Perus Saranurak, 15 Mar 2014, MA Design Futures and Metadesign at Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK. Postgraduate project work 'Technonature'. We create technology and we are shaped by technology. This essay considers "money" as a technology, and studies about the perception of money and its influences. Also this essay approaches the perception of money as the object of relationship between people in community.

1. Money to
the Tiny Big Journey
writer:
Perus Saranurak
Tracking money for revealing our rela onship

2. Project:
Money;
To the Tiny Big Journey
Tracking money for revealing our relationship
Goldsmiths, University of London
Techno-Nature
The relationship between human and natures
Writer:
Perus Saranurak
MA Design Futures
33307884
Print on the 15th
of March 2014
1st
edition

3. 0
Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1
Overview: between human & non‐human ...................................................... 1
Project statement ............................................................................................ 1
Money: the object of value .................................................................................. 2
Why is money? ................................................................................................. 2
Money in this project ....................................................................................... 4
Project: the Tiny Big Journey ................................................................................ 5
Collective values ............................................................................................... 5
Revealing method ............................................................................................ 5
Report on practice ............................................................................................... 6
The process of creating a story: tracking money ............................................. 6
Pilot test ........................................................................................................... 7
Story: Tiny Big Journey ......................................................................................... 9
Prototype: the Journey Diary ......................................................................... 10
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 13
Reflect from the practice ............................................................................... 13
Back to the key question ................................................................................ 13
Reference ........................................................................................................... 14

4. 1
Introduction
Tiny Big journey: the journey of money
Overview: between human & non-human
In techno‐nature class, studying about the essence of technology, it also
questions me what is the essence of humanity, creature or life. Nowadays both of
them seem to merge and to enhance each other, which becomes problematic to
distinguish them clearly. As Bradley (2006, p.3) said that the “ontological
boundaries between the human and the technological constantly need to be re‐
drawn”.
Project statement
By focusing on digital era we are living in, it can be seen that a ton a ton of data
has been created in every second, every move and place. At the same time, the
data possibly could be seen as it has a life and fed by humans.
To question on the boundary between human and technological, this project
would like to give an idea about ‘what would it be when we see the lifeless tools
as a live thing’. Thus the project will use some tools to reveal the ‘sense of life’.
And a ‘lifeless tool’ which this project chooses is money.
This project tries to change the role we normally see money, as a tool for
exchangeability, to be a ‘tiny traveller’. This project will use the data which
generate when we use money for creating the unique story of each banknote,
such as a journey diary or passport.

5. 2
Money: the object of value
“Value is an addition to the completely determined objective being …” states
Georg Simmel (1990, p.60).
Why is money?
Basically, money is the tools for representing value. Also, by considering the
properties of money, it seems to significantly relate to the ‘essence of technology’
that Heidegger (1977) states in questioning concerning technology. For example,
in a city life, humans are surrounded by commodities which make life easier
because we, as consumers, can use merely money as a standard tool to exchange.
Conversely, many seem to believe that money becomes the ‘must’ for survival.
According to Arthur Bradley (2006, p.3), he said about the idea of technology that
it can no longer be seen as tools, but it's become ‘the basic and enabling
condition of our lifeworld’.
This chapter will introduce the key function of money, the object of value.
Economic value
Firstly, the function of money could be seen as to visible economic value. It
represents a standard value in the community to enable to exchange and to
compare the economic value of everything; including products, objects, material,
resources, lands, experiences, story, knowledge, beliefs, also human and many
things. This process is known as ‘pricing’.
However, the nature of money value is not same as gold value. Gold has a value
from itself from how rich of its materiality. Even money can represent the value of
gold, but the value of money does not relate to its material. In the philosophy of
money Georg Simmel (1990, p.120‐121) explains that the value of money is by
expressing the relativity of things that make up the value. Moreover, the basis of
money could be seen as a future promise and an acceptance in the community.

6. 3
In the way that money represents a value, it has to distort the qualitative value
into the quantitative measurable unit. This also affects our perceptions because it
reveals only economic value and blinds other values, such as the relationship
between people in the process of exchange.
Exchangeability
“Most interactions between people are forms of exchange, which develops
to be relationships”. Even Simmel (1990, p.82) states in the Philosophy of
Money. Actually, Money is produced to be a tool for exchangeability. Also,
he explains (2009, p. 210) that Money is the purest form of the tool and it
has the capacities in transformation, mobility, communication, store and
being the standard.
By its capacity, It can be transferred between person to person continuously. In
another view, it could be the one of the powerful object in connecting many
people who never know each other together. However, nowadays the society
becomes more competitive and isolated. Follow this, Money could be seen as the
tools for individual achievement. As well, most consumers tend to concern more
merely about the product they are buying and less in the sellers who they talk to.
Obviously, this situation usually happens in a shopping mall where the economic
system cuts the relationship between people to enrich the productivity.
Paradigm
Some could see that money can extend living conditions to be freedom, in terms
of controllable and independent life. Because, following economic patterns,
money could be used to access and achieve almost everything in our lives,
including the status in society.
Conversely, the economic system also illustrates the picture of a meaningful and
successful life to motivate itself. Hench, most people tire themselves to the role
of consumers. By comparing with the notion of technology, Albert Borgmann,
cited by Peter‐Paul Verbeek (2002, p.2), states that “… technology in terms of a
paradigm, a pattern in the way people live their lives, which comes about when
they use technology.”

7. 4
Furthermore, in these days, it is hardly to imagine how to live without money.
This could clarify the Heidegger’s word “everywhere we remain unfree and
chained to technology,… in the worst possible way when we regard it as
something neutral” (1977, p.3).
Money in this project
However, in my point of view, the importance of money belongs to relationship
and diversity. Money allows a person to contact with other persons who are
different. If we are living in the world without connection, or if everyone is same,
money would be valueless. So, this project would like to reveal the value of
money in the aspect of the relationship.

8. 5
Project: the Tiny Big Journey
Collective values
By connecting many people together, money could be used as a tool for revealing
the relationship. And the one aspect this project concern is ‘collective value’. For
understanding the collective value, Marcus Hedahl (p.1) explains that the essence
of collective values is to do together, not only common understanding. It would
be grounded in our collective concern which could become the values of ours,
‘we‐value’
To extend the idea of the collective value, which could be experienced in activities
or practices, this project would like to reveal ‘we‐values’ by record them. This
could make ‘we‐value’ to be more visible for reviewing and comparing.
Revealing method
This project will use this potential of money in interacting with many different
crowds to reveal the ‘collective value’. In this process, this project will follow the
one of metadesign tools name “Collective story‐telling”, a tool for the transition
from 'me‐ness' to 'we‐ness'. (Metadesigner.org).
This project adapts “Collective storytelling” tool to be the revealing method:
1. Create the platform which enables persons who have the same bank notes
sharing their individual activities, experiences or stories to the group.
2. Track banknotes to collect the story and show the relationship between
people.
3. Transform the data into the unique format of the diary, which connect all
activities each banknote from various people together.
The story will show that each person is in the part of the whole story and
experience the sense of the collective value. This is the reason that why this essay
focusing at banknote because it has a number which can identify and track on its
journey to see unexpected relationship.

9. 6
Report on practice
The process of creating a story: tracking money
Firstly, the method for tracking of this project is to stick a banknote with a QR
code because it can use as a shortcut to run a program, which the users can
access an instruction and use it.
However, after I talked with Pete Roger, Goldsmiths Senior Computing Tutor, he
mentions that the QR code technology is not popular and a bit complicate for
mass users. Thus, this would be hard to get the data. Also, he suggests twitter is
would be the best tool because it is easy, it has a million of users, and it has many
plug‐ins which can use to support this project in many directions in step further.
Legal condition
Scripting on a bank note is illegal in the UK:
"Concerning notes, the Currency, and Bank Notes Act 1928 says If any person prints, or stamps,
or by any means impresses, on any bank note any words, letters or figures, he shall, in respect
of each offence, be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding one pound. The
penalty was changed to £25 in 1977 (Criminal Law Act, s.31) and to £200 in 1982 (Criminal
Justice Act, s.46)."
Moreover, to stick a QR code or an instructor on the banknote could probably be
illegal too, but in the pilot test I try to inform users by sticker. Even it is not
successful, but I have a relevant issue from this test.
Other projects in tracking banknotes
This is the existing websites which create the platform for report the banknote
data and show the location.
 ‘Where’s George?’: This project in the US since 1998:
(http://www.wheresgeorge.com/wild.php).
 ‘Where’s your money?’: This project is in the UK since 2009:
(http://wheresyourmoney.com/). This site asks people to write the web link on
the banknote.

10.
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13. 10
Prototype: the Journey Diary
The final expectation of this project is to bring the journey of money into the
tangible perception. So, scrapbooks or diary books would be the final approach of
this project.
However, the tracking process requires a very long period, as can be seen in the
project of “Where’s George?” and “Where’s your money?”. For making a
prototype, this project will use the data from (http://wheresyourmoney.com/)
and represent it as a passport which shows the travelling story of the banknote.
FIGURE 5: THE METHOD TO CREATE PROTOTYPE:
TRANSFORM DATA FROM ‘WHERE’S YOUR MONEY’ WEBSITE

14. 11

15. 12

16. 13
Conclusion
Reflect from the practice
This project still has many problems which could be seen while doing the practical
experiment. Firstly, it is lack of motivation to bring people to be the parts of the
storytellers. In the interview, many interviewers say they do not know how it
work and what it would be in the end. Thus, to make the users understand the
whole system, this project should start from the outcome of the project, such as a
website or real dairy books.
Secondly, the number of banknotes is quite long (e.g. KC55 218411) and
unfamiliar. In the next step, this project will use only the prefix (e.g. KC55), which
refer to groups of those bank notes which originated at the same time and place,
from this website of ‘Pam West British Notes’. Furthermore, the identification by
number or code is in the format of production, non‐human, which should be
transformed into a name. For example, the number ‘KC55’ matches with the
name ‘Kelly’ in the baby name guidebook. This could encourage people to
participate and develop the sense of life in the story of money.
Finally, the story should have some benefit back to the community. So, this
project can apply to the “B£” (Brixton pound project), the project in Brixton,
London, UK, make money work for that area for supporting the small shops and
markets there (http://brixtonpound.org/). Moreover, the method of “B£” would
be the good context for “Tiny Big Journey” project because it is a close area which
can be easier to inform the inhabitants. Also, the approach of this project could
be seen as the collective stories which can enrich the ‘collective value’ in the
community.
Back to the key question
In my opinion, the boundary between human and technology have already
ruined. Both human and technology are interdependent. According to Ivan Illich
(1990, p.10), he suggests the idea of tools for conviviality that “People need new
tools to work with rather than tools that work for them.” Human should change
perception about technology, not see as our slave, but as our partner.

17. 14
Reference
 Bradley, A & Armand, L (2006), Thinking Technicity. In A Bradley & L Armand
(Eds), Technicity. Charles University Press, Prague, pp. 1‐15.
 Hedahl, M. ‘Collective values’. In Academia.edu.
https://www.academia.edu/1124996/collective_values [Accessed 03/03/14].
 Heidegger, M. (1977). The question concerning technology, and other essays.
New York: Harper & Row.
 Illich, I. (1973). Tools for conviviality. New York: Harper & Row.
 Lockheart, J & Tham, M. (2008) ‘Tool no.52 ‐ Collective story‐telling’. In
Metadesigners network (et al.). http://metadesigners.org/Tool‐52‐Collective‐
StoryTelling/ [Accessed 03/03/14].
 Pam West British Notes. ‘Make Money from Banknotes’
(http://britishnotes.co.uk/news_and_info/make_money/). [Accessed
03/03/14].
 Simmel, G. (1978). The philosophy of money. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
 The Brixton Pound. http://brixtonpound.org/ [accessed 10/03/14].
 Verbeek, Peter‐Paul. (2002). Devices of Engagement: On Borgmann's
Philosophy of Information and Technology. Philosophy Documentation Center.
 ‘Where’s George?’. http://www.wheresgeorge.com/wild.php. [Accessed
03/03/14].
 ‘Where’s your money?’. (http://wheresyourmoney.com/).[accessed 03/03/14].