From Technological Determinism to Calm Technology

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From Technological Determinism to Calm Technology
IML 101 The Languages of New Media
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Technological Determinism
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We should note the force, effect and consequences
of inventions which are nowhere more conspicuous
than those three which were unknown to the
ancients, namely, printing, gunpowder, and the
compass. For these three have changed the
appearance and state of the whole
world. Francis Bacon
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Inventions themselves are not revolutions
neither are they the cause of revolutions. Their
powers for change lie in the hands of those who
have the imagination and insight to see that the
new invention has offered them new liberties of
action, that old constraints have been removed,
that their political will, or their sheer greed,
are no longer frustrated, and that they can act
in new ways. -Colin Cherry, "The Telephone
System Creator of Mobility and Social Change
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The important waves of technological change are
those that fundamentally alter the place of
technology in our lives. What matters is not
technology itself, but its relationship to us.
-Marc Weiser John Seely Brown, "The
Coming Age of Calm Technology (1995)
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Calm Technology
Mainframe - many people share a computer
Personal computer - one computer, one person
Internet - Distributed Computing . . .
transition to . . . Ubiquitous computing - many
computers share each of us
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Calm Technology
Facilitates our ability to process peripheral
information Allows us to focus on centered
technologies Enables smooth transitions between
center and periphery
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Calm Technology
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Calm Technology