Reading: Ch. 4 from Chipchase Hidden in Plain Sight
Upon reading the first paragraph of the text, I found it strangely familiar and realised that we have watched a TEDtalk by Chipchase some time ago. Similarly, the TED Talk talked about the trend of ownership > consideration > carry > use. I found this visualising of the circles really interesting and as I go on with the reading in Chapter 4, we can clearly see the relationship with the advancement of technology. With reference to the diagram in reverse, ‘mobile technology has dramatically changed people’s behaviors outside the home’, from carrying less > remembering less > owning less.
However, it seems that our reliance on mobile technology affects our behavior in some ways like memory and sensitivity to our surroundings. For example, having the option to remember less allows us to be less active about utilising our memory space. Also, personally, my reliance on GPS systems like Google Maps allows me to aimlessly drive to my destination and not making mental notes about where and how I am navigating. If my phone were to run out of battery, it would be challenging for me (and I believe most of us) to get to unfamiliar places.
Qn—How can the user find a balance on the reliance and how can the designer intervene?
I like the idea about having no way to steal something that has no owner. I am excited to see this theory come to fruition if we are able to get there some day as it seems viable if there is a strong network power and efficient distribution network.
Chipchase talked about the art of delegation. He said that from a design perspective, it’s about understanding what you can delegate to technology and what you can delegate to other people. And in this chapter, he brings the point of delegation to automated systems like algorithms. It does not seem like a far-fetched future that we leave tasks to algorithms and formulated systems, it is just a matter of time. For example, the fintech industry are already tapping into the Blockchain technology, a publicly distributed ledger that works similar to what Chipchase’s ‘a public networked infrastructure’, and that could potentially disrupt the financial industry in the way we trade value in the future.
Qn—We are foreseeing how technology can potentially take the place of many tasks and roles, but what are the limitations of technology? How will that change the way we design or the experience on the user’s end?
