Augmented Space
Alongside the dawn of ubiquitous computing has come the dawning of an age of technological possibility. As wireless devices and standards broaden what is used of the electromagnetic spectrum, their ubiquity in turn expands what can be made from them. Lev Manovich writes of an “augmented space” existing over the everyday as a plane of existence consisting of dynamic information applicable to specific locales. This is an interesting metaphor for understanding a kind of hybridization that occurs at the intersection of the real, everyday physicality, and the metadata-driven virtuality. Unfortunately, most technological development into systems that allow richer uses of dataspaces fall sort of flat when it comes time to think of their use in culture. Modern systems that hope to engage people in the age of ubiquitous data access will need to address deeper and more complicated needs and wants than simple availability.
There have been many attempts in vain at joining the virtual and the real in consumer products, but these too often forget the nature of being a person in either space. Boost Mobile, a cellular phone service, few months ago, launched a new product line of GPS-enabled cell phones (nothing new in themselves) that were equipped with a mapping service so that people could see where their friends were in real time. The “Where You At” branding of this phone, supports only a tired reading of technological possibility–that of expediting particular efficiency-driven interaction at the cost of disabling potentially richer self-constructed narratives. The phone breaks down all dissembling and bending of the truth that phone conversations so often rely on in practice. Especially with cell phones, able to reach any person at any time, the “white lie” is needed to maintain many sorts of social fictions. In the past, when telephones were built into structures themselves, a person was available or not, and if they were missed, it was no problem: they would be back later. By being a person partially embodied in augmented space, though, means that you should always be accessible. Having these devices constructs your presence into any site, even as this kind of proposed cellular/GPS technology will augment your physicality with a broadcast of your site specificity.
This is not to say that technological development is inevitably moving towards broad spectrum surveillance of our ever-expanding digital bodies. It is beholden on us as technologists, designers, and futurists to imagine a future where this is not the case. I prefer to think of technological design into a space that is not the “always on” vision implied by Manovich’s augmented space, but is instead more of “opt in” construction within the ever-present frame of the electromagnetic spectrum. “Augmentable space” perhaps describes a new kind of development approach that will use the information stream in ways that will promote a richer understanding of what it means to be human in this realm beyond the physical, as well as broadening perspectives of how the augmented space can recontextualize the real.
In modern technological development, everything is made to be bigger, brighter, faster, and better than before. The social benefits of informed criticism that could be coming from technological development are being subjugated by a market that demands ways of doing things more efficiently, simply, and unquestioningly. "Critical technical practices" and critical design processes essentially infuse critical theory into products as they are being developed in order to question the fundamental validity of preexisting practice. Intrinsically, critically designed objects would make a cultural spectacle that serves as an embodiment of particular social ideologies that allow reflective uses and critical understanding of technosociety through interaction. Rather than large-scale data screens, such as the ones in Times Square and elsewhere, serving up information to passive, apathetic consumers, technological intervention into augmentable space should be a response to passivity, actively provoking a reaction.
Recognizing that the choices designers make in shaping systems are guided by their conceptual understandings of the values at play, work must be done to ensure technical designers possess the necessary conceptual tools to foster critical reflection on the hidden assumptions, ideologies and values underlying their design decisions. This is best accomplished by fostering “critical technical practices” within the design community. Formulated by Phil Agre, critical technical practice works to increase critical awareness and spark critical reflection among technical designers and engineers of the hidden assumptions, ideologies and values underlying their design processes and decisions. An example of critical technical practice in action today is the Culturally Embedded Computing Group at Cornell University, which seeks to elucidate the ways in which technologies reflect and perpetuate cultural assumptions, as well as design new computing devices that reflect alternative possibilities. Their work provides a model for integrating critical technical practices into the technical design communities of networked vehicle information systems and web search information infrastructures. In essence, embracing pragmatic tools such as “value-sensitive design” and “critical technical practice,” will ensure attention to political and ethical values becoming integral to the conception, design, and development of technologies and not merely considered after completion or deployment.