As a designer I’ve found really interesting the discussion about the role of designers in creating a vision of the future. Yesterday Patrick Gyger affirmed that we don’t have anymore a vision of the future, because we think we are living it. Indeed it is difficult to imagine the future, to predict it.

Matt Webb highlights how designers play an important role in reflecting and experimenting around the evolution of a product, of a service, of a system. But what are the tools in hand of designers to do that? Anab Jain invites us to play with tomorrow creating speculative scenarios of possible near future. The visionary “Metromatics 21th century” scenario of Frank Beau or the “Carnivore domestic entertainment robots” shown by James Auger are examples of this kind of practice.
To imagine the future we also need to know what didn’t work in the past. Nicolas Nova suggests a design strategy based on failure. We need to spot and document failures in order to not repeat them one more time. Some designers look at the prototype as a tool of conception, that leads to a more empirical design method based errors observation and progressive adjustments. Fabio Sergio believes that technology can actually be a material to sketch with. In this context the present becomes a sort of beta-version of the future we want to live in. In the picture above you can see an early prototype of a project where I tried to use a real plant as a computer input device.

So, let’s start to sketch our idea and let it grow. What we need is just a mixture of rationality and passion, of pragmatism and fantasy.

James Auger is a partner in the critical design practice Auger-Loizeau whose projects explore the role of technology as a mediator and modifier of the human experience in both contemporary and future societies. Their work has been exhibited and published globally over the past 8 years. He teaches on the Design Interactions course at the Royal College of Art in London and is currently undertaking a design practice based PhD looking into the role of robots in the home environment.

On their explorations into design for the near future they explored technology’s effect on human culture, behaviour and experience. A tooth implant that transmits sounds over the jaw-bone, a phone that blocks all other peripheral sensory distraction or several prototypes to augment animals are just some of the examples.

During the “Design thinking for the future” session on Friday, James will talk to us about the role designers can play in shaping our technological future. Find more info on James on his LIFT page or discover his projects on his website.

Basic information
Assistant Professor
Coming from Canada
Working at Concordia University, Design & Computation Arts

Bio
Anne Galloway recently completed a PhD in sociology and anthropology at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, which involved an ethnographic study of the design of mobile and pervasive technologies for urban environments. Interested in connections between technological, spatial and cultural practices, Anne’s current research explores how actor-network theory and critiques of everyday life can help people understand and shape emergent technologies.

Her work has been presented to international audiences in technology, design, art, architecture, social and cultural studies, as well as published in a variety of books and journals. Anne currently teaches design and computation arts at Concordia University in Montréal, Canada. She also works part-time as a design researcher on the Touch Project, led by Timo Arnall and based at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.

As part of the LIFT09 programme, Anne will join Dan Hill and Carlo Ratti to discuss how the blending of the digital and the physical stands to reshape everyday urban life.

Why LIFT and what Anne expects
LIFT offers the opportunity to exchange different perspectives on shared interests, and I’m looking forward to meeting new people and making new connections.

Links
Blog
Another Blog
Website
LIFT profile

David Birch, director at Consult Hyperion is a specialist of electronic business and banking. In his presentation, he gives his perspective on the future of digital currency by addressing the disadvantage of cash, the raising importance of cell phone services (especially in developing countries) and its benefits.

David Birch, director at Consult Hyperion is a specialist of electronic business and banking. In his presentation, he gives his perspective on the future of digital currency by addressing the disadvantage of cash, the raising importance of cell phone services (especially in developing countries) and its benefits.

Nexon CEO Joonmo Kwon describes the evolution of video gaming through examples from his company, which produces some of the world's most popular online multiplayer games. Joonmo shows how the Web and the mobile phone platforms changed playing practices. He also discusses the renewal of business models in this field and the role of game designers to leverage their creativity to come up with original products.

Nexon CEO Joonmo Kwon describes the evolution of video gaming through examples from his company, which produces some of the world's most popular online multiplayer games. Joonmo shows how the Web and the mobile phone platforms changed playing practices. He also discusses the renewal of business models in this field and the role of game designers to leverage their creativity to come up with original products.

There was one LIFT08 moment for me. It happened during the Gaming session while both Guy Vardi and Paul Barnett spoke. The energy and content of their presentations delivered something into the discussion that Nada Kakabadse and I were having over what is the basis of Theoretical Man. What intrigues me is how technology enables humanity's evolution. Nada and I cracked the one pièce de résistance that I have been pondering for the past few months. I could not have done it alone - not that quickly - it was two brains thinking as one. It was one of those magic moments when you know that alone you are nothing, and together you are everything. I was elated!

If something is to be remembered from the World Economic Forum 2008 edition it is probably the very candid comment made by the Wang Jianzhou, the CEO of the world’s largest mobile phone operator.

“We know who you are, but also where you are” was actually meant to convince the audience that China Mobile could use the personal data of its customers to sell advertising and services to them based on knowledge of where they were and what they were doing. Instead it turned into worries about the risk of passing over private information to Chinese authorities: with more than 370 million subscribers, China Mobile has a real-time ear and eye on 25% of the country’s citizens.

The outcry of congressman Markey (chairman of the US House of Representatives subcommittee on telecommunications) was even more surprising since most national security agencies have so-called signals intelligence collection and analysis networks (like Echelon or Onyx). That said most countries are supposed to have checks and controls in place to make sure that only court orders allow the government to check phone records.

Maybe time has come to look into more details at how the mobile phone is becoming a threat to privacy in all countries!

P.S.: It is quite revealing that the two operators invited to the World Economic Forum’s discussion on “The Future of Mobile Technology” were China Mobile and SK Telecom

Why we invited Francesco to LIFT
Francesco is in charge of the development of design strategy at Nokia. He has a really exciting job. His work combines analysis: of evolutions in the way people communicate, enjoy and work, of innovations in design, technology and business models; and intuition to draw inspiring, new directions for design. This viewpoint is very valuable and relevant to LIFT08.

What will Francesco talk about
Francesco has written about the adoption and use of digital technologies, communication, automation and user-centered design. In this context he will present important future trends to us.

See Francesco's LIFT Profile to learn more about her enlightening work.