How Methods Make Designers

Avle, Seyram; Lindtner, Silvia; Williams, Kaiton

doi:10.1145/3025453.3025864

Cited by 68 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…I identify these two models as the Western/Silicon Valley model and the Chinese/Shenzhen model. Silicon Valley has long been considered a template for innovation and regional advantage in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa as well as Asia and Europe (Avle, Lindtner, & Williams, 2017; Saxenian, 2006). Companies like Apple and Facebook have come to represent modes of production that center around multinational consumer and user bases, closed and hidden research and development (R&D), and heavy investments into intellectual property (IP) protection.…”

Section: Models Of Inspiration and Instrumentalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Making as imaginative crossroads: Ghanaian makers and the geopolitics of technological progress

Avle

2020

Proc Assoc Inf Sci Technol

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This paper is about the politics of technological progress as it is being played out among a loose network of Ghanaian makers. It unpacks how the practice of ‘making’ unfolds as a site for positioning the self and the nation within a global imaginary of techno futures. The paper argues, first, that ‘making’ in Ghana is emblematic of a crossroads of imaginative possibilities for technological design and production, and second, that this marks a distinct turn in the politics of technological progress, particularly when situated against ongoing econo‐political negotiations between the Global south, the West, and China.

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Section: Models Of Inspiration and Instrumentalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Making as imaginative crossroads: Ghanaian makers and the geopolitics of technological progress

Avle

2020

Proc Assoc Inf Sci Technol

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“…This is perhaps the colonising influence of Silicon Valley-style working practices: 'lean', 'agile', etc. (Avle, Lindtner and Williams, 2017), where pace has come to be synonymous with creativity, but it also plays into a sense of urgency in the (currently austerity-riven UK) public sector about delivering innovation and ultimately savings. In contrast to the supposed inertia of the bureaucratic machine, design proposes itself as a light-footed and entrepreneurial catalyst of change.…”

Section: Temporalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Aestheticising Change: simulations of progress

Bailey¹,

Story²

2018

Proceedings of DRS

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If, following Rancière, politics revolves around who has power to articulate 'the sensible', then designers, as aesthetic practitioners, must be caught up in questions of politics. This is particularly so when design practice becomes part of the way public sector actors negotiate, envision and catalyse change in relation to public 'problems'. However, this is also typically a form of design practice that eschews any talk of aesthetics-presenting as de-skilled, democratic and 'de-aestheticised', in a sense. By analysing and re-describing such design practice in aesthetic terms hereillustrated with an example from practice-we provide an alternative characterisation to the more instrumental account of design as a reliable route to innovation for public sector managers. This opens up a different perspective on what such practices function to achieve, and what is at stake: an effacing of the political nature of design decisions, and an obscuring of the real work of change by the seductive techniques of simulation.

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“…A key characteristic of hubs in sub-Saharan Africa is that they have generally been very consciously introduced and embraced as embassies of Silicon Valley entrepreneurial culture [4]. A hub might offer training in 'lean startup' approaches to business and tech enthusiasts; their design often seeks to imitate the fun and designerly offices of tech 'unicorns' like Facebook and Google, with bright colors, foosball tables, and beanbag chairs.…”

Section: Hubsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Space of Possibilities

Csíkszentmihályi¹,

Mukundane

Rodrigues³

et al. 2018

Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

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HCI researchers work within spaces of possibility for potential designs of technology. New methods (for example, user centrism); expected types of interaction (user with device); and potential applications (urban navigation) can extend the boundaries of these possibilities. However, structural and systemic factors can also foreclose them. A recent wide and shallow survey of over 116 individuals involved in technology development across 26 countries in sub-Saharan Africa reveals how factors of political economy significantly impact upon technological possibilities. Monopolies, international power dynamics, race, and access to capital open or constrain technological possibilities at least as much as device-centric or user-focused constraints do. Though their thrust may have been anticipated by reference to political economic trends, the structural constraints we found were underestimated by technologists even a decade ago. We discuss the implications for technology development in Africa and beyond.

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How Methods Make Designers

Cited by 68 publications

References 35 publications

Making as imaginative crossroads: Ghanaian makers and the geopolitics of technological progress

Making as imaginative crossroads: Ghanaian makers and the geopolitics of technological progress

Aestheticising Change: simulations of progress

The Space of Possibilities

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