If/Only: design, technology and society 2020754581578 
INTERACTION DESIGN THEORY SEMINAR 4th semester

Spring 2020

INSTRUCTORS

Stefano Vannotti

Verena Ziegler, verena.ziegler@zhdk.ch 

Dr Joëlle Bitton, joelle.bitton@zhdk.ch 

Stefano Vannotti, stefano.vannotti@zhdk.ch

Office hours by appointment 

Class sessions include a lecture/discussion each Monday from 13.00-15.00 ZT in 4.T31K16 (last day in 6.F01).

OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES 

The seminar proposes a critical examination of political components of design as it articulates technology and society. 
Design is often understood on the surface as an activity producing more or less useful or ornamental things - outside the scope of its entanglements with questions of policy, trade, labor, gender, resources, power structures. Yet, designers can hold an agenda in these matters and designed artefacts and systems can affect how people live, communicate and act. This seminar thus proposes to uncover the material dimension of politics. Through case studies, observations of situations, film excerpts, exercises, guest lectures and essays, we will look at those entanglements as well as address systems that may not seem 'designed' as such but that present components of being planned and organised for a particular purpose. 

The 12 sessions of the seminar are structured around 3 sections: 

1. 'Spaces, Artefacts and Politics' held by Verena Ziegler

2. 'Complex Systems & Power Structures' held by Dr Joëlle Bitton

3. xx  'Enabling, Framing, Orchestrating and Reasoning Design' held by Stefano Vannotti
   
   

EXPECTATIONS AND GRADING

The seminar proposes a critical conversation, addressing political components of design and their influence on human life. Methods of discussion, observation and critical thinking are practiced throughout.
Grades will be based on the oral and written presentations and on class participation. Contributing to constructive group feedback is an essential aspect of class participation. Regular attendance is required. Two or more unexcused absences will affect the final grade. Arriving late on more than one occasion will also affect the grade.

Class participation 20% 

In-class assignments 20%30%

Final Essay 60%50%

Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade. 

ESSAY

The final assignment should develop a question from the topics dealt with during the semester and include these in form of a critical or argumentative essay. Start with asking a question that you can answer from arguments collected in readings and discussions.

Extent of the essay about 2500 words with references and bibliography.

The essay can be written in German or English. 

Essay deadline: uploaded to the IAD server: (folder essay assignment)PAUL on 02.06.20.

More information and submission:
https://paul.zhdk.ch/course/view.php?id=936#section-9

COURSE MATERIALS 

Readings are made available in the shared IAD server .or PAUL (lesson 8-11)

CALENDAR & SESSIONS

Session 01 – 02.03. Spaces and

...

Politics 

Introduction of course outline 

...

Try to map out (or highlight in the text) the Essays trajectory opinions and characteristics.

Session 02 - 09.03. Spaces 

Presentations of practical exercises

...

Readings to be read in advance, preparation of presentations of observations and preparation of notes.

Session 3 - 16.03. Artifacts and Politics 

• Langdon Winner, “Do Artifacts Have Politics?” in The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986). 
• Bruno Latour, “Where are the Missing Masses? The Sociology of a Few Mundane Artifacts,” in Shaping Technology / Building Society , ed. Wiebe E. Bijker and John Law (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992).

Readings to be read in advance and preparation of notes.

Session 04 – 23.03 Decolonising technologies

• C. R. Licklider. Man-Computer Symbiosis. IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, volume HFE-1, pages 4-11, March 1960 – (Full paper)
• Lucy. A. Suchman. Plans and Situated action: The problem of human-machine communication. ISL-6.
• Palo Alto Research Center. 1985 – (Pages 0 to 23 of the Pdf)
• Molly Wright Steenson: "Architectural Intelligence: How Designers and Architects Created the Digital Landscape 2018.

  Widget Connector
  url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkCeYKOqMO4-

  (Full video)

Readings to be read in advance and preparation of notes to be sent by Monday morning

Session 05 – 06.04 Accelerationism

• Mark Fisher. Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative ? Zero Books, 2009 (First chapter)
• Sadie Plant. Zeroes + ones: digital women and the new technoculture. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1997 (Pages 105 to 120 of the Pdf)
• Robin Mackay. Armen Avessian. #Accelerate: The Accelerationist Reader. Urbanomic 2014 / MIT press 2019. (Pages 355 to 370 of the Pdf)
  

Readings to be read in advance and preparation of notes to be sent by Monday morning

Session 06 – 06.05

Session 04 – 23.03 - The Design of Trade

Commodities & entanglement

▪ ▪Cassandra Mark-Thiesen, “Labour Recruitment in the Nineteenth Century: The Place of Practicality” (Ch. 2). In Mediators, Contract Men, and Colonial Capital: Mechanized Gold Mining in the Gold Coast Colony, 1879-1909, University of Rochester Press, 2018.

▪Giorgi Riello, "The Globalization of cotton textiles. Indian Cottons, Europe, and the Atlantic World, 1600–1850". In Prasannan Parthasarathi and Giorgio Riello, eds, The Spinning World: A Global History of Cotton Textiles, 1200-1850 (Oxford, 2009).

▪ Mi You, Mi. (2018). Silk Roads, Tributary Networks and Old and New Imperialism. Extra States: Nations in Liquidation. C. Edwards and i. Fokianaki. Antwerp, Kunsthal Extra City. 

Readings to be read in advance and preparation of notes to be sent by Monday morning before class. You're expected to inquire about the authors and to research the background of the topics for discussion in class.

Session 05 – 30.03 - Decolonizing Technologies

• SSL Nagbot. Feminist Hacking/Making: Exploring New Gender Horizons of Possibilities. The Journal of Peer Production. January 2016.
• Irmgard Emmelhainz. Decolonization as the Horizon of Political Action. e-flux journal #77. November 2016. 
• Victor Papanek. Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change, New York, Pantheon Books. 1971. (Chapter 4)

• Rehema Baguma. Teaching HCI and Research in local HCI problems in Uganda: Current Status and Recommendations. HCIxB. 2017.

Readings to be read in advance and preparation of notes to be sent by Monday morning before class. You're expected to inquire about the authors and to research the background of the topics for discussion in class.

Session 06 – 06.04 Complex Systems & Power Structures

• Alex Williams & Nick Srnicek. 2013. "#Accelerate: Manifesto for an Accelerationist Politics". in Robin Mackay. Armen Avessian. #Accelerate: The Accelerationist Reader. Urbanomic 2014 / MIT press 2019 (pp347-362).
  
• Louise Amoore. Algorithmic War: Everyday Geographies of the War on Terror. In Antipode Vol. 41 No. 1. 2009.
• Brian Larkin. The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure. In Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 2013. 42:327–43.

Readings to be read in advance and preparation of notes to be sent by Monday morning before class. You're expected to inquire about the authors and to research the background of the topics for discussion in class.

Session 07 – 20.04.2020

Enjoy staying at home. How about already diving into the reading for next lesson?

Session 08 – 27.04.2020 – Enabling Design: MindShift, SkillShift, CultureShift

Session 09

Session 10

Session 11

...

In the 8th lesson of this theory course we dive into central aspects of a strategic design attitude, into designerly approaches and tools for entrepreneurial and social challenges, and into the characteristics of a holistic design culture.

Keywords: Design Culture, Design Attitude, Systems Thinking, Transition Design, Strategic Design

More information and reading assignment:
https://paul.zhdk.ch/course/view.php?id=936#section-4

Session 09  – 04.05.2020 – Framing Design: Multi-leveled Transformation & Reflection in Action

In today's seminar we focus on the transformative process in the different design dimensions (product, system, society) and we learn how designers actively intertwingle these levels by shaping the in-between.

Keywords: Design Process, Reflective Practice, Role of the Designer

More information and reading assignment:
https://paul.zhdk.ch/course/view.php?id=936#section-5

Session 10 – 11.05.2020 – Orchestrating Design: Co-Design, Innovation Culture & Organizational Change 

This Lesson looks at a set of design methods to strengthen collaborative approaches and thematize how to foster a culture of innovation and trust in organizational settings.

Keywords: Co-Design, Design Methods, Organizational Design, Innovation Culture

More information and reading assignment:
https://paul.zhdk.ch/course/view.php?id=936#section-6

Session 11 – 18.05.2020 –  Reasoning Design: Design Argumentation, Impact Management & Storytelling

In the last lesson of our theory class we focus on aspects of successful design reasoning: measures, levels of impact and elements of storytelling.

Keywords: Design Artifacts, Design Knowledge, Design Argument, Impact Management, Storytelling

More information :
https://paul.zhdk.ch/course/view.php?id=936#section-7

Session 12 – 25.05.2020

Use the time to write your essay!