1

USSR and IoT -

life and relationship
of the two
abbreviations

Ekaterina G. Krasner
BA Design Year Three
Table of Contents:

Abstract 8
Introduction 10
Russian past 14
American past 24
Internet of things
Speech Communication,
Devices, Ideas and their relization 32
Concluding and predicting 42
8

Abstract
This contextual report will mention cultural aspects of the Soviet
Union and the U.S., like, cinematography, light and heavy industry,
visual graphics and technological devices,
to highlight the differences between the East and the West that still
exists today. Examples will come from consumer goods and films,
as well as big technological advances such
as weapons and the outer space exploration.

This contextual report will look at vocal communication as a vital

factor of design culture, and throughout technological development
from the 19th century. This will be viewed as
a starting point of the network known as the Internet of Things (IoT).

This contextual report will unpick how some visions of the future
were formed by cultural changes in the U.S. and Soviet Union
throughout the Cold War, creating a booming space-age era,
inspiring cultural aspects mentioned, and creating a space to
make objects and visual graphics in the field of science fiction. Is is
seen as an important chapter for our computer future and directly
influenced the development
of technologies of the present.

Discussed in this context report, studio practice transcript will

appear where some topics are intertwined, and in some will
be described as suggestions for further explorations.

(1) Kim Ann Zimmermann. (2015). What is Culture? | Definition of Culture.

Available: http://www.livescience.com/21478-what-is-culture-definition-of-culture.html. Last accessed 20th Dec 2016.
9
10

Introduction
This report is structured historically, with
chapters that follow my hypothesis shaping
Lets begin,
the future of the Internet of Things (IoT)
globally and locally, from my point of view.
To support this hypothesis I shall bring : we have
Components of Russian culture, assisting
in formation of some characteristics of IoT
today, pulling out and placing together parts
a long
journey
of Soviet history.

I will present some examples of capitalism

from the United States, believing it has laid
the grounds for english language orientated
IoT. ahead
A chapter about the present development
of the IoT and the importance of speech
communication in it. A quick overview of
and
how the Internet came to be.

The concluding chapter will condense

my idea of a Russian IoT, what it needs
behind
and how to get there. As well as the best
direction for the IoT to head, globally. us.
11
A lot of technological development
progressed greatly in the 20th century.
Amongst them there are four important to
mention for this paper:
Electricity that became available to a greater
number of people, enabling a lot more
appliances to enter the households.
Radio, a device for information and
entertainment transmitting over big distances ,
Artificial Intelligence - the capacity for a
computer to perform human like intellectual
processes, and finally,
Wireless technology, a communication that
occurs when electromagnetic waves are
broadcast to a receiving station .
2
These four have influenced culture around
the world, which has been shifting since the
industrial revolution. These technologies
have supported a lot of events that bared
importance throughout history. One particular
event, the Cold War has used this progression
in favor of making the Soviet Union the
greatest socialist nation. Which made it feared
by its opposition, yet correspondingly more
open, allowing tourism and student exchange,
radio transmissions, theatre and arts
exchange, all as part of the cultural agreement
between them and the U.S.
The efforts that went into forming the first
big socialist nation unfortunately expressed
in Stalins totalisation of heavy hand control.
By expelling the intelligentsia (poets,
philosophers, writers, scientist etc) with
(2) Times magazine. (2016). 20th Century Technology. Available: http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2026224,00.html. Last accessed 8th Jan 2017.
exile or simply murder, he was cleansing the
country and preparing it for the rule of simple
workers. Although this totalitarian control
had been removed when Stalin died in 1952,
throughout its existence the USSR had not
stopped production of military weapons that
had been displayed to both the public and the
world in frequently organized parades. The
Cold War brought nuclear threat into many
civilian minds in the East and West. The Arms-
Race reached its peak and limit during this
period, bankrupting the USSR and resulting
in a number of weaponry agreements being
signed.
However what I consider to be more important
than the technological progress and its uses
within the Soviet Union, was the formation
and development of the Soviet Mentality.
This had been achieved through censorship,
surveillance and propaganda. Using arts,
graphics, cinema and advertising as a means
to shape the culture of the Soviet man, woman
and child.
This period, and its influences on the 21st
century will be discussed in the first chapter.
Addressing the desire to be the pioneers in
a field of space exploration, that gave the
USSR (as well as the U.S.) the incentive to
invest in education, machinery and software
development that would allow fast paced
exploration of space.
12

On the other side of the iron curtain,

in the United States, capitalism was a
leading hand. Technological progress
and mass production allowed the
electrical appliances, and home
conveniences industry to grow. Building
a capitalist society, people succeeded
in finding endless opportunities to
increase their profit, through services
and products, building an economical
system that would form Americas
culture.

The fear from a nuclear attack and a

war with the Soviet Union has been
used as an opportunity for a mass
production of war goods, believed
and massly advices to increase the
chance for safety in case of emergency.
Powered by words and promises from
the government, advertising agencies
and who ever wanted to sell anything,
conceived ideas that caught popularity,
translating into services, films and tv
programs.

Not only the fear from war generated a

culture of consumption, enhanced by
the launch of Explorer 1 in 1958, space
travel created an indicator towards the
culture of the future. The science fiction
genre was re-born with cybernetics
and artificial intelligence, writing books,
creating illustration art, many fans and
visionists.
13
Sitting in Goldsmiths University library I can imagine
myself in one of the sci-fi stories, it can almost seem
like I am not too far from that future.
I am surrounded by hundreds of electrical objects,
amongst which are stationary computers, printers,
library portals and scanners. Connected wirelessly to
one network, working correspondingly,
the machine pull information requested by a specific
user recognized by name and password on one of
the machines. The files I have saved on one machine
will appear the same on a different one. Through
the online database I can access libraries, archive
and check the availability of a book and order one
from a different library and that is if not to speak
about the available web network supplying millions
of information storages on any topic. Printing a file is
made by just sending it to one of the many printers,
the file will be received by a system directing it to
any printer I will access with my personal magnetic
card.
Yet, looking around, the amount of people around
me is fewer than the number of the machines,
I can spy only 2 students and 2 personnel fixing the
elevator. Of course this is a very specific example,
but it shows an idea of science fiction becoming our
reality. Spaces and devices that we use are being
implemented with artificial intelligence, designed
to make human actions faster and accordingly to
our accustomed needs to get things done quick
and easy, expecting the use of the devices to be as
effortless as our thoughts flicker through our minds.
This reality is expanded in the third chapter, with:
A brief overview of actions that lead to the formation
of the Internet. Underlining the importance of Cold
War actions towards ideas that led to the Internet of
Things.
Comments around the Internet of Things and how it
is shaping our society.
A concept developed by Matt Weiser in the 80s
called Ubiquitous Computing.
The idea of speech communication as the key to
coexist with new technologies.
Examples of science fiction illustrations and ideas.
This enquiry into the Soviet Union and Cold War
is a personal one for me, coming from the need to
know more about my home country, combined with
my interest in the advantages of the IoT on a local
scale, for better communication and sustainability of
relationships and surroundings that I am fascinated
to investigate.
Through this journey I have decided to take,
I want to inform and depict the topic of designing for
IoT and to develop my understanding of the field of
Design in my practice.
14

RUSSIAN PAST
Russia. Prior the USSR and prior the Imperial Russia,
has a long history, full of events. In this report I will
focus mainly on the USSR, Soviet Union period.

Russian revolution in 1917 has ended the Tsarist system

completely. Followed by the Civil War the Bolshevik had
secured power. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
have been established in 1922 and has ruled Russia
until 1991. In these years Soviets tried to establish a
communist image for the people, develop weapons and
heavy machinery and expand communism across their
neighbours.
15

Unknown, (1929),
TT-26 remotely
controlled tank
[ONLINE].

Available
at: https://
en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Teletank
[Accessed 13
January 2017].
16

Using the technologies developed
progressively in the 20th century, USSRs
espionage was developing, used merely
as eavesdropping in the Tsars time it has
expanded, making the Soviet surveillance
on foreign officials a phenomenon to be
remembered. A device worth mentioning
in this area, to underline the surveillance
in the Soviet Union, is a two foot wooden
replica of the Great Seal of the United
states, presented to Ambassador Averell
Harriman in 1946. The seal contained a
resonate chamber, with a flexible front wall
that acted as a diaphragm, changing the
dimensions of the chamber when sound
waves struck it. It had no power pack of its
own, no wires that could be discovered,
no batteries to wear out. An ultra-high
frequency signal beamed to it from a van
parked near the building was reflected from
the bug, after being modulated by sound
waves from conversations striking the bugs
3 4
diaphragm
or drink alcohol, follow the rules of proper
hygiene, read books and practice the
honest work. Propaganda was also
the foundation of organizations such as
the Pioneer movement and Komsomol,
giving its participants a status of a higher
importance and contribution to the country.
During WWII propaganda posters were
spread to maximize participation in the war,
to boost moral and to describe the enemy.
After WWII, the red armys victory was
raised and praised by soviet propaganda.
In fact, it was the essence of the Soviet
communism, Very few newspapers
were published in those days and often
a poster replaced the tabloid. Poster art
was widely accessible to the masses, the
images it depicted were easily understood
by everyone, and a short and energetic
accompanying slogan stuck in the viewers
mind, as a constant call for action

Propaganda served the Soviets mainly

in print and was used to promote the
Communist party throughout the duration
of the Soviet Union. After the revolution in
1917 and formation of the Soviet Union
in 1923, the new Soviet Man was shaped
by positive propaganda that encouraged
him to exercise sports daily, to not smoke

(3) Kevin D. Murray. (unknown). THE GREAT SEAL BUG STORY Part I.
Available: https://counterespionage.worldsecuresystems.com/the-great-seal-bug-part-1.html. Last accessed 18th Jan 2017.
(4) Soviet Posters. (2009). Main page. Available: http://www.sovietposters.com/. Last accessed 6th Jan 2017.
17

This visual concept stuck through Cold

War and the Thaw, eventually coming to
use in post-WWII advertising. The task of
advertising in the USSR, given centralized
planning of the economy and the extinction
of capitalist competition, consists in the
broad dissemination of information about
new products and goods, new types of
services, and the correct hygienic and
aesthetic exploitation of all the many
benefits which are made available to the
labouring people of the USSR, in order that
their material circumstances may be still
5
further improve

Advertising in the Cold War was said

to give accurate information to help the
buyer to formulate his idea and new taste,
stimulate new consumptions and explain
the functions . Strong slogans and focused
6

imaging were selling fish, alcohol, clothes

and other goods, appearing in electrical
trains, on light posts and in theatre lobbies.

Controlling the advertisement was a form

of propaganda as well a strategic way of
controlling peoples behavior, and their
ideas of what is good for them and their
families. Shaping their national duty through
consumption of foods, hygiene products
and other goods.

(5) Catriona Kelly and David Shepherd (1998). Russian cultural studies. 2nd ed. United States: OXFORD University Press. 224.
(6) ochendaje. (2013). Advertisement in USSR - to laugh or to cry? ( - ?). Available: http://ochendaje.livejournal.com/201777.
html. Last accessed 7th Jan Dec.
18

Unknown, (1952), Coffea

advert [ONLINE]. Available
at: http://zlaya-panda.
ru/2015/04/04/reklama-kofe-
sssr/ [Accessed 20 January
2017].
19

Sergei G. Sakharov, (1952),

Advert for Mayonnaise product
[ONLINE]. Available at: http://
article.unipack.ru/59218/?mails
[Accessed 20 January 2017].
20

Some propaganda was more subtle American products were considered

and was depicted as a positive review
on production and work efforts of the
kolkhoz (rural area of russia dedicated
to agriculture) in films. In a film The
Cossacks of Kuban the main plot is
a love story between two members of
neighbouring kolkhoz. In the beginning
of the film the chairman of the kolkhoz
different, high quality and trendy, this
created an underground movement
of Stilyagi, colourfully dressed young
people who listened to jazz and swing
music. Getting the music and the
clothes was not easy, as music was still
censored a lot of illegal records were
scratched on top of x-ray scans .
9

delivers great news, their kolkhoz has
succeeded in delivering the wheat quota
ahead of time. A full market of products
is shown in detail whilst the cheering
reaction to the good news is echoing in
the viewers ear. Happiness that can be
reached by doing better than your best
is delivered beautifully .
7
To get a hand on western instruments
required you to be connected or, take a
risky look at the black market.
This created a broad area of youth
culture that has been centered around
semi-legal or illegal economic activity.
Although most youth cultural groups

used the second economy to access the

Although the propaganda was strong
and consistent the thaw period during
Nikita Khrushchevs administration
(1952-1964) gave cracks in communist
cultural artifacts and consumer goods
they required, some young peoples
lifestyles were centrally focused
around second-economy strategies.
10

structure, starting a de-Stalinization, Exchanging, selling foreign currency

opening the USSR, if ever so slightly, to and dealing with hard-currency
western influences. prostitution was in existence.

Fashion in the Soviet Union was modest

and supported the use of clothing items
until it was almost unusable, clothes
would be repaired, sewn and handed
down the family line .
8

(7) Mosfilm (.) (1950). The Cossacks of Kuban ( .) [Online Video] 18:51-22:00min. 18 January 2017.
Available from: https://youtu.be/r5OY3HuYegg. [Accessed: 17 January 2017].
(8) Nikita Ivanovo. (2011). Christian Dior in Moscow: 30 unique photos 1959 .
Available: https://photolium.ru/people/161-30-unikalnyh-foto-1959-goda-kristian-dior-v-moskve.html. Last accessed 12th Jan 2017.
(9) Pete Paphides. (2015). Bone music: the Soviet bootleg records pressed on x-rays.
Available: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/29/bone-music-soviet-bootleg-records-pressed-on-xrays. Last accessed 9th Jan 2017.
(10) Catriona Kelly and David Shepherd (1998). Russian cultural studies. 2nd ed. United States: OXFORD University Press. 379.
21

Unknown, (1959), Christian Dior

in Moscow [ONLINE]. Available at:
https://photolium.ru/people/161-30-
unikalnyh-foto-1959-goda-kristian-di-
or-v-moskve.html [Accessed 11 January
2017].
22

These three components are important to take into account as they are present
in moral concerns aroused by todays multiplication of connected devices,
wireless communication and Internet of Things.

Propaganda. Propaganda was used during Soviet times as a writing of the

past present and future, with the help of Soviet propaganda heroes were born,
enemies were defined and defeated. The idea of the social existence, within
which the individual is a part of the group, controlled every aspect of the
lives of Soviet people.

Surveillance. Surveillance was present during Tsars, pre-revolutionary times

and had gotten worse throughout Soviet Union existence. Secret police, Cheka,
KGB and MVD are all historically aimed to assist in gaining total domination
and get rid of anyone in the way of communism. The fear fed into peoples lives
made them more obedient, easier to control, and so violent that force became
part of the states management up until after the second world war.

Censorship. Censorship was a part of the propaganda, it was used in

multiple areas of cultural expression, literature, journalism, theatre, arts and
cinematography. This component is the early information control, that has
turned in our present into a product.

Image: Deni Dolgorukov, (1928), Five Year Plan [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.
com/2014/12/26/communist-propaganda-post_n_6377336.html [Accessed 20 January 2017].
23

Five year plan 1928

the capitalist says: Fantasy, nonsense, utopia.
24

AMERICAN PAST
The image on the next page shows inventions in the
field of technology and machinery during the beginning
of the 19th century in the United States, this is to show
that most of the advances in technology and devices
have been made before the WWII, what followed
after was a development in the presentation of these
devices. What changed was the design of the product,
shapes, colors and materials were changing to follow
current trends. The inside of the device was developing,
the mechanics got better, but the idea was an old one,
just constantly re-entering the market, changing ever so
slightly the angle of presentation to attract more, and
different consumers.
25
26
AMERICAS CONSUMPTION CULTURE
An opportunity to exhibit these products was
the American National Exhibition that was was
held at the Sokolniki leisure park, Moscow,
whilst the Soviets exhibited at New Yorks
Coliseum in the July of 1959.
A broad-scale cultural exchange of technical,
industrial, scientific, and artistic groups
11
was proposed by the Soviet Union in 1957,
under Khrushchevs administration, in efforts
to leave peacefully with the capitalism and to
highlight each countrys progress in culture.
This exchange entered a list of many other
historical national and international exhibitions,
that were happening beginning 18th century,
showcasing progress and innovation. French
tradition of national exhibits starting in 1844;
Chicagos Worlds Columbian Exposition of
1893 ; and Great Exhibition of the Works of
Industry of All Nations. World Fairs that have
been taking place in various location around
the world since 1928.
(11) Walter L. Hixson (1997). Parting the Curtain. United States of America: St. Martins Press. 151.
(12) Matt Novak. (2014). The All-American Expo That Invaded Cold War Russia.
Available: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/the-all-american-expo-that-invaded-cold-war-russia-550628823. Last accessed 26th Dec 2016.
(13) Associations of Diplomatic Studies and Training. (unknown). Nixon vs. Khrushchev The 1959 Kitchen Debate. Available: http://adst.org/2015/07/nixon-vs-khrushchev-
the-1959-kitchen-debate/. Last accessed 26th Dec 2016.
The U.S. saw this as an opportunity to dazzle
the Soviet public with consumer goods that
the Soviets had no access to, showing how
American capitalism is better for social
progress . Presenting everything from fashion
12
shows to agricultural tractors to a single-
family american home and its interior . The
13
house erected for the exhibition included all
modern furniture and a touch-kitchen with all
the newest appliances on which Khrushchev
reacted to with mistrust. A special feature in
the kitchen was the automatic floor cleaning
device or a self propelled floor cleaner what
is interesting to point out is the resemblance
of it to a Roomba robot that is present in
some households today, wirelessly controlled,
designed to sense walls and other obstacles,
it is a smart vacuum cleaner.
At the exhibition, of course, the floor cleaner
was not yet autonomous as presented, mirror
tricks and remote controls shaped the illusion
that we experience today. But today we can
look back, and see how this object and others,
aiming to impress, were paving the road for
the ideas of tomorrow to come true.
27
28

After WWII there was a period of nuclear Fallout shelters, as they have been
tension, fear of a global war, political distrust named in the U.S. transformed the
and espionage between the U.S. and the defense from a community-based
USSR. During this period Unites States responsibility into an individual position.
citizens developed fear from the USSR, this Previously there had been group
fear managed to translate into products that facilities which mobilized the solidarity
affirm to protect from nuclear attack, like bomb people feel when faced by common
shelters and gas masks. adversity. Now protection was the
14

subject of a single family and their

basement.

In addition to fallout shelters and

survival products like cans, flash lights
and folding beds, many films were
produced, some are explanatory,
showing how to secure you, your family
and you property from the effects of
a nuclear attack (being blast, heat,
radioactivity )
15

Medical videos with detailed

information, and even features showing
a family dealing with a fallout of a
nuclear bomb.

(14) Deborah Davis. (2010). Fallout Shelter Packaging. Available: http://beachpackagingdesign.com/boxvox/fallout-shelter-packaging. Last accessed 6th Jan 2017.
(15) wdtvlive42 - Archive Footage. (1951). Survival Under Atomic Attack - 1951 American Civil Defense Educational Film - WDTVLIVE42. [Online Video]. 21
January 2012. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsHUIxt1iMw. [Accessed: 17 January 2017].
29

IMAGE: Tumblr
30

Together with nuclear threat a surprising Besides engineers and scientists, NASA had
launch of the Sputnik satellite by the Soviet worked with artists to document the space
Union into Earths orbit threw the U.S. into agency and details of the missions in a
a crisis causing a tightening of the reins in unique and personal way, that would inspire
space-missile advances in order to keep up and aspire for decades to come.
with the Soviets progress.
America was integrating computers into their
To resolve the crisis ARPA (Advanced battlefield front, building weapons, systems,
Research Projects Agency) was formed, and strategies, whose human and machine
to maintain technological superiority, put component could function as a seamless
United States into space, protect from Soviet web. First air defences were used in WWII,
missile attacks and detect soviet nuclear and electronic battlefield simulations helped
tests .
16
the Army during the Vietnam war, forming
cybernetics, the grand theory of information
Having the technology build up upon the and control in biological and mechanical
advanced achievements in the past 20
19
systems, and artificial intelligence (AI)
years, ARPA have launched the ARPANET
to try and decentralized control and send
information across long distances. In the
future ARPANET will be opened beyond
military needs, and turn into the World Wide
Web. ARPA invented the digital protocols
that gave birth to the Internet , the Internet
17

was the direct upshot of the Cold War.

NASA (National Advisory Committee for

Aeronautics) was formed in 1958 as a direct
answer to the crisis after the launch of
Explorer 1 earlier that year. NASA began to
conduct space missions within months of its
creation .
18

(16) DARPAtv. (2009). DARPA: The Formative Years 1958 - 1975. [Online Video]. 10 August 2016. Available from: https://youtu.be/GHK7Sn66vts. [Accessed: 11 January 2017].
(17) Unknown. (unknown). Paving the Way to the Modern Internet. Available: http://www.darpa.mil/about-us/timeline/modern-internet. Last accessed 12th Jan 2017.
(18) Steve Garber and Roger Launius. (2005). A Brief History of NASA. Available: https://history.nasa.gov/factsheet.htm. Last accessed 16th Jan 2017.
(19) Edwards, Paul N.. (1996). |We Defend Every Place : Building the Cold War World. In: Wiebe E. Bijker, W. Bernard Carlson, and Trevor Pinch
The Closed World: computers and the politics of discourse in Cold War America. United States: The MIT Press. 1.
31

A lot of creative and quirky ideas

were coming to live, having
so many devices at hand. A
Breakfast station included a
toaster with an egg pan just on
top of it and a coffee maker all
set with one timer. Or the device
build by Doc in Back to the
Future film which is turned on
by an alarm clock that triggers
a radio and a coffee maker on,
turns on the TV, the toaster and
the dog food opening machine,
all in that order.

IMAGE: The Nostalgia Electrics , (2015), breakfast-maker [ONLINE].

Available at: https://www.cnet.com/news/relaxing-with-a-break-
fast-maker/ [Accessed 19 January 2017].
32

INTERNET OF THINGS
SPEECH COMMUNICATION
DEVICES, IDEAS AND THEIR
RELIZATION
Many houses and apartments in an
urbanised areas are well equipped with
different electrical devices and appliances.
Think about your own home, each room
has its own designated function, so the
appliances present in that room will align
to that function. A default set of a television
screen in the living room accompanied by
a gaming council and a set of speakers, a
washing machine and a dishwasher might be
found in the kitchen or in a separate space,
vacuum cleaner will be somewhere in the
house, electricity powered heating in every
room and burglary alarm.
there for the purpose of preparing food.
However, even though they all have the
same aim, they are not connected to each
other by any other means beside their
purpose, they can not coordinate their action
without the human contribution of moving
things, switching machines on and off and
cleaning them.
This element of interconnectivity between
devices was not necessary or even thought
of until recent years, but already in 2008,
there were more connected things to the
Internet (meaning they could be connected
to each other as well) than people on Earth ,
20

Kitchen will have the largest number of and these numbers are growing, promising
50 billion connected devices by 2020 .
21
electrical appliances, because the function
of the room demands from the devices
to mix, cut, heat and freeze foods. Kettle,
toaster, mixer, microwave, stove, oven,
refrigerator, freezer, blender and more, all

(20) Dave Evans. (2011). The Internet of Things [INFOGRAPHICS]. Available: http://tinyurl.com/ox5usxn. Last accessed 11th Jan 2017.
(21) Cisco. (unknown). Connections Counter: The Internet of Everything in Motion. Available: http://tinyurl.com/zld33tw. Last accessed 18th Jan 2017.
33

In recent years the Internet of Things has
become the next desired network to have
your device, object or item included in .
22
More popularly named by the moniker -
IoT - the Internet of Things is a means of
communication between devices, which are
mostly electric, but some have just been
added a component (like a sticker) that
can be detected by different sensors. This
communication is data going back and forth,
collecting information about the devices
activity, location and status.
IoT spread over the first years of the twenty
a space for a specific user and adjusting it
accordingly, just a pleasant and effective
24
place to get things done.
Ubiquitous computing sounds like a great
idea, the existence of which would help
our busy routines of juggling daily tasks
as well as communicating between home,
work, friends and hobbies. It seems that
this is what the IoT is trying to do, but it is
not quite there. Although all the major titles
relating to IoT in the media are promising
just that, because it is so different than
anything else thats out there right now
25

first century and has been named merged says the Intel CEO Brian Krzanich in the
reality by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, but it 2016 Intel Developer Forum, there are more
23

also bears a rough resemblance to a concept changes to be made in the infrastructure in

coined by Matt Weiser called Ubiquitous both our private and public spaces, for the
Computing in 1991. He wrote his essay connected devices to blend invisibly into our
The Computer for the 21st Century around surrounding.
this idea, which describes an environment
embedded with small computers, erasing the
box figured machines (laptops and stationary
computers) as the centre of our attention,
avoiding the need in home screens by
instead using sensors that react to a certain
person and his or hers needs and routines
(to do list, personal diary, phone calls, etc),
knowingly recognising the designation of

(22) Michael Moore. (2015). Intel The IoT Is Bringing On A New Age. Available: http://tinyurl.com/h5wc597. Last accessed 11th Jan 2017.
(23) Tech Events. (2016). Intel CEO Brian Krzanich keynote at Intel Developer Forum 2016. [Online Video].
17 August 2016. Available from: http://tinyurl.com/j2v6sje. [Accessed: 11 January 2017].
(24) Mark Weiser. (1991). The Computer for the 21st Century. Available: http://www.ubiq.com/hypertext/weiser/SciAmDraft3.html. Last accessed 26th Dec 2016.
(25) Tech Events. (2016). Intel CEO Brian Krzanich keynote at Intel Developer Forum 2016. [Online Video]. 17 August 2016.
Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkJdk4NWq6U&t=110s. [Accessed: 11 January 2017].
34
SPEECH
Speech is an important component of
human communication, it enabled humans
to form a community, build society and
culture. With speech we solve problems,
come to agreements, express our feelings,
desires, and needs. Mastering speech and
its structure throughout our lives we shape
our relationships with others and shape our
personality.
Communication across long distances was
achieved in the 19th century by wireless
technology, that moved speech along wires
and electrical waves. This technology began
operating as a mass media distribution in a
form of morse code, telegraph, telephone,
and radio. Translating news from around
the globe and further on entertainment and
leisure content.
By understanding the importance of speech
in our daily lives, corporations are integrating
it as a main function into devices with the
purpose of becoming personal assistants.
The assistant is connected to the web, and
other devices in your home. It can search for
vocally requested information, vocally get
orders about device control, and learn about
its users preferences. Some examples are,
Siri, the personal assistant on iPhone, Voice
service Alexa on Amazons Echo, Google
Home, Insteon with Microsofts Cortana voice
and a recent active aging companion named
ElliQ that is meant to sustain communication
for the elderly living alone rather than control
house functions.
35
STUDIO PRACTICE
The Idea of the experiment with the Kettle
was formed by smart technology devices,
which are together with making daily tasks
quicker and effortless, is set to improve
human to human communication. After
texting, emailing, and online messaging
which has made communication faster
by eliminating the vocal speech, I feel its
right that new and better technologies
within the IoT network improve human to
human communication by returning to vocal
dialog, to have a more personal, meaningful
connection even with devices.
So in my experiment, I have manually
attached a function to an everyday task of
boiling water in a kettle. I called my sister on
Whatsapp application between the ON of
the kettle until the automatic OFF.
This created an opposite of convenient
service of the technology, but the outcome
of having made this effort to have a chat
with my sister every other day was worth it.
It created a task that was so uncomfortable
I would notice every time I didnt do it.
The calls were disrupted after the OFF of
the kettle immediately by me hanging up,
however with time I did not wanted or felt
obligated to stop the conversations, and the
experiment has changed naturally.
Her response, being aware of how I am
managing these calls was positive, she was
amused as well as I was with the activity and
we are still enjoying our set communication
with the help of the kettle.
36

FUTURE IN PRESENT CULTURE

The future imagined by the United States,
facing a probable nuclear threat from the
Soviet Union, was highly concerned with the
possibility of a global war state, and at the
In films the vision of tomorrow were also
portrayed. A saucer looking vehicles in
the beginning of The Sharper Sword and
Stronger Shield film are a reflection of the
27

same time it was highlighted by the future- ideas which American society had been
fever. developing at the time.

The army was preparing for a possible war,
in which the Soviets will attack with nuclear
weapons dragging everyone into a major
land war of any dimension short of total
thermonuclear holocaust . So to face this
26
Besides films, magazine articles
accompanied by fascinating illustrations
were also portraying the possibilities of
tomorrow. Artists like Robert Mccall who
worked on the concept art for the 2001: A

threat the Army, Navy and the Marine Force
were preparing for the worse. In reassuring
the citizens of America in their strength and
ability to protect, films were used frequently.
The approach of these films used strong
images of terrifying Soviet Army, their
soldiers, weapons and machinery; and
comforting American troops, weapons and
their allies. This style was defined by big
world, high numbers and over presenting (as
you have seen in an earlier reference #26).
Space Odyssey film (a Sci-Fi film about an
object found beneath the Lunar surface)
and as an artist for NASA documenting the
history of the Space Race. Another artist
is Frank Tinsley who was an illustrator that
specialized in machines and wrote articles
accompanied by his amazing drawings of
airplanes, land vehicles and space oriented
machines. His illustrations designed the
science fiction spectrum of the 50s in
America and influenced authors of the genre
in the Soviet Union as well.

(26) Jeff Quitney. (1960). The Sharper Sword and Stronger Shield ~ 1960 US Army; The Big Picture TV-449. IMAGE: screenshot from video The
[Online Video]. 20 October 2016. Available from: https://youtu.be/qnjXhmdQ_js. [Accessed: 12 January 2017]. Sharper Sword and Stronger Shield ~
(27) Jeff Quitney. (1960). The Sharper Sword and Stronger Shield ~ 1960 US Army; The Big Picture TV-449. 1960 US Army; The Big Picture TV-
[Online Video]. 20 October 2016. Available from: https://youtu.be/qnjXhmdQ_js. [Accessed: 6 January 2017]. 449 on youtube
37
38
39

STUDIO PRACTICE
Some of my research as part of the
studio practice included making videos
in which kitchen appliances are the
protagonists. I have used these items
because they are playing a significant
part in my life.
Daily routine does not go without me
boiling a kettle, cooking on the hob or
in the oven, or using the fridge.
They have gained a political voice
through the films, filtering my thoughts,
doubts, interests and uncertainties.
In these films devices convey emotions
better than a human can, because
we dont assign them emotions as a
default, this surprises the viewer and
makes a highlighted point. The devices
role changes with the context, and the
content. Using light, color and angles
I have gained a way to discuss important
topics of our society and culture.
Taken by the film-noir style, the toaster
is a pessimist, but what is important to
take from this method is how does it
makes us feel, or what does it makes us
thing.
These feeling can be important to
understand a person or a whole
community.
Through watching we can discover
something we could not get into exact
words.
These films will continue to multiply
through my practice, using genres from
the period of the Cold War around
America, USSR and Europe.

On the left is an image of a video

delivering toasters point of view. Its
character is melancholic, questioning,
wondering. It does not understand
what is beyond the space it is in.
If there anything at all? It sees the
communication it gets from the user
unsatisfying, but nothing else is
satisfying as well.
40

IMAGE: from video A Day

The ideas of the world of in the Life of a Kitchen -
Tomorrow havent missed the 1960s American Households
& Lifestyles - Val73TV on
field of consumers goods. youtube

HECK the Home Electronic Center

presented the miracle kitchen,
which does all the cleaning before
you even ask for it. It knows how,
when and what you eat, and
makes everything in advance,
prepared and waiting for you. The
future looked effortless.

Based on space travel and the

marvels of it, new terms and
words would transform your
home into an experience from
another galaxy. Commercial films
illuminated the kitchen as the
center of an American family,
turning the breakfast into a space
mission with the countdown and
28

the homemaker to MCC (Mission

Control Center).

(28) Val73TV - Home Of Archives, Documentary Movie & History Films. (1960). A Day in the Life of a Kitchen - 1960s American Households & Lifestyles -
Val73TV. 0:32 [Online Video]. 3 June 2012. Available from: https://youtu.be/nDlHgoy2OcU. [Accessed: 6 January 2017].
41
42
CONCLUSION
Relying on many historical events and the
present state of our society in industry,
technology, arts, graphics and film I would
like to discuss in this concluding chapter, the
effects of the past and how to take them to
the future. In this future I want to incorporate
the Internet of Things technologies, more of
the oral communication and the discourse
around localization.
Starting with the parallels our present has
with Soviet history:
Propaganda today is expressed in targeted
advertising. It can be said that we are
creating our own propaganda, but unlike
the USSR it is a way to shape the same self
repeatedly. With the amount of data we share
about ourselves on public media platform,
tailored adverts shown to us are very close
to what we already are. Change and diversity
is harder to achieve, striving for something
else feels too hard to do, making it easier
on corporations to make their profit without
many modifications.
Censorship today is just information control,
it can be a subtle misinformation, or a
complete opposite. Like the notoriously
known Facebook experiment , there are
29
algorithms that can feed us with similar views
(29) ROBINSON MEYER . (2014). Everything We Know About Facebooks Secret Mood Manipulation Experiment. Available: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ar-
chive/2014/06/everything-we-know-about-facebooks-secret-mood-manipulation-experiment/373648/. Last accessed 18th Jan 2017.
that we support, denying us from any differ
opinion. This kind of censorship is closing
our view and making people narrow minded,
unaccepting and plain mean to each other
online and on sometimes on the streets.
Surveillance today might be the most
delicate and popular issue of todays
integrated technologies in our lives.
It goes from worrying about your personal
computers camera and who can access
it, what happens to photos and videos
collected on our phones, to CCTV and
other security cameras. It can also be a
subconscious tool of personality shaping
because we know we are watched our
behavior is altered.
Taking these three components into
consideration when designing for connected
environment is a key for a successful
planned and executed products, for both the
user and the maker.
These component carrying from the Soviet
Union had an effect on Russian mentality
that people are still attached to today, in
new formed Russia. I argue that these
characteristics, expanded in chapter one,
are important to seek assistance from to find
better solutions.
43

LOCALIZED IOT
From an interview with Alexandra Sansino, an
IoT designer and consultant, I had gained a
fresh view regarding some IoT infrastructures
. I believe design practice should be doing, it
Capitalism is forcing designers to think
outside of localized context (Alexandra
Sansino, 2017) . Planning and especially
30.
making devices requires the designer to be
financially capable, or to have an investors
backup. The interest of the investor is to
increase the capital, and achieve products
success globally. So designing for a
small community, with specific needs and
purposes can be worthless, thus hard to
execute these kind of projects.
A lot of investors come from the U.S.
because of Americas capitalist culture,
formed by the history of new beginnings and
the American Dream, the money circulating
in the U.S. is making it possible to have
plans and designs researched, tested and
developed. This is why a lot of connected
devices are english language orientated
and its market is mainly in the U.S. or other
english speaking countries. Allowing to profit
and regain the capital spent.
Designing globally you cant really help
a specific problem that needs individual
attention, and make a fortune. But this is what
should be aiming to bridge communities and
present available resources to improve their
material and mental circumstances.
To make use of the benefits of IoT network
in a smaller community, when it cant be
done because of the lack of interest from
investors, I can suggest two ways to go.
Using a DIY system, where people design
locally with cheap budgets for themselves,
with the help of professionals in the practical
and mechanical side of things. Or a longer
a more difficult path, where the mentality is
changed, where more people care about
the communities around them would actually
design inside them, with main interest to aid
and not to profit.

(30) Alexandra Sansino (2017) interview by Katya Krasner, January 2017

44

AS CONNECTED
COMPUTING GETS MORE
UBIQUITOUS WELL STOP
THINKING OF IT AS A
SEPARATE THING (IOT )
AND MORE AS WHATEVER
THE THING ACTUALLY
DOES (CONNECTED
HEART RATE[] MONITOR)
31

(PETER BEHR, 2017)

(31) Peter Behr (2017) interview by Ekaterina Krasner, January 2017

45
46

STUDIO PRACTICE
During my practice I want to try and play with the
human to object and object to object relationship.
The films I have made until now are discussing
human to object relations through a lens of
human feelings, needs and moods. Sometimes
an oven or a kettle can comforts the blues of a
winter day better than a person, with a simple
reaction of their designated function. Oppositely,
sometimes the object is the one that has sad
feelings, concerned about its existence and role
in the space it occupies.

Through giving the film an expression of a specific

cinema style, the objects become complicated
protagonists with a political voice. Using what I
have learned from writing this contextual report,
I would like to think about non electrical objects
as well, as items that can be brought to life, either
with interconnecting technologies or with the
magic of filmmaking, to assume the connection.

What was missing in my practice so far was an aim

to direct my actions. My work experimented with
human communication implemented on an object
to object relations, with the purpose to entertain,
amuse maybe, but the amusing can be useful,
when under the bizarre or funny words hides a
message. Exactly like the Soviet propaganda films
that depicted the present in a contrast that was
not faithful to reality. Or some feature films in the
1980s that have some satire of the Soviet Union,
such as Mikhail Bulgakovs Heart of a Dog and
Fatal Eggs.
47

What I want to do with my practice is to bring

Russian context into IoT . If there is a way to make
use of connected devices to benefit non-english
speaking communities it should be first redirect to
that community, and in case of Russia, it should be
implemented with Russian mentality.

One of the starting points for this focus can be

the home made artifacts from the Soviet period;
they are the symbol of culture inventions
meant to serve their maker and not a marketing
32
department

These artifacts are a mix of creativity, inventiveness,

and resourcefulness but also scarcity of that reality.
Consumer goods were very few and werent
widely available to the impoverished millions of
the USSR. So people had to improvise, and make
the items they were missing in their household by
hand. A documentation of these items is rare, and
some could still be found in use in less urbanized
areas.

Some objects are very simple, like bath a plug

made from a wooden shoe heel or a cutting
board with crocodile clips to assist with meat
cutting. Some are more complicated, like turning
the old polaroid cartridge into a power source
for a transistor radio. Light tools, electrical tools,
working tools, cooking tools, storage tools,
accessories, hygiene tools and many more were
made in that unique Soviet DIY style. Researching
into this phenomenon can assist with creating the
local flavor of the Russian IoT.

(32) Vladimir Arkhipov (2006). Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts. London: Fuel Publishing.
50