Technology Design in 2018: Crucial Topics

Designers, Engineers, and Businessfolk are about to enter a new era defined by the more thoughtful creation of products and services that are sustainable, non-exploitative, and healthy to use. 2018 will be remembered as a turning point in the design of software products in particular, where a professional’s sense of responsibility finally began to win out over a business’s drive to exploit, to the benefit of everyday users.

My group Subforum will be facilitating a number of hands-on experiences this year in an effort to cultivate a deeper understanding of what this responsibility actually entails. We believe the crucial topics to address are:

1. Managing Distractions
   Everybody wants to talk about distraction this year. “Smartphone Addiction” and “Attention Economy” have officially become buzzwords, and several loud voices have finally admitted that all the time we spend staring into phones or other screens might be bad for us. Silicon Valley technologists are stumbling into expensive yoga retreats to cope with their guilty consciences. Advocates and non-profits are springing up to spread more awareness of the issue and to try and put their stamp on it. There have been serious calls for more credible research into the effects of smartphone technology on our children. What’s been the result of all this talk? Nothing material, because these distractions are mostly at the hands of the ad & app industries. It’s a gnarly problem. Reasonable solutions are not present within all of the discourse and that needs to change. (Our facilitated experiences will be hosted on March 15th & September 6th)
2. Earning Trust
   Trust has always been a difficult thing to have and to hold. In 2018 it’s harder than ever for everyday consumers to trust the motives behind the businesses, the people and even the content they encounter online. Exploitative businesses have achieved scale under the pretense of delight. Surreptitiously targeted ads are everywhere; fake news and disinformation are too. Echo chambers. Troll farms. Mobocracy. The death of journalism. The erosion of privacy and even user awareness of privacy. Predictive policing. Makers now face a reckoning: how can our products deserve, earn back, and retain our user’s trust? (on June 14th)
3. Harnessing Data
   The sheer amount of data that we’re generating is staggering and constantly increasing. Users presently generate more “Likes” per hour on Facebook than we do farts per hour in the United States. The quantified self is becoming increasingly foundational to our own sense of self. AI and ML systems are trying to leverage data to achieve superhuman intelligence and reaction time. Practically every facet of our life experience is or can be represented through some set of acquired data, yet we’re in the earliest days of understanding what to do with it all. Usability and transparency remain the major barriers to being able to leverage these data for decision support and analysis. How should these data be found, understood, used, visualized? (on May 3rd)
4. Shaping Routines
   Routines are a key facet of everyday life, and one that numerous products, technologies and services want to inject themselves into — all the more urgently with autonomous and AR devices being poised to reshape everyday user experience in foundational ways. Routines are various, personal and nuanced, which makes it tricky to design systems to support them. How best to help users cultivate new routines? Sustain existing ones? What are the underlying mechanics of healthy and sustainable behavior change? How can we elegantly juxtapose mediated and real-world interactions? How might we capture, understand, and monitor complex user goals rather than simple user actions? (on July 12th)
5. Remote Collaboration
   Mediated communication has already usurped in-person communication in crucial ways — many people would rather text than talk, for example. Furthermore, in the workplace and in our personal lives, it is increasingly the norm to have ongoing interactions with people who aren’t in the same room as you. And yet, many of our collaboration tools and experiences are limiting and uninspired, barely handling the core mechanics, much less enabling deep collaboration, creativity, psychological safety, and the like. How might we evolve a better collection of collaboration tools for the next generation of users who will inevitably be spending much of their time interacting with avatars and sprites? (on November 8th)

I look forward to sharing what we uncover. If you’re interested in one of our facilitated experiences in Boston, reach out to me!