The ‘anarchitect’ group, Space Hijackers* have an interesting A-Z of Retail Tricks To Make You Shop – mostly psychological – including a couple of fascinating examples which aren’t well known, e.g.
Read More“Supermarkets used to have a trick placing slightly smaller tiles on the floor in the more expensive aisles of the shop. When a customer entered on of these aisles their trolley would click faster making them think they were travelling faster and thereby subconsciously slow down and spend more time in that aisle.”
Transfer has an amazing collection of images of ‘Anti-Sit’ devices, mostly in New York but also internationally.
Read MoreBackspace’s Social Design Notes looks at examples of ‘social design’, which Backspace’s John Emerson characterises as being projects that (among other criteria):
Read More# facillitate mobility, communication, and participation in civic life
# decentralize political power and facilitate transparency and accountability.
Bruce Schneier, in a Wired story, ‘Everyone Wants to ‘Own’ Your PC’, classifies DRM along with worms and viruses as all being specifically intended to remove control of a computer from the user/owner.
This is a particularly succinct quote:
Read More“When technology serves its owners, it is liberating. When it is designed to serve others, over the owner’s objection, it is oppressive.”
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