In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World

John Thackara,

ISBN 10: 0262201577 / ISBN 13: 9780262201575

Published by MIT Press (MA) March 2005, 2005

About this Item

We're filling up the world with technology and devices, but we've lostsight of an important question: What is this stuff for? What value does it add toour lives? So asks author John Thackara in his new book, In the Bubble: Designingfor a Complex World.These are tough questions for the pushers of technology toanswer. Our economic system is centered on technology, so it would be no smallmatter if 'tech' ceased to be an end-in-itself in our daily lives.Technology is notgoing to go away, but the time to discuss the end it will serve is before we deployit, not after. We need to ask what purpose will be served by the broadbandcommunications, smart materials, wearable computing, and connected appliances thatwe're unleashing upon the world. We need to ask what impact all this stuff will haveon our daily lives. Who will look after it, and how?In the Bubble is about a worldbased less on stuff and more on people. Thackara describes a transformation that istaking place now -- not in a remote science fiction future; it's not about, as heputs it, 'the schlock of the new' but about radical innovation already emerging indaily life. We are regaining respect for what people can do that technology can't.In the Bubble describes services designed to help people carry out daily activitiesin new ways. Many of these services involve technology -- ranging from body implantsto wide-bodied jets. But objects and systems play a supporting role in apeople-centered world. The design focus is on services, not things. And newprinciples -- above all, lightness -- inform the way these services are designed andused. At the heart of In the Bubble is a belief, informed by a wealth of real-worldexamples, that ethics and responsibility can inform design decisions withoutimpeding social and technical innovation. How to design a world in which we rely less on stuff, and more on people.

Seller Inventory # 119142

Bibliographic Details

• Title: In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World
• Publisher: MIT Press (MA) March 2005
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262201577
• ISBN 13: 9780262201575
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Used - Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Graphic Design - Theory

About this title

Synopsis

We're filling up the world with technology and devices, but we've lost sight of an important question: What is this stuff for? What value does it add to our lives? So asks author John Thackara in his new book,In the Bubble: Designing for a Complex World. These are tough questions for the pushers of technology to answer. Our economic system is centered on technology, so it would be no small matter if "tech" ceased to be an end-in-itself in our daily lives. Technology is not going to go away, but the time to discuss the end it will serve is before we deploy it, not after. We need to ask what purpose will be served by the broadband communications, smart materials, wearable computing, and connected appliances that we're unleashing upon the world. We need to ask what impact all this stuff will have on our daily lives. Who will look after it, and how?

In the Bubble is about a world based less on stuff and more on people. Thackara describes a transformation that is taking place now -- not in a remote science fiction future; it's not about, as he puts it, "the schlock of the new" but about radical innovation already emerging in daily life. We are regaining respect for what people can do that technology can't.In the Bubble describes services designed to help people carry out daily activities in new ways. Many of these services involve technology -- ranging from body implants to wide-bodied jets. But objects and systems play a supporting role in a people-centered world. The design focus is on services, not things. And new principles -- above all, lightness -- inform the way these services are designed and used. At the heart ofIn the Bubble is a belief, informed by a wealth of real-world examples, that ethics and responsibility can inform design decisions without impeding social and technical innovation.

About the Author

John Thackara, described as a "design guru, critic and business provocateur" by Fast Company, is the Director of Doors of Perception, a design futures network based in Amsterdam and Bangalore. He is the author of Design after Modernism, Lost in Space: A Traveler's Tale, Winners! How Successful Companies Innovate by Design, and other books. Since 2002, he has authored the Doors of Perception blog and newsletter.