Hello World

Does upgrade culture need an upgrade?

• Raspberry Pi Foundation • Season 4 • Episode 5

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In this episode we'll explore whether this is sustainable and ask, "Does upgrade culture need an upgrade?"

Full show notes:
https://helloworld.raspberrypi.org/articles/does-upgrade-culture-need-an-upgrade

Mac Bowley:

I've seen phones go from the Nokia 3310 which the world...

James Abela:

Well how can we fix this? How come we get cases, refugees...

Liz Smart:

Sitting here, very guilty with my latest not something I want to repeat...

James Robinson:

Hello and welcome back to Hello World a Computing and digital making. I'm James Robinson, Computing educator and aspiring environmentalist.

Liz Smart:

I'm Liz Smart from the Raspberry Pi and Queen of the North. Well, in my team at least, as ever, we value any of your comments and feedbacks which you can share with us now via helloworld.cc/podcastfeedback.

James Robinson:

This week, we're thinking about the impact of our Learners with this really important topic. In particular, we've been reflecting on the challenge of upgrade culture which drives people to constantly seek out the latest and greatest devices but also discard what was likely a perfectly serviceable device. We'll be asking this week, does upgrade culture need an upgrade? To kick us off though let's think about how we can use Computing to engage Learners in climate science. Liz, I know that you've been thinking a lot about this broader question, can Computing support Learners in this area and if so, how.

Liz Smart:

Thanks James. Yeah, it's such an interesting Whenever we create a new set of projects for our young creators, our first step is to look at the kind of projects that they're making already by their online communities. So maybe something like the scratch Community or entries to the coolest project showcase. And what we found most commonly is that young people are making projects about the environment. So either using technology, as a way to solve a specific environmental problem or using technology to raise awareness and to educate people, are hands down the most common type of entry in any of these things. So yeah, on the back of that we created a protect our planet path, it's got six projects in it and each project maps to the United Nations Sustainable Development goals. So they've either got a focus on creating simulations that can monitor the impact of climate change or using real-world data to create data visualisations, and track change over time. We got to work with some great partners. So we work with Ecosia, a german-based social business. They have a search engine and they plant trees based on user searches. And we also work with the Shutterworth Foundation as well, who have electronic tags and they track turtles off the west coast of South Africa. So it's really great to get some of their data and represent it in our projects. What about you James, what have you been working on?

James Robinson:

Just to go back to what you were saying there so many of our Learners are already engaged with this topic, it almost you don't have to kind of necessary sell the idea to them or convince them to think about it. It's something they really, really care about. And I think for me the fact that Computing is so creative, and expressive means that Learners can tell stories or investigate ideas or model scenarios, using really powerful, kind of technology and sort of flex, their programming skills for example. I really love the example you gave about the, the electronically tagged Turtles, and the data we can collect. So getting Learners to engage with real data is really important. I think something else we have to acknowledge is that, you know, whilst Computing has some great benefits to helping us talk about and tackle the environmental challenge. I think we also have to recognise that there is an environmental cost of computing. Either, whether we're talking about the, you know, the amount of energy that's used to kind of sort of run massive data centres and host all this data, to things like AI, which is very kind of you know, it's very, it consumes a lot of energy to drive AI systems and Mining rigs that we see all around the world. But something that's a bit closer to home is this idea of upgrade culture, I would say I've probably Fallen foul of this when I was a little bit younger. But now, I'm looking at my device that I've got in my, in my hand. And it's, it's a good 4 or 5 years old now, and only replaced when I broke it. I left it on the roof of my car, and drove off and it fell on the floor and smashed. So I replaced it. And I haven't had the itch for a while now to upgrade that device. And I think that's something that a lot of people feel is that could have drive upgrade our devices. And we're going to talk a bit more about that with our two guests today. So thankfully, our listeners don't have to listen to us just kind of waffle on. We've got two fantastic guests to help us explore this idea of upgrade culture. So, first off Mac Bowley is a learning manager at Raspberry Pi Foundation. He specialises in online learning content, particularly for secondary teachers, and students, and a real passion of Mac's to bring discussions into the Computing classroom, and to encourage students to think critically about technology and the role and impact on their lives. So Mac what is upgrade culture and what inspired you recently to write about it for Hello World.

Mac Bowley:

Thanks James, upgrade culture is this system around the mobile technology in our lives. Be that mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and we seem to have got locked into this sort of cycle of upgrading these devices, every two to three years based on contractual obligations and fashion more so than the usability of the device or about it's Fitness for purpose. And the inspiration really was it comes at the kind of the Crux of two interests of mine. One, is this rapid development in Mobile technology in my life? I've seen phones go from the Nokia 3310 which at the time felt like the coolest phone in the world, all the way up to sort of the latest iPhones that are basically mini, you know, what would have been considered very, very good computers when the Nokia 3310 came out in our pockets. So I've always been interested in this because I can see it over the track time of my life time, improving massively. But also, I think like a lot of other people I've had environmental issues on my mind, on my mind more and more lately and thinking about ways in my life and in kind of society around me that we can take action to help prevent climate change. But also just reflect a little bit on the way we lives, live our lives and I to kind of fell foul of this upgrade culture, I always wanted the latest device, always wanted the newest thing, and as soon as it got to that end of contract period, I would feel like, oh, this device isn't as good anymore. So yeah, it came as a reflection and I wanted to kind of capture my thoughts in the article and start some discussions hopefully, with students and teachers. I can't believe for a second Mac. That you remember the 3310 you don't seem old enough for that. There we go. Liz, do you want to introduce our second guest.

Liz Smart:

Yeah, sure. So also joining us today is International. He is a Raspberry Pi Certified Educator and founder of the Southeast Asian Computer Science Teacher Association. James, can you give us a bit of a brief overview on 'Plugged In Malaysia' that was started by one of your students?

James Abela:

Yeah, literally, when he was 16, we were all something. In particular, We obviously had students who were very much in need, they were locked down. They were in quite a bad situation in some ways that they weren't getting education. And he was like, well, how can we fix this? How come we get computers to these students, who are in many cases, refugees? And so what he did was he literally went door-to-door. And like, anything, getting that first computer was a lot of effort but then as things moved on, he got more and more computers and he was able to put them in, recycle them and get them into the centre's, which was absolutely incredible.

James Robinson:

I really loved reading this article because turning what, you know what, When we talked to Mac, we're kind of presented a bit of a problem. You know, this is sort of upgrade culture and sort of creating this surplus of equipment and turning that into a solution which benefits other people. So what, before we kind of delve into that, what was the impact of the project James on the Learners that your student was trying to...

James Abela:

I mean, basically he's helped almost 1,000 managed to recycle quite a large number. And it keeps on growing because once he got that snowball rolling more and more people, were willing to help him. And now he's got a team of volunteers to help him. So it really is an incredible story as to how far he's got.

Liz Smart:

That's brilliant. Where did he get the

James Abela:

Initially, he got them from neighbours, but they need reliable computers. So, after three to five years, they replace all their computers. And as part of their governance and charitable giving, they were very happy to give him computers, he would clean them up, sort them, make sure they were highly maintained and then he was able to dish them out. So that was a win-win for the organisation who could be seen as being helping Charities and it was a win for him because he was then able to do things.

James Robinson:

And just sort of to kind of loop back a I think we've talked a little bit about upgrade culture and the fact that it maybe it leads to us having surplus of devices or those you know sort of upgrading our device rapidly and we've talked about the environmental impact. But for some of our listeners that may not be like may not be a direct kind of Link Between Us upgrading our device and the environmental impact. Mac, do you want to just talk a little bit more about what the impact of this culture is and how it is damaging our environment.

Mac Bowley:

Absolutely, I think we need to consider what right? So even though these devices aren't necessarily being manufactured here in the UK or wherever you live, they it has an impact on the world as a whole, right? So inside of your mobile phone and all kind of mobile devices are not only batteries but also loads of rare chemical elements that are I think it's a huge percentage of the periodic table is included in some way, in your mobile phone and to get those they'll obviously need to be mined and those resources are depleting, but are also in high demand. And so a lot of the companies that solve mining needs, are incentivised to get as much of it out as cheaply as possible. And so, as you can imagine, that sort of leads to mining practices that are less than ethical or environmentally friendly. And so those impacts might not be felt close to where you live but you have to consider all environmental impacts on the global scale of that. We need to work together to combat the climate crisis and so upgrading our devices and creating that demand where we live means that these the environmental impacts will sort of add to the global, you know, greenhouse gases, energy usage and depleting resources.

James Abela:

Yeah, I think I think that's one of the Malaysia it very much is close to home and you see the way that they're mining those things and it's open top, it's stripping out rainforest it really is bad. And all they can do once they've done their mining is create a water lake, a very deep lake that's dangerous in itself but that's all they can do with their land afterwards and in some cases you've taken away really good arable land to do it.

James Robinson:

This, that that brings me to a question that talk about but, you know, this, this being a global kind of issue and I think the the drive to upgrade this upgrade culture is probably something we feel more in developed countries, in Western nations maybe more to an extent, does this affect society equally both the drive to upgrade but also their idea that what we're doing, here has an impact on, you know, environment and culture elsewhere.

Mac Bowley:

I think as with that as a so many affect everybody equally, I think on along kind of socio-economic lines. Definitely people with less tend to feel the impacts more. As, you know, as James said where the mining practices are happening isn't necessarily where the the upgrades are happening. And so they are kind of bearing the brunt really of our obsession with new devices or the fastest latest thing. But there's also sort of a divide within who has the ability to upgrade and what we put technology on a pedestal and not everybody can afford to change their phone, every two to three years and you know, keep up with the latest trends and we put so much value and so much status on these new devices that it really kind of feeding this negative cycle from both ends, right? Like one side we're taking things out, that we're not able to put back in, but on the other side were also making people feel worse for not doing that. And so I think it really requires us to kind of have discussions like this one and hopefully ones in classrooms as well, where we think about like the status that we put on new devices. Do we actually need a new device every three years or can we find ways to keep using ours for as long as possible or as James's student found ways to recycle those devices so that they can go to other places and be put to use and get into the hands of people who need them.

Liz Smart:

You know and I'm sitting here very guilty my gosh, that's not something I want to repeat in the future. I'm definitely going to get out of this mindset. I think one thing I was wondering about is James, you probably would have found this and found a solution but I don't know what can be repaired or not. And I tend to kind of sit on things even at home and you've been talking about everything all the elements that go into creating a mobile phone. But how did you go with with your project, James about upgrading the devices? How easy was that to recycle?

James Abela:

That's the other thing is some manufacturers organise and sort things. And often the ones that are aimed at the corporate environment, they are easy to upgrade, fix and change because they're designed that way, but a lot of the consumer devices, you know, you need special repair kits. You need this. You need that. Some of them are even blocking off CPUs to the motherboards. You name it. They're doing it. One really good website, is Ifix it because that really tells you what's needed. And in a lot of cases a good old clean up, and a sort out, is all that's needed to keep them in good, nick. The other problem we have in Malaysia is that a lot of devices overheat very regularly, so fans and things like that are often the first to go.

Mac Bowley:

Yeah, I think this is such a good point. One of the biggest ways we can combat this, is by encouraging the right to repair and I think you made such a good point there, James, about lots of companies are sort of, for Consumer devices anyway, almost actively working against this. I mean, we've all seen sort of the latest scandals with Apple where the cameras are sort of ID'd to specific processes. So you can't even replace them with a like-for-like part unless you go to a Apple Store. And so, I think another thing that we can really do is push companies to make devices easier to repair and also to educate each other on what goes into our devices. Because it does come from a place of not understanding what goes in there. And therefore, you don't feel as comfortable to try and repair or even to search out repairs if you're not sure what's going wrong. So, I think there's a kind of educational angle to this, which is if we all kind of understood our devices a little bit better understood the magic box, then we might feel more empowered to get it repaired and to clean it out and get bit more hands-On with our device is rather than sort of throwing them out as a first Resort.

James Robinson:

There's a really great creator on on TikTok on my feed but they basically someone sends them the phone. It's broken, it won't power on and they go right? Well let's fix it. And they fix it in like a two minute video and typically it involves turning it on, looking for heat, finding the thing that's broken, taking it off, putting a new one on, bang. Done. And he makes it look so easy. He's got a few specialist tools but actually it's not that complicated. And even if you can't do it yourself, there are Services I recently damaged the screen of my phone and I just happened to find that my phone provider had a really long warranty so I sent it off, got a new screen, all sorted, came back. No charge. It was like actually, that was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

Liz Smart:

So James. Obviously like you're 'Plugged in just wondered, like, I'm not even sure if there's anything like that near where I live, and how to even start that. Have you've got any tips on kind of how to get going.

James Abela:

I think if you're around the UK, I think trying to do that kind of thing. And I think that's really powerful. What we have is the advantage in Malaysia is that we have very easy access to the Chinese manufacturers. So, we've got this website called Lozada and we can actually order individual bits and pieces, and all of these kind of things and really get down to the individual components. And it is really really useful for us because we can get things straight from China and it takes a week or two, whereas I know getting things into the UK as a lot more effort and you can't just get straight at the manufacturer in China. Who was making that original part and you know, how the price goes up and up and up. If you have that direct access, you can repair things a lot easier. I know somebody who had a real problem with their iPhone, their Apple pencil. Well, he got onto Lozada and a week or two later. He got that specialist tool for very little money to fix his Apple pencil. So, they do exist, but it's harder in Western cultures to get directly at the Chinese parts.

James Robinson:

And I guess the other thing that's required So, you know, you had a student with a passion and an interest and I think maybe there's, you know, there are things that we can do as Educators to help Foster that interest and I think Mac was so Mac was saying earlier on about people not necessarily knowing what's going on under the hood of their device. So they can't really access that repair kind of approach. So I think that there are probably things that we can do as Educators to help students get a bit more, kind of familiar with the inside of the computer whether that's just having some junk parts at the back that you can kind of rebuild or, you know, computer that sort of stripped down to its motherboard and running outside of its case or something. Like, Has anyone used done things like that with their Learners?

James Abela:

I mean, I I have quite often and sometimes we know, a lot of my students now have the hobby that they want to make desktop machines. And one of the advantages we have is that if they mess it up, there's normally a local shop, who will help fix it and get it sorted for not too much money. But yeah, gaming PCs and desktop PCS, and getting the most out of them has really encouraged our students to really get started and, and have a go. And also, there are quite a lot of second-hand shops out here in Malaysia who will take these parts and fix them and try and do it. So it's a little bit more visible here. Whereas I kind of wish the old second hand store wasn't available or was come back to the UK, you know, and the US.

Mac Bowley:

And I think there's a there's another side to Which is we already teach a lot about computer systems in lessons anyway, and so there are so many opportunities within that to explore real-world devices, whether it's through teardowns, like James mentioned. But also in just, you know, rather than just telling people what Ram is describe what an adequate amount of ram would be for currently, and so people can better assess their current devices to see if they are fit for purpose rather than sort of following, you know, marketing that says, you know, the new device is this much better than your old device. So I think there's lots of opportunities within the sort of systems that we've already used to kind of get people more Hands-On and combat that fear that some people have about you know opening devices getting under the hood that they might break it.

Liz Smart:

I was speaking to a Siobhan who works at initiative there where they recognised especially with the pandemic. That was just such a gap in access to a device and they got a process going where they actually used high school students to prepare and get accreditation for repairing the devices that were then sent out to the, to the younger children. I thought that was a really good initiative, very good way of like getting them involved in actually repairing things and also recognised for the work that they were doing too.

Mac Bowley:

That's amazing. Yeah.

James Abela:

Yeah. And he's having the space for those

James Robinson:

Yeah, absolutely. Because if you've got and results in something that's productive and useful for you know, that Community or wider Society and also the skills that they're going to be developing in being able to repair equipment, helps feed the kind of the this this sort of industry in this space. You know further down the line. Mac you also make the point in your article about about Raspberry Pi because obviously, we know we've got a, you know, the the sort of the trading company produce these devices. And I think one of the original ideas behind Raspberry Pi was to kind of pitch hardware that was a little bit older, you know, didn't it wasn't quite up spec with like, you know, really sort of super fast computers that we have that, you know, on our desktops, but was good enough to run certain applications. And I think you had a chat with the with Eben, our the CEO of the trading company. You kind of do you want to explore this bit more. Do you want to add anything about that.

Mac Bowley:

Yeah, I mean absolutely we after you know, bit disingenuous to not. Also, look at at, you know, part of Raspberry Pi being a computer manufacturer as well. Not to have a look at our practices. So sat down with Eben kind of spoke through the way he thinks about sustainability. Not only in producing the computers but also in the additional Hardware. So he's the we've done lots of work particularly around the accessories to try and reduce the amount of plastic we're using to try and reduce the amount of packaging in general that those things get sent in but also with the Raspberry Pi's. Like we kept that ethos of, you know, older Hardware but letting people get Hands-On with it and I think you know, some of the newer models there even though they're built into keyboards and stuff, he's have access to this gpio pins so that is kind of quite Central I think the Raspberry Pi ethos is and will continue to be. You can touch this computer and Eben was kind of quite strongly Pro that, you know, always making sure that it was very open that we were encouraging people to have a go to look at the computer and not be afraid of what's behind the magic box. Not touching it and only taking it to Geniuses to fix it. So the Raspberry Pi has done a great job of that and I hope we continue to do so.

Liz Smart:

I think when you're in the classroom or when actually get to see a Raspberry Pi or something similar and actually see the insides of it. There is like a, wow, kind of magic moment. When you actually realise that you can touch it and you can take it apart and it would be really good to explore all the ways to take that interest then and that excitement and to build on it to help with the repair side as well.

James Abela:

I mean, that's the other thing is the the rest of your computer doesn't work, but if the monitors working, the CPU is normally the most expensive bit. But obviously, on a Raspberry Pi, you're looking at 30 to 50 dollars basically aren't you.

James Robinson:

Absolutely. I think we'll, what's one of the like other people's responses, to kind of equipping, some of their students. If they couldn't recycle or get hold of machines, often it was it was let's look at a low cost machine that we can put in in that space in its place. I'm just going to just just sort of wrap up some of that stuff around, I think that that engaging with the hardware is really useful and when we were talking about it so sort of made me reflect on this idea of which we might have come across this sort of idea of the notional machine. And so students, when they come to doing things like programming or making videos or storing images, they don't always understand what's going on with under the hood. And I think getting Hands-On with the device understanding where the CPU is and what it's doing and how it works with the memory and what the motherboards for, all of this, gives the students a sense of what the machine is, how it works, and helps them build their notional machine to then, build other Concepts on top of. So I think it's really helpful.

James Abela:

It really allows you to build it up, doesn't You know, having you understand it that way? And by teaching students, these things we're actually empowering them to go into their homes and be an advocate for that within their families as well, right? So often you'll find that, you know, you have the one sort of techie person in the family who gets the devices when they're broken. So I think if we can encourage kids to share these things with their family, then we're only going to be spreading that further and further, right? And hopefully more families will have a dedicated repair person. Or at least someone who knows who to call.

James Robinson:

Absolutely. And my erm, my final question I about engaging students with some of these tangible things, you know, fixing the device getting Hands-On but some of this particularly we're talking about our impact on the climate and, you know, us having some sort of collective responsibility. Those are quite challenging things sometimes to engage our Learners with. So how do we think we do about those and I think Mac you've written a little bit about this? Or I know this is something that's you, you're quite passionate about engaging students in discussions. So how do you think we address these things with our Learners?

Mac Bowley:

Yeah I mean I think leading classroom flow about you know what is fit for purpose for a device at what point do you think we should upgrade? And making students kind of develop their own ideas, because that is really the secret to it isn't it don't be guided by marketing because, of course, they want you to buy a new device as soon as possible. Instead have your own opinions and your own ideas, what you want that device to do? And if that device is still doing that, then it's still fit for purpose, right? Rather than necessarily, you know, looking to external external marketing devices or the manufacturers of these things for that. So I think any discussions to promote opinion generation of in your students. So, you know, what is it going to amount of time to have a mobile phone? When do you need a new laptop? These sorts of things, I think are super beneficial.

James Robinson:

And you've got a real there's a really nice about holding classroom discussions, that would be really nice if you're a Computing teacher and you're not quite sure how to engage some of your students. There are some strategies and techniques and topics that we could find in that course. And we'll link to that in the show notes. James.

James Abela:

I just think also, we should fight this like got a mobile phone that is three years old, and it's plenty good enough for me. And I'm just hoping that, you know, maybe I need to replace the battery or something, or maybe I need to reset it and restart it. But while the hardware is there, I think we should just be happy with the devices. And we are saving ourselves quite a lot of money when we do that, right?

James Robinson:

Yeah, absolutely well as ever on our podcast. I found our guests today, fascinating and full of some really useful insights for talking to Learners about the issues around climate and Computing. We asked our audience, how do we engage our Learners in issues around the impact of computing on the climate and as well as some of the solutions that we might have and we've got some a couple of interesting responses. Liz.

Liz Smart:

Yeah. There's a so John Mercer got in touch a enough to be part of an excellent pilot run by AppsforGood and it's a climate change course that John says he's going to launch very soon, so that's exciting. Apparently it was a really great way to talk positively about how technology can help leading students to develop their own solutions and having a real world impact. It's great, thanks John.

James Robinson:

It's a really good example and I really like touch with with John and the podcast to say yes that they're they're putting that course out there. It's going to be available in the next academic year for anyone that's interested and we'll provide a link to that course in the show notes. If you have a question or comment about our discussion today, then you can email us via podcast@helloworld.cc or you can tweet us at HelloWorld_Edu. My thanks to Mac and to James, for sharing their time, experiences and expertise around this challenging area of computing and sustainability. So, Liz, what did we learn today?

Liz Smart:

I learned so much. One thing I'm going to commit to, we come back together as a group in, like, five years time, I'm going to have this same phone, I promise you that. But also really, really excited to look at the local solutions like 'Plugged in Malaysia' so I can do something similar with devices that are lurking around my house and at my CoderDojo that are no longer used really, could be repaired and would really useful for someone else. So definitely definitely going to do those things. Thank you.

James Robinson:

And I learned that all the computer parts in I'm sitting on a wealth of resources that could be reused.