Beth Kolko on Form, Function and Fiction: ICTs and Their Uses in Resource Constrained Environments [AUDIO]
Beth Kolko, Berkman Center fellow and Associate Professor in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington, examines what are essentially fictional definitions (what is “the Internet,” “an Internet user,” a “mobile phone”) and discusses how the same collection of circuits and memory can occupy varying cultural meanings across contexts, particularly in resource-constrained environments. She presents a series of case studies of how technology design addresses (or ignores) differences in function and cultural meaning, and the implications of those differences for design.
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