- Ricky Thompson
- London
- United Kingdom
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Is modern day design/technology TOO user-friendly? Are we creating a 'plug-and-play' society?
If design and/or technology is highly user-friendly does it encourage the user to remain ignorant of how the design/technology works?
If technology far outstrips the mass of users in terms of sophistication does it mean that we never manage, as a whole, to exploit the full potential of design/technology?
For example, does it make sense that we all have home computers but the idea of programming is anathema to most of us?
How could we seek to raise the base level of understanding?
And does this trend of 'plug-and-play' understanding extend into other arenas such as, for instance, politics?
Debra Smith 200+
Scott Armstrong 50+
I use video a lot with my students. It's fun and they are able to produce 'professional' looking presentations far easier than drawing and writing by hand (they are 7 year olds).
While transitions and effects can be added quickly and easily, there is still loads of thought and preparation as well as editing and re-editing that goes into creating a quality piece of work - just as there is in producing a quality piece of writing, art, experiment, investigation and so on.
Technology hasn't really impacted on the thinking that goes on behind projects - that's still the hard part (and what makes a success rewarding).
Mind you, emotional impact is simple with video and a music overlay. People are suckers for schmaltz..
Ricky Thompson
But I'm still unsure as to whether a certain kind of craftsmanship is being lost or if it's only changing.
And on the schmaltz front, I agree - I think the Kony 2012 video that was such a success a couple of months ago is testament to how video and music overlay can have a massive impact that a message alone will not.
Sina Elli 10+
I can relate to your point and a good example of that I think is when people drive automatic gear shifting cars having no knowledge of clutch, engine rpm and differential energy division systems in a car. I have witnessed a thousand times that those who used to drive manual shifted cars and have knowledge of car mechanics are better drivers even on the automatic ones.
another example is the new smartphones that hide all the operating systems and file structure stuff from the user, phones that I can never make myself use because I do not see what they are doing in the background. and I still prefer windows phone with open file structure that can be tweaked and changed according to my needs.
I think technology has to move toward even more user friendliness but it must not make it a black box, transparency of a system and informing the user of background tasks can definitely be helpful.
Ricky Thompson
The more separated tech is from how it is used, the less people will tend to understand how it actually works. It becomes almost 'magical'.
I think that they say that magic is simply technology we don't understand.
Sina Elli 10+