Talk given at Thingscon 19 in Rotterdam on December 13th 2019.

1. (How to) Do The Right Thing
Thingscon, Rotterdam. December 13th 2019

3. My name is
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino (@iotwatch on twitter)

4. What I’m working on now
Climate change #iot resarch for financial institutions
(incubatored by ING)
overlay.earth
Writing a book on corporate innovation cultures

5. In 2012
Open Internet of Things Definition
iot.london/openiot

6. 2017-ongoing
Better IoT
betteriot.org

7. From vilification to action.
How do we keep the literacy levels high and don’t get people to just
shut down.

8. Stop feeding the trolls.
A****n & G****e aren’t the only companies building #iot solutions.

10. James Bridle (2011)

11. People don’t need design to make bad #iot
solutions.
Leadership decision making doesn’t need a designer in the room.

12. If design isn’t socialised, it’s just a .jpg on
the internet.
Don’t just show the work, show the work 100 times, show the work until it
becomes culture.

13. We have to make this pop.
Exhibitions, television shows, podcasts, books, articles have to become
part of our playbook.

14. Bauhaus exhibition at MoMa in 1939

15. For the Many
Not the Few

16. Let’s become real activists.
It’s not enough to create the tools, we have to hold people’s hands while they use
it and help them spread the word.

17. Research
Theory
Evangelism
Activism
Cultural influence
Change

18. ACT UP Inside/Outside strategy

19. James Baldwin debates in Oxford (1968)

20. "I think there are plenty of good people in tech America,
but there are also plenty of bad people in tech America and
the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power
and be in these positions to block things that you and I
need. Because this is the situation, you and I have to
preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end
to that situation, and it doesn't mean that I advocate
violence, but at the same time I am not against using
violence in self-defense. I don't even call it violence when
it's self-defense, I call it intelligence."
Malcolm X

21. ‘I say: Let’s just do the work … I’d have to understand why
you feel that way. I’d have to be your friend and get into
your pain and hurt, your fears. And that takes time. That’s
the work that needs to happen around kitchen tables and
in our communities. When I say ‘go high,’ I’m not trying to
win the argument. I’m trying to figure out how to
understand you and how I can help you understand me.’
Michelle Obama

22. Champion & actively helping the
underdog
Become an advisor, a mentor, an investor.

26. Doing this for the next 10, 20 years.
The #iotlondon meetup will host its 100 meetup on June 23rd in London.

27. Congres Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) meetings: 1929-1959

28. Let’s have some community KPIs.
Let’s make a plan, year on year.

29. Let’s capture other perspectives.
Let’s invite, listen to and document to extreme points of view, from
China to Italy.

30. To young people: do a PhD.
The people who will take you on are in this room.

31. To young people: this isn’t an industry.
This is a conversation within a diverse community of practice.

32. Let’s get some real money behind this.
Government funding exists, let’s go after it.

33. Let’s get to work.
designswarm.com/book
alex@designswarm.com
@iotwatch