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Just turn me off

Ubiquity, Volume 2000 Issue August, August 1 - August 31, 2000 | BY Bernard Goldbach 

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Fed up with embedded technology? Read the Articles of Association Between Design, Technology and the People Formerly Known as Users.


Have you ever thought of the cultural consequences when every object around us is both smart and connected? What kind of head-wrecking happens when you know that wherever you walk some camera is following you?

A lot of people have simply turned the page and don't care how far technology has penetrated everything we do. Almost everything man-made combines hardware and software. Embedded systems bring machine intelligence to doors, cars, ships, aircraft, fans, fridges, lights, shoes and packaging.

These things show that we are designing a world of pervasive computing. Every object, every building and everybody have become part of a network. Medical telematics and biomechatronics are growing exponentially. The space where human ends and network begins is becoming blurred.

John Thackara calls the passive acceptance of technology into our bodies "Borg Drift". It happens when knowledge from many branches of science and design converge without us noticing.

Do we really want this kind of world? Or might we have another opinion after reading the Articles of Association Between Design, Technology and the People Formerly Known as Users?

Article 1. We cherish the fact that people are innately curious, playful and creative. We therefore suspect that technology is not gong to go away: it is too much fun.

Article 2. We will deliver value to people, not deliver people to systems. We will give priority to human agency, and will not treat humans as a factor in some bigger picture.

Article 3. We will not presume to design your experiences for you but we will do so with you, if asked.

Article 4. We do not believe in "idiot-proof" technology, because we are not idiots, and neither are you. We will use language with care, and will search for less patronizing words than "user" and "consumer."

Article 5. We will focus on services, not on things. We will not flood the world with pointless devices.

Article 6. We believe that "content" is something you do, not something you are given.

Article 7. We will consider material and energy flows in all the systems we design. We will think about the consequences of technology before we act, not after.

Article 8. We will not pretend things are simple, when they are complex. We value the fact that by acting inside a system, you will probably improve it.

Article 9. We believe that place matters, and we will look after it.

Article 10. We believe that speed and time matter too. But sometimes you need more and sometimes you need less. We will not fill up all time with content.




Bernard Goldbach is a technology journalist with The Irish Examiner and an Information and Communications Technology programme specialist with the Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute in Ireland. Goldbach's work can also be found at webshoptalk, http://www.topgold.com.

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