http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2006/05/18/changing-norms/ Design and human behaviour Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:34:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2006/05/18/changing-norms/comment-page-1/#comment-35778 Friday quote: Fashion & convention at fulminate // Architectures of Control Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:36:39 +0000 http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/?p=70#comment-35778 [...] Setright wrote it in reference to car design, and the lack of progress thereof, but I think we can all see how applicable it is to many fields of endeavour, not just in technology but in society also. We should be very wary when fashions become conventions - or at least we should think them through before they become norms. And we should always leave ourselves a way out. (I’ve mentioned this in a few contexts before, perhaps with a little hyperbole.) [...] [...] Setright wrote it in reference to car design, and the lack of progress thereof, but I think we can all see how applicable it is to many fields of endeavour, not just in technology but in society also. We should be very wary when fashions become conventions – or at least we should think them through before they become norms. And we should always leave ourselves a way out. (I’ve mentioned this in a few contexts before, perhaps with a little hyperbole.) [...]

]]> http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2006/05/18/changing-norms/comment-page-1/#comment-2061 Architectures of Control in Design » Review: Everyware by Adam Greenfield Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:24:43 +0000 http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/?p=70#comment-2061 [...] This kind of ‘creeping erosion of norms‘ is something that’s concerned me a lot on this blog, as it seems to be a feature of so many dystopian visions, both real and fictional. From the more trivial—Japanese kids growing up believing it’s perfectly normal to have to buy music again every time they change their phone—to society blindly walking into 1984 due to a “generational failure of memory about individual rights” (Simon Davies, LSE), it’s the “you won’t even know the [options|rights|abilities|technology|information|words to express dissent] ever existed” bit that scares me the most. [...] [...] This kind of ‘creeping erosion of norms‘ is something that’s concerned me a lot on this blog, as it seems to be a feature of so many dystopian visions, both real and fictional. From the more trivial—Japanese kids growing up believing it’s perfectly normal to have to buy music again every time they change their phone—to society blindly walking into 1984 due to a “generational failure of memory about individual rights” (Simon Davies, LSE), it’s the “you won’t even know the [options|rights|abilities|technology|information|words to express dissent] ever existed” bit that scares me the most. [...]

]]> http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2006/05/18/changing-norms/comment-page-1/#comment-1789 Architectures of Control in Design » Embedding control in society: the end of freedom Sun, 09 Jul 2006 22:19:02 +0000 http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/?p=70#comment-1789 [...] Regardless of actual party politics, it is the creeping erosion of norms which scares the hell out of me. Once a generation believes it’s normal to have every movement, every journey, every transaction tracked and monitored and used against them - thanks to effective propaganda that it’s necessary to ‘preserve our freedoms’* - then there is going to be no source of reaction, no possible legitimate way to criticise. If making a technical point about the effectiveness of a metal detector can already get you arrested, then the wedge is already well and truly inserted. [...] [...] Regardless of actual party politics, it is the creeping erosion of norms which scares the hell out of me. Once a generation believes it’s normal to have every movement, every journey, every transaction tracked and monitored and used against them – thanks to effective propaganda that it’s necessary to ‘preserve our freedoms’* – then there is going to be no source of reaction, no possible legitimate way to criticise. If making a technical point about the effectiveness of a metal detector can already get you arrested, then the wedge is already well and truly inserted. [...]

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