Looking for interviewees for Master thesis project.

(this event is in Dutch)

De actie-onderzoekers van DRIFT werken jarenlang aan hun proefschrift en ontwikkelen daarmee state-of-the-art kennis en tools. Traditioneel gezien wordt deze kennis echter alleen ontsloten in boekvorm en overgedragen aan hun commissie van (hoog)leraren. Daarom organiseren we naast een PhD-verdediging een PhD-vertaling.

Op 11 april is de beurt aan Tessa de Geus. We duiken in haar proefschrift ‘Capturing change’ (<em>verandering vatten).</em> Het onderwerp: verschillende vormen van ‘capture’ in de energietransitie – krijgen radicale nieuwe initiatieven of ideeën de wind eronder zodra ze zich op een groter speelveld begeven of raken ze vleugellam?  

Hoewel de term buiten de transitiewetenschap (nog) niet zo bekend is, is ‘capture’ een heet hangijzer voor wie werkt aan fundamentele maatschappelijke verandering. Denk aan een overheid die een burgerinitiatief ondersteunt of eigen innovatieve praktijken opschaalt – in grote veranderingsprocessen als de energietransitie is veel hoop gevestigd op zulke nieuwe bestuursvormen, maar is weinig bekend over de schaduwzijde ervan, stelt Tessa. 

Net als bij de PhD-verdediging beginnen we met een ‘lekenpraatje’ — Tessa legt in begrijpelijke taal uit wat ze heeft onderzocht en welke conclusies en aanbevelingen daaruit volgen.

Daarna openen we het gesprek. Onze drie panelleden stellen zich kort voor en dan gaan met de promovendus in gesprek over vragen als: wat betekenen jouw uitkomsten voor mijn beleid, bedrijf of activisme? Wat herken ik en wat zie ik toch anders? En hoe zouden we opgedane lessen en methodes kunnen toepassen in ons (werk)veld? 

Op 11 april kun je van 10:00-11:00 via YouTube live meekijken met dit evenement. Meer informatie vind je op onze website:

Across six interactive online sessions, this course offers the tools, knowledge, and inspiration needed to support just and sustainable transformations – grounded in action research, critical reflection, and peer learning.

We are offering the course for the third time, this year in collaboration with Dina Lupin from University of Southampton.

We have made the programme a bit more compact to make it more affordable, and as always offer it at a variable rate (€1,775.00 for well-paid professionals and €1,245.00 for those with more limited financial means) to make it as accessible as possible.

We depend heavily on Big Tech companies like Google, Meta, Apple, Amazon, and more. And with your smartphone, there is no escaping them. Even if you don’t use social media, and use anti-tracking software, some of your data will still be shared and sold. This can make you feel pretty uncomfortable. Especially, since most of these tech companies are in the USA and China. This is why, in this session, we worked on the question: Is it possible to develop mobile software which is ethical and functional?

Danny Lämmerhirt from Waag Futurelab works on the MOBIFREE project. This project aims to change the development and use of mobile software in Europe by citizens, businesses, non-profits and governments. In doing so, they want to support the emerging movement for ethical mobile software consisting of organisations that adhere to European values such as openness, privacy, digital sovereignty, fairness, collaboration, sustainability, and inclusivity.

In this session, Danny introduced us to the smartphone they are working on. This smartphone has its hardware from Fairphone (an ethically produced smartphone) and uses a privacy-friendly operating system: Murena. This operating system is an Android fork that doesn’t come with standard tracking software. On top of that, it has an app store with only ethical apps and is connected to an ethical European cloud.

Outcomes

We discussed with the group what values we found most important in an ethical mobile phone when using it for work. The values that were deemed most important by the group were:
- Autonomy: A smartphone allows working wherever and whenever you want. It is an incredibly powerful tool that you can use for so many different things, and it fits in your pocket.
- Independency: We’ve become incredibly dependent on our smartphones. When you lose your phone, you no longer have your money, your public transport card, a map to find the way, etc. On the other hand, this also means that you don’t need to travel with a bag full of tools every time you leave the house.
- Privacy: Constantly being tracked has become normal, but that doesn't mean we’re happy with it. Right now, you don’t have a choice. It would be nice to have a choice, to either pay with your data, or with money.
- User-friendliness: An ethical and privacy-friendly smartphone sounds great, but it also means that you can no longer use many of the apps that you’re used to. Will it still be practical to use? And will it be intuitive? We are all used to a certain way of working and are hesitant to change.

This discussion was definitely food for thought. We all want a more ethical phone, but are not willing to sacrifice much in return…

Are you interested in trying out this ethical smartphone? The MOBIFREE project is currently looking for people who can test this smartphone. They are looking for young adults, civil servants, mobile software developers, and professionals working in humanitarian organisations.

<strong>Would you like to participate, or do you have any questions about this project? Please contact Noor at noor@amsterdaminchange.com. Special thanks to Danny Lämmerhirt for this interesting session.</strong>