The Computer for the 21^st Century

Mark Weiser

• Weiser contrasts the revolution of the written word with the revolution of the personal computer. He states, “writing has integrated itself into our everyday lives, yet the personal computer has not”. I largely agree with Weiser’s assertion that there is an “arcane aura surrounding personal computers…”  The goal for Weiser; for humans to interact with computers without even being consciously aware of that fact. Referred to as ‘compiling’, ‘periphery’, or ’visual invariants’.
  • “…using a computer should be as refreshing as taking a walk in the woods.”

• With regard to devices that transmit and display information, Weiser focuses on two factors; location and scale. Ubiquitous computers must know where they are (physically).
  • Active badge; clip on computers that can identify themselves to receivers placed throughout the building…tracking people/objects.

 

The Electronic as Post-optimal Object

Anthony Dunne 

• Designers must focus less on how the object is packaged/represented and more how the user interacts with it. Dunne writes, “what they can do, and what sophisticated retailers do, is add unnecessary “stuff” to the object. You can have your camera gold plated”.

• We must address this interaction along a continuum ranging from the societal level down to the individual scale. “The value of material culture for this study is that it draws attention to the complex nature of our relationship to ordinary objects and provides standards against which new electronic objects can be compared.”

“The world of objects was taken over by the world of products and the world of consumption.”

• Dunne makes reference to Susani with regard to how material culture might inform the integration of technology into our everyday lives; “Susani recommends a sensual approach to introducing technology into the home, building on what is already there, and exploring the overlap between the material and immaterial world from an aesthetic and anthropological point of view.

• The Electronic as Object: Design is viewed as a strategy for linking immaterial and the material.
  • The development of “smart materials” is another area where the gap between the electronic and material is being closed, although primarily for technical reasons. Scientists and engineers are developing new materials, designed at a molecular level, that are responsive, dynamic, and almost biological.

“The electronic object is an object on the threshold of materiality.”

• We must strive for a seamless interface between man and his technologies. With these electronic objects, “the interface is everything”.