DESIGN IS SOCIAL

Consider everything an experiment — Sister Corita Kent

…a little over a century ago, scientists and companies began wondering what would happen if everyday items were connected to electricity or replaced with an electric option. The oven, the ice box, the clothing drying line.

Like some of the experiments of 100 years ago, some [IoT experiments] are going to be unexpectedly interesting. Some will be hugely successful and change everything. There will also be many experiments, as there were then, where we ask ourselves why? I’m sure in the 1920s and ’30s, it must have felt similarly overwhelming.

László Moholy-Nagy

(Source: guggenheim.org)

Posted at 6:02pm.

Designing is not a profession but an attitude.
“Don’t Take It Personally” Is Terrible Work Advice - HBR

(Source: hbr.org)

Posted at 7:43am.

It’s when executives and teams adopt the mindless notion of “it’s not personal, it’s business” that they absolve themselves of their responsibilities as social actors, custodians of the planet, and guardians of the well-being of their employees, customers, and communities.
A Flag for No Nations | booktwo.org (via @katecrawford)

(Source: booktwo.org)

Posted at 9:52am.

Technologies are stories we tell ourselves – often unconsciously – about who we are and what we are capable of. By analysing their traces we may divine the progress they are capable of assisting, but they are not in and of themselves future-producing, magical, or separate from human agency. They are a guide and a hope.

“Clearly, smart machines are advancing at the things they do well at a much faster rate than we humans are. And granted, many workers will need to call on and cultivate different capabilities than the ones they have relied on in the past. But for the foreseeable future, there are still unlimited ways for humans to contribute tremendous value.”

Posted at 7:41am.

From the inspiring story of Rural Studio’s ongoing quest to design sustainable, but commercially viable low-income housing. 

(Source: fastcoexist.com)

Posted at 11:30am.

The most daunting problems aren’t brick and mortar problems, they’re these network and system problems that are threaded together and all intersect in the built environment.

“Scholars of the humanities are comfortable with problems that don’t have just one correct answer… They’re used to managing ambiguity. They have an ability to think broadly, an ability to take a stand, and yet know there are other approaches.”

Posted at 6:52pm.

“Social and technological systems do not develop independently; the two evolve together in complex feedback loops, wherein each drives, restrains and accelerates change in the other.” -Adam Thierer quotes John Seeley Brown and Paul Duguid in his excellent overview of social / technological interdependence.

Posted at 1:25pm.

Peter Blume’s Light of the World (1932) delivers an allegorical critique of modernity and the unquestioning embrace of progress. The four figures are transfixed by the bright light of a fantastical lamp whose brilliance contrasts with the darkening sky overtaking a cathedral based on Notre Dame in Paris – a juxtaposition implying that the faith once reflected in Gothic architecture’s soaring spires had been transferred to modern technologies. (at Whitney Museum of American Art)

Posted at 8:22pm.

Peter Blume’s Light of the World (1932) delivers an allegorical critique of modernity and the unquestioning embrace of progress. The four figures are transfixed by the bright light of a fantastical lamp whose brilliance contrasts with the darkening...