Making technology serve

I'd already been thinking about this a bit, but Sharon Sharonrecently had an interesting post on Obsolete Technologiesobsolete technologies that got me thinking a bit more.

I have to confess, I have technology. I just (literally yesterday) bought a new laptop. A new, high-end, very expensive laptop. It took me a long time to get it - almost 8 months to finally bite the bullet and just get it, and even then it took a lot of hand holding to get me through. I put it on my credit card, but I have the money, and have been saving for this for years, but for some reason this doesn't tend to make spending the money any easier for me. I always debate purchases like this, and then debate them some more. But, given my academic research (virtual worlds and the like), my old four and half year old laptop literally couldn't run the programs I needed anymore and was causing me a lot of grief. It felt like a worthwhile investment to get a new one. Now, I could probably have done this cheaper, or with a less nice computer. But the plan is that this one will last me a long time and will, with any luck, get me through the dissertation faster which will be cheaper in the long run. And so, here I am.

A laptop isn't all that I have. I have a TV and a VCR, both of which I inherited when my grandmother died, as well as a $40 DVD player that was a gift from my sweetie. I have a cell phone, which is a hand-me-down from my sweetie and soon to be on a cheapie pay-as-you-go plan. I also have an iPod, which was a birthday gift four or five years ago from my ex. I have a digital camera (which may be used for some photos here soon), but that I bought for myself, also with the intention of it lasting a number of years. Now, I do like most of this technology - love the iPod, the cell is handy in emergencies, and the TV is nice for cheap entertainment and vegging out in the evenings. But, truth be told, I'd be fine without any of it, but looking at the list, it's all been passed along by someone else.

Other than the laptop and the camera, all of this technology has been giving to me. And, when I look around, I realise that most of what I've bought for myself and what gets used regularly are not the fancy technology options. I have my grandmother's 1950s electric sewing machine, but I frequently use that without power and just hand crank it instead. I have a hand-crank radio that I listen to when I'm working around the house. I love my little spring-loaded chopper, my hand-crank grain mill (as coarse as it grinds), and kneading bread by hand before it goes into the oven.

I sometimes feel as though I live in two worlds. Because of my research, I participate regularly in a high-technology and high-energy world just by virtue of my research (although I am working on some papers dealing with energy consumption and social justice issues in the hopes of somehow redeeming myself.) But, when I'm at home, I slip into a rather domestic, rather low-energy space where I cook from scratch, knit, bake, sew, try to grow things, and use whatever obsolete technologies I have that I enjoy.

But lately I've been thinking about these high-level technologies, and wondering how I might be able to make them work for me a bit better than they are now. How, for example, can they serve as tools for this low-energy, sustainable life that I'm looking for? How can they serve me other than academically? At the same time, I'm also looking into how I might be able to power a laptop long term, and might see if a friend of mine at 3M could help me set up a solar rig for the new laptop, since it has lower energy needs than the old one.

I haven't quite worked it all yet, but here are a few ideas that I'm looking into.

1. Learning and teaching - with the availability of podcasts and videos now, I'm trying to build up a library of materials (especially now that I have a much larger hard drive) that will be useful for teaching and learning. Thus far, I'm looking into subject podcasts, like history, science, and social studies, as well as language lessons. I'd also like to get together a bunch of videos showing things like bike repair, building a chicken coop, milking a goat, playing a guitar, and anything else that might be useful to know. I'm also pulling together a library of PDFs with the same information - books and articles, printouts of web pages, musical scores - really, anything that might be useful.

2. Entertainment - I love my guitar for entertainment, and have many shelves worth of books around my apartment. But, sometimes it's nice to just sit down and watch a movie. And, while learning takes priority, I haven't ruled out the possibility of using a laptop for some music or a film when the urge strikes.

3. Warmth - Okay, this might be stretching it a bit, but once I realised that my old laptop threw a lot of heat, I made sure to use it in bed with me. It warmed up the bed a bit, and felt rather nice. My hot water bottle is just as effective and less prone to breakage, but I'll take whatever I can get right.

I'm still thinking this through, but would be happy to take on any suggestions that others might have about how they're using their technologies.