Four Cs for augmentation
Classes, characteristics, contexts and consequences
In the rush to leave the house for the faster train that will more likely have a seat, I realise I have left my glasses at home. Dammit.
I’m not that dependent on them, but for the past 5 years or so they’ve helped with driving, more distance sight and certain detailed working.
I quickly weighed up the options while on the Lime bike to the station. I realised I could deal without the improved vision today. Keeping things fuzzy would be ok.
A few weeks back, a great teacher at my eldest’s son Milo’s school asked if he’d had his eyesight checked as he seemed to be squinting.
We said he hadn’t and booked him in. Today, I’ll be picking his glasses up for him. As part of the inquiry from his teacher, we raised some concerns about dyslexia (runs in my family) and ADHD (seems to run on both sides). Luckily they seemed open to investigation. He started doing some tests, and I’ll guess we’ll know more in the new year.
Augmentation has become normal
Through various discussions amongst peers, friends and collaborators over the past few years, I’ve discussed the relative merits of different forms of augmentation.
Eyeglasses, or spectacles if you will, are an incredibly common and accepted form of augmentation. Beautiful technology to help compensate people’s vision loss or deterioration. And that goes from everything from the lenses themselves to the kit to help assess one’s sight.
We also augment our audio environment. Whether that’s through speakers, headphones or earphones. Adding music, podcasts, audiobooks, or other audio content to our lives. Sometimes others’ lives.
Some people use chemical augmentation to get through their day. Whether that is alcohol, beta blockers, medication for particular diseases or even things like coffee or tea.
Many of us are reliant on our electronic, internet-connected devices to supplement our memory. To-do lists, personal databases to personal journals.
More than most other animals, we use different technologies to adapt to our environments
From nootropics to optics, electronics to the internet, augmentation I’d argue is pretty normal.
New wave of augmentation
With the soon to be launched Vision Pro, the curious AI Pin, or the ongoing explorations in spatial sound, we could be entering an accelerated age of augmentation.
I feel like we have been increasing augmentation around us for decades. But maybe things could accelerate. It’s hard to be sure how it will play out.
You can debate the tech when considering the obvious use cases explored in fancy keynotes. But the most interesting stuff often emerges beyond the original intention.
And actually some of the best augmentation actually becomes invisible, or at least less conscious to us.
In fact, when you start mapping out some different types of augmentation, you realise we do so much.
This isn’t a thoroughly thought-through framework. More of a sketchy start of one, that could be helpful to play with.
The main dimensions being: classes, characteristics, context and consequences. Lo and behold, all Cs. Alliteration for the win again.
It’s borne from a little sketch I made before my meeting today after starting to write about not having my glasses. Useful serendipity, maybe.
Different classes of augmentation
The first dimension are the classes of augmentation. There may be a better term. I don’t have it yet, so here’s the essence describing different types of augmentation.
- Extra sensory: extra information outside of self to engage with and support you, or adapt senses eg, audio through headphones, earphones, visual through eyeglasses, VR, AR etc.
- Intra sensory: providing heightened awareness of signals within you eg, health wearables, heart rate tracking, continuous glucose monitors
- Cognitive: tools for thinking, eg: internet, generative AI, visual canvasses, all the way to personal mantras and mind tricks you can play on yourself
- Service: this could be so many things, but I’m thinking here of digital services that might complement, or augment a physical product. On my mind at the moment are some headphones I bought that are complemented by software so that you can listen to your audio tracks in a range of different studio environments.
- Physical: Again this is broad. I was tempted to say product, but I’d probably have to prefix with ‘physical’ for the digital product folk. eg, shoes, clothes, furniture, prosthetics, pillows
- Environmental: This is the world of architecture, masterplanning, interior design and infrastructure of the built environment eg, buildings, roads, paths, gardens, rooms
- Chemical: The world of substances to help with illness, performance, physical and mental state
- Mobility/Transportation: The world of transportation to help us move around the world eg, bicycles, skateboards, cars, trains
- Social: the adding of other humans to the mix eg, friends, peers, colleague or partners
As I write this, I realise how inter-connected many of these are. Certainly not MECE (mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive). Maybe there are ways you could use them as creative prompts to consider the many ways the things you create around you could augment in different ways. Also, I realise how so much ‘augmentation’ quickly becomes meaningless. As it encompasses most design. Most technology. Most adaptations humans make to the world around us and within us.
Characteristics to consider with augmentation
Which brings me to another dimension. One I initially wrote as considerations. Maybe they could be considered materiality, or characteristics instead. And with each, if you were to plot on spectrums, I can imagine a range.
- Dependency: how dependent we may become or are on the augmentation?
- Enhancement: how much does the augmentation enhance our experience, substitute a deficiency, or make us more ‘superhuman’
- Permanence: How permanent or temporal is the augmentation? How long will it last or will we use it for?
- Accessibility: How accessible is the augmentation?
- Immersion: How immersive is the augmentation?
- Distraction: How distracting is the augmentation to our non augmented existence?
- Criticality: How critical or dangerous is the augmentation?
Adding context
A third dimension one could consider is context. Over the years, I’ve developed various context models for certain projects, but I like Cennydd’s DETAILS one because it is a nice mnemonic. https://cennydd.com/writing/designing-with-context for a better piece than I can write. Certainly right now.
To cover very briefly:
- Device: what device form and capabilities?
- Environment: what physical environment?
- Time: when, how long, how often?
- Activities: which tasks and activities are being supported?
- Individual: who will be using, and what mental models, behavioural preferences do they have?
- Location: where they are, how their location may be tracked?
- Social: who else will be in proximity or in partnership through the usage?
Last, but not least, consequence
I’m guessing you could put ‘consequence’ within the characteristics and apply to any of the contextual ones, but I think I prefer it as a more explicit dimension to consider.
This is a dimension concerned with what might happen. And important consideration when creating something new. We can’t predict everything, but we can anticipate many things. Applying our fertile minds to what could go well, and what could go bad . If we can anticipate, we can exploit, limit, or adapt our approach.
For example, what could the consequences impact the following aspects of the wider system:
- Society
- Planet
- Individuals
- Relationships
- Environment
- Economic
- Health
So with all of this, I wonder what the consequences of me not having my glasses with me today will have.
I have low dependency. It does enhance my vision. It may make it harder for me to interact with people. Or do certain tasks. Maybe it will allow me to be more immersed in what I am doing. Maybe I’ll be more tired through the extra work I have to do to see. Maybe it just prompted another random article and the start of a new framework I may develop further. Or you will.
I’d be curious if you have thoughts on how to build on this little sketchy framework. Maybe it’s worth developing further. Maybe not.
This post is part of an advent calendar challenge I have set for myself. Writing and publishing one piece a day. Whatever emerges. Although sometimes I may work on an idea sparked on another day. An exercise in getting back into the writing groove. But also re-finding my voice. Lowering the barriers of my ego getting in the way of what might be valuable for others, or at least me.
You can check the other pieces here on the newly named ‘Eclectical’ Medium publication.
I am a coach, a product-service strategy consultant, a community connector and so many other things. You can find out more about me, my many interests and how to connect them with yours here.
