Education guide 'Eindhoven designs' - Technische Universiteit ...

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Intertwining of design with society
Designing intelligent systems, products
and services has social consequences,
because they are inextricably intertwined
with society. Their adaptive behaviour
is based on the situation, context of
use, and users’ needs and desires, and
the opportunities offered are of benefit
to individuals, societies and different
cultures worldwide. They will have a
social impact as soon as they enter
society. Products arise in a social context
and, consequently, are a reflection of
that society. Moreover, a product is a
vehicle to steer society implicitly as well
as explicitly, it influences the behaviour
and experiences of users (Hummels,
2000; Verbeek, 2006). Open office layout
and furnishing, which originated in the
1920s, enabled the ideas of scientific
management, such as efficiency,
introduced by Frederick Taylor (Forty,
1986). Present-day computers support
our market economy and management
system, where time is money and
knowledge is power.
One can say that technologies have
intentions; they can transform what
we perceive (Idhe, 1990). For example,
a microscope can enable us to see
the smallest bacteria, Google Earth
influences our perception of the earth,
and Skype gives a different perception
of social relationships at long distances.
The influence and intention of
technological artefacts is not unilateral
and univocal, but reciprocal and dynamic.
When a technological artefact is used,
it facilitates people’s involvement with
reality, and in doing so it co-shapes how
humans can be present in the world and
how their world can be present for them.
The context influences the intention and
interpretation of technology. For example,
the telephone was originally designed
as a hearing aid and consequently
is differently interpreted and has a
different meaning for the hard of hearing
than it has for us as a communication
device. Don Idhe calls this phenomenon
‘multistability’ (Verbeek, 2006).
One can see a similar contextdependency
with the concept of
‘affordance’. James Gibson, the founder
of the ecological theory of direct
perception, thought up this noun to
complement the verb to afford. ‘The
affordances of the environment are what
it offers animals, what it provides or
furnishes, either for good or ill’ (Gibson,
1986). At its simplest, one could say that
an affordance is what the environment
means to a specific animal in terms of
action. So a chair affords sitting to an
adult person, and it affords stability to a
small child who wants to stand up.