In the 1967 Jerome Agel published the first edition of “The medium is the massage” by Marshal McLuhan, where he wrote: “All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the massage. Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as environment.”[1]
Nowadays, James C. Scott claims: “The state had to create a certain kind of society that could then be manipulated. It had to create citizens with identities…I’ve worked out a critique of what I call modernist planning…The high-modernists claimed to know how…The hubris of the high modernist led them to believe in unitary and singular answers to all social problems and that solutions to them could be either imposed on the public nor a public could be persuaded that these schemes were in their own interest.”[2]
In the era of communication, digital communication and information devices are very popular in the Western society. They are cheap and convenient, plus they allow us to interact with each other and to entertain ourselves. Indeed, we use them in both private and social life, and the whole surround environment is overwhelmed by them. Thus, they play a key role in our lives and we recognize them as necessary.
Paradoxically, the state of the art shows that users tend not to develop affection towards those devices as they don’t know them deeply. Therefore, often tend to be stressed out by using them as well as to relate to them as mere status symbol, feeding consumerism and dumping places.
Greenpeace reports that “The world is consuming more and more electronic products every year” and also that “This has caused a dangerous explosion in electronic scrap (e-waste) containing toxic chemicals and heavy metals that cannot be disposed of or recycled safely. But this problem can be avoided.”[3]
There is to wonder then if this process is a political matter for real. Why the so called convenient lifestyles, which are supposed to simplify our lives, tend to deeply damage the only world where we can live? It is also a problem of design. The way in which we tend to perceive, relate and use objects is dictated and addressed by their design itself in the whole lifecycle of products. Nowadays, many companies are facing with legislation changes, addressing different ways to produce, which avoid the use of toxic chemicals in production and push to recycle materials after the use.
A possible solution that design could offer to this complex problem is in the combination of the whole lifecycle of the product with the development of the attachment of people to the devices. It’s not just a physical matter but also an emotional one. The way in which we tend to perceive and relate to them is indeed a crucial point for a different prospective in their use.
Production which avoids the abusive implication of toxic materials is a must as well as the feasibility of disassembling processes after the use, because it leads to easier and cheaper possibilities of recycling in order to have a more rational use of materials. Several designs show that it is already a reality.
“Electronics products often have a hierarchical modular structure organized in a tree like manner with roots that are connected to sub-roots and sub-roots connected to other sub-roots and leaves…One of the characteristics of such structures is that the common modules and components together with other modules and components can be used to form new products with completely different structures”[4]
This means that a different way to represent the concept of “containing” as well as “connecting” can lead towards a more flexible conception of digital communication and information devices. Perceiving each component as a system which interacts with a bigger system, which interacts with an even bigger system, allow me to think that it’s possible to design more sustainable devices through the personalization of function and use. This concept allows to avoid the repetition of the common components, which instead would be shared amongst the dedicated parts, and to push towards a more rational use of materials, as people would have the chance to choose, change and upload only the components that they effectively need to. Indeed, through a more flexible devices’ architecture, the process of obsolescence slows down while some pieces last longer. This process is likely to create a more persistent relationship between some parts of the device and the user, thus it would increase the attachment of people toward devices. Furthermore, if this system is linked to a sharing platform, the life of the discharged parts would be longer lasting as they could be either reused by users with lower updating necessities or physically up loaded, where the degenerated parts could be reused in for other functions in other dedicated parts.
Another very important factor is the portability of the device. Indeed, nowadays they are pocket sized, but they always need a location in order to make them usable. Then, they turn not to be portable for real…As we move them around and in order to do that we make use of our own energy, it is possible to convert it into power for the devices’. It could be combined to the free surrounding renewable energy of the environment as well, in order to provide devices which are rechargeable where ever we are thus independent and effectively portable. In fact, the motor is the only part that all the components need.
To conclude, I would say that a system such I have described above, could lead to a more interactive, democratic and rational use of the devices, because of the communication of a more rational use of resources that it involves. Indeed, the act of letting the people understand the way in which devices work would provide a platform which will help people to perceive better their effective needs.
[1] McLuhan, M., and Fiore, Q., 1996, The medium is the massage, 3rd, Gingko press, Corte Madera, p. 26.
[2] Gerritsen, E., 2008, Seeing like a society, Volume, 16 (2), p. 11.
[4] Lambert, A.J.D., and Gupta, S.M., 2002, Demand-driven disassembly optimization for electronic products, Journal of Electronics Manufacturing, 11 (2), p. 121.
Bibliography:
Papanek, V., 1995, The green imperative, Thames & Hudston Inc., New York.
McLuhan, M., and Fiore, Q., 1996, The medium is the massage, 3rd, Gingko press, Corte Madera.
McLuhan, M., 2003, Understanding media, 3rd, Gingko press, Corte Madera.
Postmal, N., 1993, Technopoly, 2nd, Vintage books, New York.
Pearce, P., 1990, Structure in Nature is a strategy for design, 5th, The MIT press, London.
Paturi, F., 1976, Nature mother of invention, 2nd, Thames and Hudson, London.
Gerritsen, E., 2008, Seeing like a society, Volume, 16 (2), pp. 10-12.
Lambert, A.J.D., and Gupta, S.M., 2002, Demand-driven disassembly optimization for electronic products, Journal of Electronics Manufacturing, 11 (2), pp. 121-135.
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http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/electronics/where-does-e-waste-end-up , [Accessed 18 October 2008]
Greenpeace, How the companies line up?, [online],
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/electronics/how-the-companies-line-up , [Accessed 18 October 2008]
Greenpeace, Solutions, [online],
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/electronics/solutions , [Accessed 18 October 2008]
Greenpeace, Recycling of electronics waste in China and India: workplace and environmental contamination, [online],
http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/recyclingelectronicwasteindiachinafull.pdf , [Accessed 18 October 2008]
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