Skip to content

Safe New World

Paper Timber Stinson-Schroff
researcher academic
Download →

Safe New World examines how coal mining safety improved by 97% between 1900 and 2017 through technological advances and regulatory changes, using this case study to argue that protocol design must anticipate both predictable and unpredictable externalities when implementing new systems. Stinson-Schroff explores how historical safety protocols reveal tensions between solving immediate harms and managing unforeseen consequences, with implications for designing safe systems in contemporary technological contexts.

Related resources

Paper

Addressable Space: Appendices 3–4

This appendix examines how address systems can obscure or clarify physical space, using One Riverside Park's dual-entrance configuration as a case study where a single building facade contains multiple addresses serving different housing types. Hart argues that improved address representation standards and online mapping conventions could better inform the public about increasingly complex building configurations.

culture infrastructure protocol-watching

Chenoe Hart

Paper

Addressable Space: Appendices 7–8

This paper examines how ubiquitous chain businesses like Starbucks create 'addressable space' by clustering multiple locations in proximity, enabling topological folding where different physical addresses become functionally equivalent for consumers. Hart argues that navigation systems are increasingly organized around brand names rather than street addresses, fundamentally reshaping how we conceptualize and move through urban space.

culture infrastructure protocol-watching

Chenoe Hart

Paper

Addressable Space: Appendices 9–10

This paper examines how elevator protocols decouple the relationship between physical distance and experiential time, creating non-linear travel patterns where the same destination can take radically different durations depending on system variables like passenger demand and stops. Hart uses the elevator as a case study in how automatic systems generate unpredictability and variability in human experience despite consistent physical inputs.

culture infrastructure protocol-watching

Chenoe Hart

Topics

culture protocol-watching protocols