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

Spring 2019

INSTRUCTORS

Dr Joëlle Bitton, joelle.bitton@zhdk.ch 

Dr Jean-Baptiste Labrune, jeanbaptisteparis@gmail.com  

Verena Ziegler, verena.ziegler@zhdk.ch 

Office hours by appointment 


Class sessions include a lecture/discussion each Monday from 13.00-15.00 ZT 4.T31.

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, Artifacts and Ecosystems held by Verena Ziegler

  2. Technoculture and Society held by Dr Jean-Baptiste Labrune

  3. The Design of Trade held by Dr Joëlle Bitton


Session 01 – 18.02 Observation I 

Introduction of course outline and first section: Spaces, Artifacts and Ecosystems

Clarification regarding expectations and assignments to be accomplish throughout the seminar

  • Georges Perec, “The Street,” in Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, (London: Penguin, 2008).
  • William H. Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, 1980;  Chapter "The street" p. 54-60

Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles, BBC 1972, http://vimeo.com/22488225.

William H. Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_-nBr2MuBk.

Question to answer in preparation to the seminar:

From what perspective do the two texts speak about the streets perception and systems? 

Session 02 – 25.02 Observations II Spaces and Politics  

  • Michel Foucault, “Der Panoptismus” in Überwachen und Strafen: Die Geburt des Gefängnisses (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2008).
  • Efe Basturk, "A brief Analyse on Post Panoptic Surveillance: Deleuze&Guattarian Approach", 2017, International Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. VI, No. 2 / 2017

Questions to answer in preparation to the seminar:

Please try to compare the two texts, how do the authors look at surveillance strategies (from a governmental perspective, from a citizen perspective, from a political perspective,...) 

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

>>> Informal, short presentations of observations (2 min.)

Session 03 - 04.03. Spaces 

>>> Short presentations/performances of observations (2 min.)

  • Michel Foucault, “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias”, Architecture /Mouvement/ Continuité, October, 1984; (“Des Espace Autres,” March 1967 Translated from the French by Jay Miskowiec)

Didier Faustino, https://didierfaustino.com

Readings to be read in advance, preparation of presentations of observations and preparation of notes (from the readings).

Session 04 – 11.03 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 05 – 18.03 Ecosystems 

>>> Short Presentations of Essay investigations (2 min.)

  • Jane Bennett, "Vibrant Matter - A Political Ecology of Things", Published: January 2010: Chapter 7 "Political Ecologies" (pages 94 - 109)

Readings to be read in advance, preparation of presentations of essay investigations and preparation of notes (from the readings).

Session 06 – 01.04 Cybernetics

  • 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. (Full video)

Readings to be read in advance and preparation of notes.

Session 07 – 08.04 The uses of Literacy

  • Richard Hoggart. The Uses of Literacy: Aspects of Working Class Life. Penguin Books 1957 / Routledge 1998 – (Chapter 1)
  • Victor Papanek. Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change, New York, Pantheon Books. 1971. (Chapter 4)
  • Dominique Pasquier. The Internet of Low-Income Families. A Survey in Rural France, Paris, Presses des Mines, (L’internet des familles modestes. Enquête dans la France rurale), 2018. (Introduction)
  • Walter J. Ong. Orality and Literacy: the technologization of the word. 1982. Methuen, London. (2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2002) (Pages 181 to 186 of the Pdf)

Readings to be read in advance and preparation of notes.

Session 08 – 15.04 Anthropology of Hacking

Readings to be read in advance and preparation of notes.

Session 09 – 29.04 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.

Session 10 – 06.05 - On the History and Empowerment of West African Workers 

Guest Lecture: Dr Cassandra Thiesen-Mark, Universität Basel

This lecture considers the history of the inclusion of West African labourers in the global economy: what specific mechanisms and terms defined this process? What was the promise of the creation of a system of free wage labour? And how convincing was its implementation in this part of the world? It will cover the current and past struggles of these male and female by exploring how they have managed to secure sources of power and security in the overwhelming absence of state- or employer-related social welfare mechanisms.

Readings:
  • Kate Meagher, Laura Manna and Maxim Bolt, Making the Right Connections: Globalization, Economic Inclusion and African workers, Journal of Development Studies, 2016.
  • Cassandra Mark-Thiesen, “Labour Recruitment in the Nineteenth Century: The Place of Practicality” (Ch. 2), Mediators, Contract Men, and Colonial Capital: Mechanized Gold Mining in the Gold Coast Colony, 1879-1909, University of Rochester Press, 2018).

Short Bio: 

Dr. Cassandra Mark-Thiesen is currently a lecturer and researcher at the history department of the University of Basel. She completed her doctoral research in African History at Oxford University in 2014. Her research focus lies in the social and economic history of West Africa. Her current research project traces the history of agricultural development policies and practices in Liberia between 1944 and 1957. Her first book Mediators, Contract Men and Colonial Capital: Mechanized Gold Mining in the Gold Coast Colony, 1879-1909, which is part of the African Studies Series of the University of Rochester Press, traced the economic factors behind indirect recruitment for Ghana’s early colonial gold mines. It paid special attention to a variety of West African labor agents orchestrating this form of migration; both male and female, career-and profit-oriented. General research interests include Africa during the age of developmentalism, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, rural history, the history of African intermediaries, the history of work.

Readings to be read in advance and preparation of notes.

Session 11 – 13.05 - Commodities Trade

Guest Lecture: Prof Dr Harald Fischer-Tiné, Institut für Geschichte, ETH
Details & Readings tba

Session 12 – 20.05 - The Silk Road

Guest Lecture: Mi You, Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln
Details & Readings tba


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% 

Journal/Blog 20%

In-class assignments 20%

Final Assignment 40%

Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade. 
 

ASSIGNMENTS 

Journal/Blog

A separate 'Journal' is developed by each student that reflects on learnings from the seminar. It should be in the form of an online blog (ie. WordPress, Tumblr or other):

  • The journal should be structured in a generally comprehensible manner
  • The lecture notes, including annotations, are stored
  • Notes, sketches for each lesson should be included as well

Exercise Observation

The theoretical discussion of the subject is substantiated by a practical observation that can be presented in a freely selectable form. However, this should address the following questions:

(1) What is the origin of space?

(2) Why is this political?

(3) How is space observed and perceived?

(4) How changed does space become through observation and perception?

(5) How does the reader perceive space through the nature of the description?


Essay

The final assignment should develop a question from the topics dealt with and include these in form of a critical or argumentative essay.

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

The essay can be written in German or English. 

Essay deadline: 07.06.2019 uploaded to the IAD server: (folder essay assignment) smb://fileredu.ad.zhdk.ch/DDE/BDE_VIAD-MATERIAL/01_VORLESUNGEN & PROJEKTE/19FS/Sem4_If only_theory


COURSE MATERIALS 

Readings are made available in the shared IAD server: smb://fileredu.ad.zhdk.ch/DDE/BDE_VIAD-MATERIAL/01_VORLESUNGEN & PROJEKTE/19FS/Sem4_If only_theory


Students blogs:


https://medium.com/if-only-design-technology-and-society

https://blog.colinschmid.net/tag/technology-society/

https://rchenblog.wixsite.com/theoryclass

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jenniferduartezhdk

https://blog2.maraweber.ch

blog.ednahirsbrunner.com

https://mk-technology-society.tumblr.com

https://medium.com/@michelle.schmid96/theory-classes-f1b66a183cf3 

https://medium.com/@dominik.szakacs
https://iclaud-iad.tumblr.com
https://melanieabbet.tumblr.com
https://medium.com/@lilian1997.ll/technology-and-society-e398108e5863



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