The hidden truth about many attempts to “bury” technology is that they
embody an amoral and unsustainable vision. Pick any electrical appliance
in your kitchen. The odds are that you have no idea how much
electricity it consumes, let alone how it compares to other appliances
and households. This ignorance is neither natural nor inevitable; it
stems from a conscious decision by the designer of that kitchen
appliance to free up your “cognitive resources” so that you can unleash
your inner Oscar Wilde on “contemplating” other things. Multiply such
ignorance by a few billion, and global warming no longer looks like a
mystery.
Recently, designers in Germany built devices — “transformational products,” they call them — that engage users in “conversations without words.” My favorite is a caterpillar-shaped extension cord. If any of the devices plugged into it are left in standby mode, the “caterpillar” starts twisting as if it were in pain.
Does it do what normal extension cords do? Yes. But it also awakens users to the fact that the cord is simply the endpoint of a complex socio-technical system with its own politics and ethics. Before, designers have tried to conceal that system. In the future, designers will be obliged to make it visible.
- More Here
Recently, designers in Germany built devices — “transformational products,” they call them — that engage users in “conversations without words.” My favorite is a caterpillar-shaped extension cord. If any of the devices plugged into it are left in standby mode, the “caterpillar” starts twisting as if it were in pain.
Does it do what normal extension cords do? Yes. But it also awakens users to the fact that the cord is simply the endpoint of a complex socio-technical system with its own politics and ethics. Before, designers have tried to conceal that system. In the future, designers will be obliged to make it visible.
- More Here
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