for exploring the uptake of a solar-po

5 wered home lighting system. We conducted
wered home lighting system. We conducted fieldwork in Bungoma County because of our familiarity with the area; in May 2015, we witnessed the opening of an M-Kopa shop in town, and were curious to learn how people used their products. Bungoma County is located in western KenyaÕs Lake Victoria basin, and is an 8hour bus ride from Nairobi; it has an urbanizing town center, which is surrounded by smaller market towns and rural villages with clusters of mud and thatch houses. Small-scale agriculture is the primary source of employment for 58% of households in the county, and just 4.5% of BungomaÕs households are connected to KenyaÕs national electrical grid (for more details see [47]). As is the case in many African countries, the prohibitively high costs4 of providing electricity access mean Kopa. 2.4 M-Kopa Solar The Nairobi-based M-Kopa Solar company was founded in 2012, and retail shops selling their products are becoming more path akin to that in industrialized countries, and taking into account that the costs of g

6 rid electrification costs are greater th
rid electrification costs are greater than those of providing solar home systems [1, 46]. The companyÕs most popular product is the ÒM-Kopa IV Solar Home System,Ó which consists of a small solar panel, two LED light bulbs (with accompanying on/off switches), a rechargeable flashlight, a rechargeable radio, a book-sized Òcontrol boxÓ which contains a rechargeable battery, and a phone charging cable and five other cables used to attach components to the Òcontrol boxÓ. In early 2017, the company introduced ÒM r, one was a dairy farmer, one worked at an NGO, and others were drivers of ÒmatatusÓ (public vans) or also had chicken coops on their properties, where they raised poultry for meat and eggs, a practice that the M-Kopa system supported in unexpected ways. In five households, we observed the systemÕs LED bulbs placed inside a ÒbrooderÓ Ñthat is, a container (typically an old cardboard box, worn basket, or plastic basin) where hens hatch and care for their chicks; the light was used to keep the chicks warm. Domes

7 tic features that were mostly absent fro
tic features that were mostly absent from the homes in our study, but which were taken for granted in prior much with light (É). Where I used to live there used to be blackou households told us they had been spending roughly 13-17$/month for paraffin and/or kerosene before getting M-Kopa and Swahili, in recognition of the fact that different users may be Participants also appreciated ÒM-KopaÕs Customer CareÓÑthat is, the after-sales services offered to customers. The majority told us they were satisfied with the companyÕs support staff, adding that they were polite, accessible via the phone, and capable of answering their questions. A few participants told us they were able to get replacements for broken bulbs or flashlights at the MKopa store in Bungoma Town, another aspect of customer support which was appreciated. It was the regular SMS messages sent by ÒM-Kopa Customer CareÓ that were participants' most frequent engagement with the company. These messages reminded users about when payments were due or late,

8 and confirmed when they had been receive
and confirmed when they had been received. Most people were able to make their daily payments, and planned to own the system outright within the year. Just two participants told us the payments (about $3.00 a week) were unaffordable, and although most were able to make them, more than half (12 households) roducts to people. We also see that rural residents do not live their lives in health, education, or infrastructure sectors (the primary focus areas in HCI4D/ICTD). Our focus on M-Kopa and domestic spaces more generally draws attention to alternative concernsÑoverlooked in HCI4D/ICTD researchÑincluding domestic security, lighting, and anxieties about the ozone layer. Lastly, we see that rural Kenya is a site of innovation, in particular as it relates to the adoption of emerging technologies which support sustainable practicesÑfindings that counter assumptions within We build upon these findings, observing that rather than designing the system so that it works with participantsÕ existing control box, upgrading req

9 uires getting a new oneÑanother design d
uires getting a new oneÑanother design decision which seems counter to sustainable development. These factors must be considered when developing sustainable systems for the home. 5.2 Regional Parallels in HCI/Ubicomp Our findings draw attention to differences between homes in rural Kenya and those in the U.S. or U.K., as well as significant similarities between homes in these regions and elsewhere. Bell et al. observe that the Òtarget of domestic technology design is often not the user, but the consumer,Ó adding that domestic technologies Òfollow a symbiosis between consumption and technology; technology helps us consume (É)Ó; findings which emerged from their studies of this domestic life in the U.K and in China. This also appears to be the case in rural Kenya. They add 142. [13] Froehlich, J., Everitt, K., Fogarty, J., Patel, S. and Landay, J. 2009. Sensing opportunities for personalized feedback technology to reduce consumption. Proc. CHI Workshop on Defining the Role of HCI in the Challenge of Sustainability (200

10 9). [14] Froehlich, J., Findlater, L. an
9). [14] Froehlich, J., Findlater, L. and Landay, J. 2010. The design of eco-feedback technology. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2013), 2725Ð2734.[18] Hirsch, T., Sengers, P., Blevis, E., Beckwith, R. and Parikh, T. 2010. Making food, producing sustainability. CHIÕ10 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2010), 3147Ð3150.[19] Ho, M.R., Smyth, T.N., Kam, M. and Dearden, A. 2009. Human-Computer Interaction for Development: The Past, Present, and Future. Information Technology and International Development (ITID). 5, 4 (2009). [20] Houben, H. and Guillaud, H. 1994. Earth construction: a comprehensive guide. Intermediate Technology Publications. [21] Jacobson, A. 2007. Connective power: solar electrification and social [36] Rosner, D. and Ames, M. 2014. Designing for Repair? Infrastructures and Materialities of Breakdown. Proc. of CSCWÕ14. ACM. 374. [46] Wamukonya, N. and Davis, M. 2001. Socio-economic impacts of rural e

11 lectrification in Namibia: comparisons b
lectrification in Namibia: comparisons between grid, solar and unelectrified households. Energy for Sustainable Development. 5, 3 (2001), 5Ð13. [47] Wiesmann, U.M., Kiteme, B. and Mwangi, Z. 2014. Socio-economic atlas of Kenya: Depicting the national population census by county and sub-location. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Centre for Training and Integrated Research in ASAL Development, Centre for Development and Environment. [48] Winther, T. 2013. The impact of electricity: Development, desires and dilemmas. Berghahn Books. [49] Woodruff, A., Augustin, S. and Foucault, B. 2007. Sabbath day home automation: itÕs like mixing technology and religion. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (2007), 527Ð536. [50] Wyche, S., Dillahunt, T.R., Simiyu, N. and Alaka, S. 2015. ÒIf God gives me the chance I will design my own phoneÓ: Exploring Mobile Phone Repair and Postcolonial Approaches to Design in Rural Kenya. Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive