Technology Changes us

Technologies - especially the emerging raft of digital technologies purposely designed to be addictive - change what we do, which in turn changes us.

Need to provide students the experiences to become aware of this in their own practices and encourage reflection and action.

Death by GPS#

See: Death by GPS: are satnavs changing our brains?

It describes what happens when your GPS fails you, not by being wrong, exactly, but often by being too right. It does such a good job of computing the most direct route from point A to point B that it takes you down roads that barely exist, or were used at one time and abandoned, or are not suitable for your car, or that require local knowledge that would make you aware that making that turn is bad news.

Leshed et al (2008) argue that use of GPS disengaged people from their surrounds, but also "has the potential to open up novel ways to engage with it" (p. 1675) and argue for a better understanding of this disengagement/engagement moving beyond just (re)design of GPS devices to think more broadly

Draws on a critique from Borgman concerned that the innate potential (perhaps affordances) of technology becomes a central metaphor/focus. e.g. GPS help trave become more certain, more efficient. It identifies best routes, re-routes, avoids tolls. These are the design focii/goals. Engaging with one's environment is not a priority.

Uses Agre's call for innovation by explicitly design-for-the-margins

Mass data collection - simplifies behaviour to ease quantification#

Albergotti (2021) writes about Phil Agre

More profoundly, though, Agre wrote in the paper that the mass collection of data would change and simplify human behavior to make it easier to quantify. That has happened on a scale few people could have imagined, as social media and other online networks have corralled human interactions into easily quantifiable metrics, such as being friends or not, liking or not, a follower or someone who is followed. And the data generated by those interactions has been used to further shape behavior, by targeting messages meant to manipulate people psychologically.

Arising from this they suggest some design principles (high level guidance rather than feature-centered design)

Navigate by landmarks

GPS current design ignores landmarks in the direction it provides. Encouraging users not to pay attention. A possible suggestion would be to modify the standard advice "Turn left in 1km" to "Turn left at the church in 1km" - Highlight the ambiguity of GPS data

GPS data is not 100% accurate. GPS could draw on Gaver et als "principle of casting doubt on sources to provoke independent assessment" - Extend context-aware capabilities

GPS typically used for driving in unfamiliar environments. But most driving happens in familiar environments. What services might a GPS provide for familiar environments? - Support the car as a social space

GPS are designed to support the drive, but cars can have passengers and be a social space. How might GPS encourage/leverage this?

References#

Albergotti, R. (2021, November 22). He predicted the dark side of the Internet 30 years ago. Why did no one listen? Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/12/philip-agre-ai-disappeared/

Leshed, G., Velden, T., Rieger, O., Kot, B., & Sengers, P. (2008). In-car gps navigation: Engagement with and disengagement from the environment. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1675--1684. https://doi.org/10.1145/1357054.1357316