Mini-Ethnography of Street Lights

This is a mini-ethnography on street lights that I tried to do using Star's framework:

Embeddedness – Street lights are an essential part in city and urban planning, because they provide light for those walking along sidewalks or parks at night. They are also an integrated part of any road systems because they can limit road accidents. 

Transparency – Most street lights are automated or timed to turn on when it gets dark. Everyone can make use of them when they go out in the evening. 

Reach or Scope – Since streets lights are installed in most road systems, they guide vehicles and individuals to other areas and regions at night. They provide light to these connections across cities and towns. 

Learned as part of Membership – Because there are street lights, people know that they can go out and make plans for the evening. Companies know that they can transport their products in trucks at night. 

Links with Conventions of Practice – Where street lights are installed depend on city and road planning guidelines. Because they are useful for vehicles in the evening, it has become a convention to have street lights where there are roads. It is also expected that street lights will be installed along sidewalks. 

Embodiment of Standards – It is standard to put street lights along the side of the road or sidewalks at relatively equal intervals. Street lights in the same location or area are generally the same. They have the same physical structure and they are powered by the same electrical means. There is also a scientific reason why street lights need to be consistent, because the height of the street light can affect how much light a certain area of the road will receive and how bright it would be depending on how far the light can travel. 

Built on an Installed Base – Street lights are installed once there is a road system in place. They can only exist when there is a city or town where people need to travel in the evening. 

Becomes visible upon breakdown – People realize how dark it becomes even when one street light malfunctions. It becomes really dangerous to travel on the roads, especially the highway, when no street lights are working. We realized how much we have taken them for granted when we cannot see where we are going or it prevent us from traveling in the evening. 

Is fixed in modular increments, not all at once or globally – Even though each street light is part of a system, they are fixed individually. It would take a lot planning if a city wanted to make a change to the physical structure of street lights. For example, the whole system would have to be reorganized if they change their height, because they are installed at specific intervals that would provide the maximum amount of light to the roads or sidewalks.