Archive for the 'ethiek' Category

ethiek, geschiedenis, handwerk, design, ant on the beach, human technology, discussie, maatschappij

What the thing is for

A thought: tools, like hammers and such, used to be the things that a skilled craftsman would have in order to be the autonomous, respected, skilled craftsman he was. And the thing this craftsman could do, he could only do, and so this would put him in power with respect to the boss, or the customer, or the city council, etc.., since they needed the carpenter (and the other crafts). The tool was part of that power structure. But now, many tools (ICT tools, like e.g. Microsoft Outlook, but also an office desk or chair) are tools that are *used* by office workers but they function actually to put *other* people in power over those office workers. So the power relations have changed dramatically. Suddenly the tool you use in your work has become part of the system that puts you down, and makes you less autonomic. Of course this only goes for certain tools. Many very complex tools (programming languages, 3d studio max, and so on) still basically function as craftsman tools like the hammer did. But for the non-technical office worker, there is no tool anymore and basically no craft, and so no power.

Poor office worker. I think I am going to learn 3d studio max next.

Popularity: 6% [?]

ethiek, design, onderwijs, discussie, video

At TEI11 there was an anthropologist who worked at MIT and gave us a mirror of ethics on the use of video to present your design concept. She said that we, designers, (more and more I am now a designer: adressed as- and taking full responsibility as being one-) should be aware of the fact that common folk (that is not what she said but I reframe it a bit, like anthropologists secretly do all the time) think that everything we show in the ‘concept video’s’ is REAL. Well, it is, is what I thought. It’s a REAL concept in the video, based on REAL thinking, REAL possibilities in the future, REAL ideas, REAL conceptual design being presented. What could be unreal about it? The anthropologist said that common folks think that if people show a robot in a video, or an ‘intelligent refridgerator’, they think that the robot and the refridgerator really exist. Not only as an idea, a concept, but a real working prototype.

Ah.

Well, I like video’s of concepts, whether the prototypes really work or not. Below is one of our students. (btw the prototype really works).

Popularity: 24% [?]

ethiek, observaties, taal, gedrag

Bjorn Michaelsen redux

Again I stayed in the home of Bjorn Michaelsen (a pseudonym). To honour this event I have translated the original post about my first stay in English, using Google Translate. The result is funny, sometimes very wrong, strange, but overall readable, which is remarkable still. I’m talking about the translation of course, not about the content, that is another story. Here goes.

If you have an unknown Dutch chirping Dane, is that privacy violation? If so, I will quickly turn into yet named XXXX Bjorn Michaelsen (update: done and re-posted, so the www.link also be renamed). Bjorn Michaelsen is the owner of the house where Christine and I stay, during Our second week of the course design Anthropology. Sonderborg, Denmark. Bjorn speaks no English, so I had to write in English, but Dutch seems safer.

Bjorn is a friend of the man with whom we are actually a B & B package had ordered, but his house was full. Bjorn rents rooms, that’s clear. He even has a B & B card, in a small pile on the desk of Christine, AOS chamber. But it was this house for us a mystery. Bjorn is only in the morning and sometimes in the evening, and also we are all alone. At the same time is obviously Bjorn, aos home. With its own kitchen full of stuff in a typical, Äòeigen kitchen, AO stand - not a park cottage kitchen or a guest house or a hotel kitchen pantry. In the living room Bjorn, aos own furniture. Besides the CD player are Bjorn, aos own CD, AOS (a kind of Danish butchers and a cover album of ABBA). On the wall hung pictures, to aos - as we suspected, Bjorn, and Bjorn aos wife, children and Bjorn aos, aos grandchildren. In the drawers of the dresser in my room are about 25 different electro-technical fittings, carefully grouped by size and function: USB cables, battery chargers, phone chargers, mini-jack, RCA jacks and whatnot. There is also a passport Bjorn. Because it was * my * room I found that I could look inside. If you feel that I could not delete the previous sentence, which I unfortunately can undo actions. Bjorn is 70 years old. He also served in the Danish army, because there was a sort of book of the army, and probably he was in Germany, because underneath was a dictionary and Tysk-Dansk Dansk-Tysk. Under the passport was a ledger of a lottery club - I guess a kind of Bingo. Bjorn’s treasurer! Besides photographs, AOS his wife, nothing for the presence of a woman - this house looks like a hen house. Or maybe not. Unclear. In the bathroom, above the box next to the mirror, a little bit back, is what makeup in a bag. Everything is also nicely cleaned up in this house. Almost too neat.

How is that Bjorn? This morning Christine and I have our ethnographic observations compared and based on the available facts improvised a hypothesis. Without too much into detail here is the bottom line of our theory: Bjorn, aos recently deceased wife. Bjorn has a new girlfriend. He stayed with his girlfriend and his house rent. Bjorn came along later when we have a participatory conversation with him. Our hypothesis proved to be fully correct. So I think Christine and I already passed the course.

Now I’m ready for a course on ethics in data collection.

Popularity: 19% [?]

ethiek, emotie, discussie

Kelder en Storms

Popularity: 21% [?]

discussie, geheugen, ethiek, dagelijkse ergernissen, websites, human technology, internet, maatschappij

Digitaal fietsen

Vandaag heb ik via Google Maps een adres opgezocht van het fietsendepot van de Gemeente Utrecht. Omdat ik nu ga kijken of mijn fiets toevallig gevonden is. Mijn fiets is namelijk uit mijn tuin gestolen. Small chance, ik weet het, maar goed.

Vervolgens heb ik de route laten berekenen (er is een optie: plan uw route, oid) vanaf mijn huisadres. In de linkerbalk krijg je dan alle aanwijzingen, en bij elke aanwijzing die je een klein fototoestelletje (als beschikbaar). Als je daarop klikt kom je in Google Streetview modus (je kan er vast ook direct naar toe maar zo kwam ik erop). Ik kan met een grote foto direct zien hoe een bepaalde straathoek er ook alweer uitziet, en waar ik dan naar toe moet, op dat punt. Enorm handig voor ons geheugen, dat meestal werkt met ‘landmarks’ en niet met een totale kaart in het hoofd. Je onthoudt: bij dat standbeeld rechts. En meer niet. Dat geheugen wordt nu ondersteund doordat je van te voren al het standbeeld kunt zien, en “waar je dan ook al weer heen moet als je daar eenmaal bent”.

(Gelukkig kan ik Mirjam’s fiets lenen, want het is 49 minuten lopen, zegt Google)

Maar toen begon ik door te klikken. Door telkens op de ronde cirkel die op straat verschijnt te dubbelklikken verplaats je je in deze 3D wereld. Je kunt de hele route al afleggen als je zou willen. Maar je mag ook van de route afwijken. Door op de vierkanten, die ook soms in beeld verschijnen, te dubbelklikken, zoom je in. Je kunt bij mensen naar binnen kijken. Je kunt zien of ze hun bovenraam hebben openstaan. Je kunt uitrekenen of je vanaf die plantenbak daar, via dat richeltje en die regenpijp naar binnen zou kunnen komen. Handig, als vooronderzoek, voordat je met je zwarte bivak en rugzakje op pad gaat. Je kunt ook mensen op straat zien, je kunt ze herkennen: hee, die was blijkbaar daar, in die straat, stapte net uit die drankenwinkel of coffeeshop naar buiten. Interessant.

Het zijn geen oude foto’s. De verbouwing aan de overkant is bij Google Streetview al bijna af. Dat is een paar maanden geleden, hooguit.

Je kunt ontzettend gluren en spieken en loeren, zonder dat iemand jou ziet. Dat is iets om over na te denken. Want dat was onze enige garantie op een beetje privacy: dat de rondneuzers van deze wereld het normaalgesproken niet de moeite vinden om helemaal naar jouw straat te fietsen en bij jou door de gordijnen te gaan gluren. Te koud, teveel gedoe. En teveel risico, want als zij in jouw straat komen gluren, kunnen ze zelf ook begluurd worden. Daar hoeven de gluurders nu niet meer bang voor te zijn.

Geen wonder dat mijn fiets is gestolen. De dief had hem waarschijnlijk allang zien staan in mijn achtertuin, en direct de beste vluchtroute al even geoefend.

Thanks, Google Streetview.

Popularity: 37% [?]