What’s “up” with our maps?

The politics of cartography

The Seams of an Elevator

In cities today, elevators are a mainstay in buildings that rise above ground level. They are the shuttle to our destination, embedded in how we think about modern architecture. The elevator co-exists, and some might say competes, with another infrastructural element, the stair. Most…

Infrastructures Underlying Mobile Payment Systems

Work-in-progress post examining mobile payment systems through Vertesi’s notion of seams.

Background

I’ve been wanting to talk for awhile about a really interesting phenomenon to me and…

Deep Learning Cameras, Faces, and the Internet of Things

With the resurrection of researches conducted in AI, there is a proliferation in the field of machine learning, and especially Deep Learning. Its idea is to autonomously learn things from putting together raw data.1 This technology…

Culture, Affordances, & Emergence

Meditations on the Internet of Things

What is the current discourse around the Internet of Things (IoT)? What are the topics and concerns being discussed by engineers, designers, entrepreneurs, politicians, and others? If we look at the media…

Politics of an Object:

Langdon Winner Defines the Politics of an Object as one of two things:

“First are instances in which the invention, design, or arrangement of a specific technical device or system becomes a way of settling an issue in a particular community.”
“Second are cases of…

Design considerations for the Internet of Things

It’s been sixteen years since the term ‘Internet of things’ was first coined by and eighty-nine since Tesla alluded to it when he talked about converting the ‘whole earth’ into a ‘huge brain’. We’ve always been fascinated by it and for good…

The Internet of Things

…we need to think about

As the internet of things becomes more pervasive, some of the major concerns surrounding the idea are those related with privacy and security. However, I would like to highlight some more concerns that we, as designers, need…

The Politics of the iPad Terminal

Or, My Flight is Delayed But It’s Ok Because I Can Order My Food Through a Touch Screen

Airports across the country are changing. Terminals in cities like New York, Minneapolis, and…

The seams in Mumbai’s suburban train system

Saying that commuting in Mumbai is stressful, is an understatement. But if there’s…