13th Sep2012

Weekly Post: Farman and Thrift

by averydame

1. I’m curious about the ways in which locational positionality gets lost in Chapter 4. Thrift’s phenomenological description of driving certainly fits an urban experience, but doesn’t speak to driving in rural environments, where in example one might not have access to, say, the data connection necessary to make their GPS or similar software function.

2.  Thrift speaks of the increased sensorialization of goods, but the examples from his citation are primarily good one keeps long term (cars, etc.). What about the sensorialization of disposable good (that is, goods that are designed to be eventually thrown away)? If you can bear with a bit of a nerd diversion: In reading that quote, I was immediately reminded of going through back bins full of pre-bagged 90s “limited edition” comics with raised holographic covers and trading card. These items were designed to provide a unique sensory experience that only the “first and fast” buyers could access, but because the item was disposable, the only value it retained was in relation to an artificially inflated market that exceptionalized sensorialization. Since the comic’s interior and disposable nature didn’t change (despite market suggestion otherwise), sensorialization became the central source of value–despite the fact preserving this value required the item be “sealed,” rendering the sensory experience inaccessible. How do we make sense of this supposed contradiction?

3. Continuing in the same vein, it’s interesting to note that issues of access and multiple audiences/users don’t really enter into Thrift’s discussion of ergonomics and human factors work. I first encountered human factors as part of a project working on designing equitable elder housing. In many cases, elements such as those described on Page 85 were part of design as ways to make daily life “accessible.” The best humans factors work, I would argue, is specifically about designing for the broadest range of humans. How could this concern meet with Thrift’s concern regarding surveillance?

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