Wednesday Oct. 7, 2009
9:00 AM - 10:00 am
We are at an important technological inflection
point. Most of our computing systems have been designed
and built by professionally trained experts (i.e. us –
computer scientists, engineers, and designers) for use
in specific domains and to solve explicit problems.
Artifacts often called “user manuals” traditionally prescribed the appropriate usage of these tools and implied an acceptable etiquette for interaction and experience. A fringe group of individuals usually labeled “hackers” or “nerds” have challenged this producer-consumer model of technology by hacking novel hard-ware and software features to “improve” our research and products while a similar creative group of technicians called “artists” have redirected the techniques, tools, and tenets of accepted technological usage away from their typical manifestations in practicality and product. Over time the technological artifacts of these fringe groups and the support for their rhetoric have gained them a foothold into computing culture and eroded the established power discontinuities within the practice of computing research. We now expect our computing tools to be driven by an architecture of open participation and democracy that encourages users to add value to their tools and applications as they use them. Similarly, the bar for enabling the design of novel, personal computing systems and “hardware remixes” has fallen to the point where many non-experts and novices are readily embracing and creating fascinating and ingenious computing artifacts outside of our official and traditionally sanctioned academic research communities.
But how have we as “expert” practitioners been influencing this discussion? By constructing a practice around the design and development of technology for task based and problem solving applications, we have unintentionally established
such work as the status quo for the human computing
experience. We have failed in our duty to open up
alternate forums for technology to express itself and
touch our lives beyond productivity and efficiency.
Blinded by our quest for “smart technologies” we have
forgotten to contemplate the design of technologies to
inspire us to be smarter, more curious, and more
inquisitive. We owe it to ourselves to rethink the
impact we desire to have on this historic moment in
computing culture. We must choose to participate in and
perhaps lead a dialogue that heralds an expansive new
acceptable practice of designing to enable participation
by experts and non-experts alike. We are in the milieu
of the rise of the “expert amateur”. We must change our
mantra: “not just usability but usefulness and relevancy to our world, its citizens, and our environment”.
We must design for the world and what matters.
This means discussing our computing research
alongside new keywords such as the economy, the
environment, activism, poverty, healthcare, famine, homlessness,
literacy, religion, and politics.
This talk will
explore the design territory and potential opportunities
for all of us to collaborate and benefit as a society from this cultural movement.
|
|
|
Eric Paulos
Carnegie Mellon University |
|
Eric Paulos is the Director of the Living Environments Lab and an Assistant Professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute with a secondary faculty appointment in the Robotics Institute both within the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Eric is also
Adjunct Faculty in Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center. Previously he was Senior Research Scientist at Intel Research in Berkeley, California where he founded the Urban Atmospheres research group - challenged to employ innovative methods to explore urban life and the future fabric of emerging technologies across public urban landscapes. His areas of expertise span a deep body of research territory in urban computing, sustainability, green design, environmental awareness, social telepresence, robotics, physical computing, interaction design, persuasive technologies, and intimate media. Eric is a leading figure in the field of urban computing and is a regular contributor, editorial board member, and reviewer for numerous professional journals and conferences. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley where he helped launch a new robotic industry by developing some of the first internet tele-operated robots including Space Browsing helium filled blimps and Personal Roving Presence devices (PRoPs).
Eric is also the founder and director of the Experimental Interaction Unit and a frequent collaborator with Mark Pauline of Survival Research Laboratories. Eric's work has been exhibited at the InterCommunication Center (ICC) in Japan, Ars Electronica, ISEA, SIGGRAPH, the Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF), SFMOMA, the Chelsea Art Museum, Art Interactive, LA MOCA, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the ZKM, Southern Exposure, and a performance for the opening of the Whitney Museum’s 1997 Biennial Exhibition.
|
|
