A few weeks ago I announced DhyanaResearch, the translational research program underneath everything we build at DhyanaTech. I said the founding manifesto was coming. Today it is here.
Read Technology From Where We Stand in full.
What This Document Is
It is a founding statement. It lays out the research questions we are asking, the methods we intend to use, the commitments we are making to this region and to the people we build for, and the case for why Knoxville and the wider Appalachian region are the right place to be doing this work. It is long. It is detailed. It is meant to be.
The unifying research question is straightforward:
What do technology and infrastructure designed by and for workers and small business owners in under-resourced regions actually look like, and how do they affect their economic mobility, operational capacity, and wellbeing over time?
That question runs through everything. The software. The automation. The resilient infrastructure. The social science. It all points at the same outcome: building durable, sustainable systems for the people who need them most, and studying what actually works.
Why It Matters
I have written before about keeping it simple and building things to last. This manifesto is the foundation underneath that principle. It is the document that says: here is who we are, here is where we stand, here is the work we are committing to, and here is how we intend to be held accountable.
Three research threads run through the program. Participatory design for under-resourced entrepreneurs. Accessible automation for small and mid-sized manufacturers. Sustainable technology and resilient infrastructure for sustainable livelihoods. They are different fields from a distance. Up close, they are the same problem.
The manifesto also names something I wanted to name explicitly: the wellbeing of the people we serve is not separate from the operational and structural questions we are built around. The four-person shop owner doing payroll at midnight and the family watching the river creep closer every spring are the same person in every column. Design choices affect the load people carry.
An Invitation
The closing lines of the manifesto say what I mean:
We believe a meaningful portion of the software, the automation, and the infrastructure used by small business owners and working families in under-resourced regions should be built by people who know those conditions, in conversation with the people living them. We are trying to do that work, to study it honestly, and to share what we learn.
This document is a beginning. We welcome correspondence, collaboration, and correction.
I mean every word of that. If you are a small business owner, a researcher, a builder, a funder, or a partner who sees something in this work, I want to hear from you. Get in touch.
Stay in the work.
— Steve Dickens, Co-Founder & CTO, DhyanaTech Inc.