IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2020 - 39

reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses, to mitigate
global warming, to improve the adaptation of local life to
climate change, and is even seen as encouraging the
democratization of energy source control.
The concept of ontological politics in [11] and [10]
implies that "reality does not precede the mundane
practices in which we interact with it, but it is rather
shaped within these practices" [11, p. 75] and that
"there are various possible reasons, including the political, for enacting one kind of reality rather than another,
and that these grounds may in some measure be debated" [10, p. 162]. The reality of the favelas, lowlands, and
poorer regions of the city of Rio de Janeiro is acknowledged in a series of artifacts and documents by the
authorities that point to the vulnerability of the population living in these territories in a context of rampant climate crisis. These are human development patterns
that lead to exclusion and energy poverty. Nevertheless,
the Solar Map, as an artifact allegedly promoting energy
inclusion, enacts a reality in which such regions have no
energy potential and are therefore non-existent.
If there are reasons for enacting one reality instead
of another, this paper aligns itself with a sociotechnical
ethic in which the sun shines again over the favela areas
of Rio de Janeiro, reinstating to them as a presence in
the frames of reference of artifacts such as the Solar
Map. An ontological politics allied to this ethic would
produce a reality in which the inhabitants of these territories would emerge not as victims of the political negligence and of the materiality of the mud, rains, and high
energy tariffs, but as agents of the actions of response
to the climatic crisis that plagues the planet. They
would, so emerge as agents of overcoming, albeit partially,9 socioeconomic inequalities through inclusion in
the processes of solar energy generation.

A Suggestion to Address the Informational Gap
There are some initiatives in Rio's favelas aimed at building information systems based on the concept of citizengenerated data.10 These initiatives are examples of how
to address the informational gap we identified in
the Solar Map, i. e., decentralized ways of generating
9

In considering a 'partial overcoming' we want to avoid falling into a dangerous technological determinism that would attribute to energy inclusion
the power to solve by itself all the complex problems that plague the populations of the favelas and poor neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro.
10
The concept of Citizen-Generated Data, which still occupies a minor presence
in academic considerations, has guided some experiences of working groups
in Rio de Janeiro's favelas, such as the data_labe data and narratives laboratory, integrated by young people and located in the Maré favela complex. Such
concept roughly starts from a critique of the absence of the peripheral territories perspective and their residents in the data production processes. CitizenGenerated Data would alternatively represent a process capable of including
these perspectives in the construction of data and in the narratives produced
from them. For an example, see the Cocôzap (Poopzap) project, a data_labe
experiment aiming the surveying of information on sanitation in the favela territory through the usage of the WhatsApp instant messenger by Maré residents.
Available: http://cocozap.datalabe.org/. [Accessed: Nov. 6, 2019].

MARCH 2020

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Poor areas are not treated with
the same status and formality
as other areas of the city: there
is a constant struggle to
overcome exclusion.
geo-localized information, in partnership with government entities, and to promote the inclusion of favelas in
information systems. Such initiatives would act to cover
a historical gap in the lack of information on Rio de
Janeiro's favela buildings, based on data built locally by
the population of these regions. Thus, the application
would end up reversing the logic of exclusion currently
observed, performing another reality as proposed in the
concept of ontological politics.

Acknowledgment
The authors thank the research colleagues to whom we
presented the preliminary studies for this article in seminars of the research area of Informatics and Society of
the Systems Engineering and Computer Science Program
of the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering/Federal University of Rio
de Janeiro (PESC/COPPE/UFRJ). They thank Colette Perold for comments on the English draft of this article.
They also thank the institutions that contributed to
the development of the Solar Map and that responded
to the researchers, offering important information for
the current study, such as the State Department of Economic Development, Energy, Industry and Services of
the State of Rio de Janeiro (SEDEIS), the City Hall of Rio
de Janeiro, and the Energy Research Company (EPE).
Alberto J. Silva de Lima was financed in part by the
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível
Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.

Author Information
Paulo H. F. Feitosa is a D.Sc. candidate in the Graduate
Program in Systems Engineering and Computer Science
at the University of Rio de Janeiro; Systems Analyst at
Eletrobras and volunteer at RevoluSolar, a solar energy
cooperative in Rio's favelas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Email: phfeitosa@gmail.com.
Alberto Jorge Silva de Lima is a D.Sc. candidate in
the Graduate Program in Systems Engineering and
Computer Science at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro;

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http://cocozap.datalabe.org/

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