When the Implication Is Not to Design (Technology)

Flashcards about when technology may be inappropriate.

What is the implication not to design?

A reflective awareness for situations in which computational technologies may be inappropriate or potentially harmful.

What are three questions to ask during technology design and implementation to determine appropriateness?

Is there an equally viable low-tech or no-tech approach? Might deploying the technology result in more harm? Does the technology solve a computationally tractable problem rather than address an actual situation?

What are examples where low-tech solutions may be more appropriate than high-tech?

Using temperature sensors to map warm and cool parts of a garden or connecting producers to consumers via technology.

What is a potential harm of using mobile phone applications to promote sustainable behaviors?

That the proliferation of mobile phones and computing devices is itself environmentally problematic due to toxic materials and resource consumption.

What are some examples of computational transformations of environmental problems?

Modeling biodiversity, carbon calculators.

What are some implications for the practical conduct of HCI work?

Value the implication not to design, explicate unpursued avenues, technological extravention, more than negative results, and don't stop building.

What is a shift in focus that the three questions posed here encourage?

From focusing on solutions to focusing on the problem space.

What are the advantages of framing design as an intervention in a complex situation?

It highlights that no single, simple solution will enable us to live sustainably and encourages attending to the complex ways technological interventions reconfigure the situations into which they are introduced.

What should researchers consider when presenting design implications?

Areas where computing technology might seem applicable, but where results suggest it may be inappropriate.

What is technological extravention?

Exploring the results of removing a technology from a system.