Design for This Century Critical Design Proposal Jiyeon Kang
The massive gathering and analyzing of data in real time is allowing us to mark the humanity biggest challenges. In my design manifesto, I wrote about some design issues which are derived from the impact of Big Data, Data Visualization, Internet of Things and Biochip and my statement of belief that the data should be used for human in a way of keeping our humanity. From my design manifesto, I intuitively raised some new questions. “How data can be used for enhancing the humanity?” “What if everyone crowd sourced personal information?” “If algorithms know all, how much should humans help be needed?” “which aspects of our current society are degrading the humanity?” So, for my further thoughts with critical thinking, I’ve thought about the specific way to enlarge this discussion and visualize the concept while introducing some critical issues of the modern society that are produced by evolving technologies. Thus, I would suggest a design proposals as a direction to improve our humanity related to my previous design topics, Data Visualization and Internet of Things.
From Current Issues of the Society to Design Proposal Problem 1 - Fragmented Relationships Firstly, In our modern society, the way of communication has been extremely changed as the cyber world evolves and most businesses seek efficiency. Although the development of Information Technology benefits our lives and expands the realm of communication, but also these changes cause dysfunction to our modern life, degrading our humanity. In the digital age, relationship have become fragmented. In online communication, we communicate with other people without any physical contact as well as we no longer require actual spaces to keep in touch with people. This induces social indifference by reducing face to face relationships. I think this matter is in a similar vein to a cultural theorist, Paul Virilio’s idea of “Picnolepsy,” which is a kind of amnesia – the absence of attitude and temporary cessation as a result of fragmented imageries caused by our high-speed society. Moreover, those cyber and virtual space affect negatively to young children as they grows in this age of media technology. There is an example that shows how evolving technology raises monsters in society. Written by Ray Bradbury and published in 1950, “The Veldt” is a science fiction story about how the life that made out of technology have negative impact on child development when they grow up. The Hadley family lives in an automated house called "The Happylife Home," equipped with machines that do everything for them from cooking meals, to clothing them, to rocking them to sleep. The two children, Peter and Wendy become fascinated with the "nursery," a virtual reality room that connects with the children telepathically to reproduce any place they imagine.