For a client, I am researching the area of Social Technologies – that is, the humane use of innovative technologies in social care, including care of the elderly and infirm – to understand how this domain can be intelligently and effectively supported.
Article: dmi:Review ‘Design, Didacticism, and the Dignity of People’, 2019
In this article I argue that there is an orthodoxy in the design profession, which is a product of ‘not knowing what you don’t know’, a tendency to create filter bubbles, and ‘bad faith’ humanism. The design industries embrace diversity in everything except politics; users are at the centre except when their views don’t fit. [...]
Review: The origins of ‘just in time’ production
The BBC Radio 4 Money Programme edition Total Recall: The Toyota Story recounts Toyota's major vehicle recall in the context of the company's history. Though it takes far too long to do it, and is accompanied by annoying music, it gets interesting about 20m in when it describes Toyota's 'just in time' production model (inspired [...]
Review: Nesta: Pulling the plug: what should a human-centric European Internet look like?, 2018
On Wednesday early evening in London Nesta is hosting the first of a series of provocations on ‘how European citizens can retake control over the future of the internet’. Pulling the plug: what should a human-centric European Internet look like? Is part of the Next Generation Internet initiative, the European Commission’s programme focused on building [...]
Review: The working life of David Bowie documentary
One year on, a lovely BBC Bowie documentary – David Bowie: The Last Five Years – featuring many of his close friends and artistic and other collaborators reflecting on how he worked, and how he revealed he was dying. It focuses on his last two albums, The Next Day and Blackstar, and his play Lazarus, [...]