Is technology designed to help or to make us feel helpless?
( español )This is our first posting in English. With a bilingual blog we are trying to bring together people from different backgrounds which will enrich the discussion.
That we are in the Information Society is a reality, and that has been the case now for some years. Both terms information and society are complex and their conjunction give raise to a social situation which qualified as challenging may sound as an understatement. Information has gone through a profound transformation from a previous social revolution: the industrial revolution. The new society and its challenges for the 21st century are mainly determined by the new media where information is exchanged: online and on screen –and both in digital format.
Media is rooted in technological advances, and we find ourselves with the possibility of being connected at all times and in a permanent state of change, flux, and crisis. Industry develops new technological products at such pace that society no longer absorbs implements and adapts itself at the rhythm desired by the consumer society. Some new technologies are successful and manage to be accepted, but there have been cases which ended in failure: such as the second generation cell phones, or minidiscs. Technology is also at the base of further change in communication: from analogue to digital. Digital broadcasting of media products is yet another step forwards towards an increase in quality of reception, communication, quantity of information and choice.
Our first posting will focus to the issue of media accessibility since accessibility is often seen as a solely a problem for small groups of people with specific physical, sensorial, or mental handicaps. Although it is true that these groups will face more pressing problems than most of us, in reality we all are dealing with accessibility issues in one form or the other. Think about the classical problem humanity has collectively stumbled into in the late 20th century of programming a video recorder. Were we too stupid to understand these artifacts or is it an engineer from hell problem where the fetishistic featurism of a nerd has incapacitated us all?
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Sindicación
2006-10-15 a las 10.03 pm
¿Diseño inadecuado o limitaciones tecnológicas?
Un ejemplo de cómo las limitaciones en la tecnología pueden tener como resultado un mal diseño para el usuario.
Un ejemplo de diseño totalmente incompetente lo encontramos en algunos de los servicios automáticos de atención al cliente que funcionan mediante menús. Todos hemos pasado alguna vez por la tortura del “Diga 1 si desea… Diga 2 si desea… Diga 3 si desea…” y, así, ad infinitum. La “gracia” de este tipo de diálogo –si puede llarmársele propiamente “de diálogo”- es que soluciona buena parte de los problemas del reconocimiento automático del habla, pues el sistema se limita a reconocer un conjunto limitado de dígitos aislados sin tener que entrar en las complejidades y dificultades del habla espontánea.
Se trata de un mal diseño, ciertamente, pero las insuficiencias de este modo de interacción con un sistema automático derivan claramente de las limitaciones de la tecnología.