Tech mediation
Technology and Design Concerns
Technologies are the mediators between humans and the outer world. The way technological artefacts are designed will constrain the way we relate to these artefacts, and as a consequence, it will influence how we relate to the outer world. At this stage, you are supposed to grasp all the knowledge you built through the previous stages and start to define the artefact through its role in tackling the behavioural change, what your user should perceive from the artefact, and which delegations you should assign to the artefact.
a. Role of technology
Translate the behavioural change strategies into the explicit functions of the technology, by taking into consideration ethical and societal implications (moral values, environmental, etc.). Reflect on which existing technologies you may use to meet the functional requirements and tackle the behaviour, and explore how these may evolve in the near future in a formal and functional sense. Look in the SCI-FI and try to understand why designers and film-makers are proposing such solutions. Then, explore its side effects (positive and negative)!
b. Interpretation/appropriation
How we will use the artefact to mediate with the outer world depends on how the artefact is designed. The user is interpreting the artefacts through their material and digital properties. One of the barriers in tackling human behaviour may be the incongruity in creating the relationship between the user’s perception of the technological artefact and the intention to change/influence the behaviour. What should your user perceive from the technological artefact? How can we appropriate the technology to build the mediation between the user and artefact, and the outer world?
c. Delegation [design scripts]
Artefacts are not neutral objects. They embed values and help the user behave in one way or another, and it forms our moral actions and decision-making. But sometimes, the artefact can embed conflicting values and the means can be misused and provoke unintended effects/behaviours. How the technological artefact can help us mediate with the outer world through its form (physical and visual interactions), and function (interaction channels and modalities) concerning the target behaviours we want to achieve.