ways. As magical as the tools
and technology we interact with
are, our relationships with each
other are even more complex than
technology can support. We don’t
have the personal social tools to
fully deal with technologically
fueled communication. What are
strategies to deal with all of our
interconnections with both human
and non-human actors? When do
they fail?
We are in a constant state of
transformation, fueled by the rapid
and endless development cycle
of experiences and hardware. We
must first unlearn, then learn and
relearn ways to perform both common and exceptional tasks. People,
of course, have different levels of
comfort and patience with these
transformations—thus we have
early adopters, laggards, and neo-Luddites. Behavioral change is a
notoriously difficult charge for
innovators, so how do we address
the fact that we are thrusting
people into such challenging zones
on a regular basis?
Though we might privilege discussion of the virtual, technology
is primarily tangible and is becoming biological. Consumer technologies that intersect with our bodies
and minds are increasingly available, allowing us to quantify ourselves. Different poses are being
established through devices and
interactions. Handwriting is on
the decline; finger typing is passé;
thumb typing is prime; gesture
and NUIs are on the rise. What
are the implications as we increasingly think of technology as part
of our brains, biology, and environment? How will our bodies and
environments evolve to keep up?
Finally, the onslaught of infor-
mation/data/content/feeds/
streams/news/media suggests
a wonderland, in the manner of
Alice’s rabbit hole. The Faustian
bargain is on. Do we revel in the
delight of access or cringe under
the burden of the onslaught?
ENDNOTES:
1. Nicolas Nova interview; http://www.portigal.com/
blog/nicolas-nova-scanning-for-signals/
2. Adrian Hon interview; http://www.portigal.com/
blog/adrian-hon-illustrate-a-better-future/
3. Julian Bleecker interview; http://www.portigal.
com/blog/julian-bleecker-creating-wily-subversions/
4. Molly Wright Steenson interview; http://www.porti-
gal.com/blog/molly-wright-steenson-shifting-time/
5. How did we do X before Y?; http://www.portigal.
com/blog/how-did-we-do-x-before-y/
March + April 2012
DOI:
10.1145/2090150.2090155
© 2012 ACM 1072-5220/12/03 $10.00
