ABSTRACT
Design is fundamentally shaped by technology but we are also shaping it. Facebook cannot exist without the technology that is driving its platform but designers are also influencing the platforms that same environment exists within. From its inception, technology and technological innovation have had a huge impact on the world around us–both physically, socially, politically, and economically. Technology is part of a larger system that is motivated by human wants and needs to make life easier. Nicholas Carr, the author of The Glass Cage (2015), looks deeply as technology through the lens of automation and paints a dire portrait of our decreasing ability to perform certain tasks. While early technology was focused on creating substitutions for manual jobs–washing clothes, vacuuming our house–today, that automation is taking over more and more of our cognitive and intellectual tasks. And these cognitive tasks are linked to other forms of abilities–such as wayfinding, communication, and problem-solving–that are decreasing as we become more and more reliant on our technological services. This chapter will look at theories of technology as a series of networks. Topics like living networks, issues of transparency within networks, and persuasive networks will explore the interconnectedness of our technology and how design plays a role in its future.
