Designing Against Humans: Lessons from Masterworks

Designing Against Humans:
Lessons from Masterworks
Jeffrey Ryan Pass | IA Summit 2017 Academics & Practitioners Roundtable | 22 March 2017

Why this talk?
David Bloxom’s presentation last year.
The idea of IA masterworks.
The theme Designing for Humans.
My first career and my personal demons.
And two other notions…

Labor and the artifacts of labor can be employed for good or not.

Polar bears
are cute.
Unicorns
inspire us.

But all wild animals (real or mythical) are wild animals.

The World
Wide Web
and all the
goodness
(badness)
therein.

There were many obstacles to Nelson
Mandala’s 1994 election as South
Africa’s first black chief executive

Like ballots designed to appear simple
while intentionally confusing low-literacy
and first-time (read as black) voters

Not that the US does
it any better

And neither time or
technology had made much
of a difference.

And neither time or
technology had made much
of a difference.
Though we
are getting
better.

A Place for
(and an Eye on)
Everything

Disney,
IKEA,
casinos and
many more
work hard
to ensure
that once
you enter,
it’s hard to
leave with-
out seeing
it all.

Hierarchy and
categorization are
important, and
useful especially
when focusing on a
group or persona.

Dante knew
hierarchy is
important,
especially
for grouping
people and
things.

But people like don’t always like to be grouped.
And many belong to more than one group.

Once a punishment and deterrent,
Bentham’s Panopticon is now norm.

The Panopticon notion
started as a single eye
and evolved into a
network of eyes
overseen by an all-
seeing, all-knowing eye.
Sauron?
Amazon?

Winn Goodbody Photography (05.04.2016). 2016
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Associated Press ().
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References (2 of 4)
Chris King, Quark Expeditions/AECO
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Christopher King©; shared through Expedition
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Use: PD.

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4.0 I.
References (3 of 4)
Wikimedia Commons (03.16.2015).
Australopithecus Sediba [transparent background].
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Fox4 News (Fox Television Stations/FTS)
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Use: FTS Limited Content License
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sharing policy.
InSapphoWeTrust on flickr (02.25.1994). 2000
Presidential Ballot, Palm Beach County, Florida -
Museum of American History, Washington, DC..
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CC BY-SA 2.0

References (4 of 4)
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Application non-commercial T&C.
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