Domesticity and digital eugenics : design cultures of Silicon Valley

The paper attempts to make sense of the two more recent areas of interest of Silicon Valley’s ‘gang of four’: Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Facebook. The last few years have seen this group of four turning their attention to the development of ‘smart’ ecologies with a focus on automation and the development of a 'house of tomorrow'. More recently, reports have emerged of increasing interest in biotechnologies and Synthetic Biology start-ups. Interest in these two areas are commonly interpreted as the logical consequence of the need to find new profitable markets. We suggest, instead, that modification of the human body is central to understanding these corporate actions. We use the notion of eugenics as an interpretative framework to understand these new areas of expansion, suggesting the creation of a hegemonic culture gestated by digital technologies

Bio-revolutions : radical change, design cultures and non-humans

This paper explores the interface between culture, design and biology. It draws on methodologies and existing literature on Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies to argue that despite predictions of biotechnologies bringing about revolutionary change in design disciplines, there is a risk of bio-design becoming a ‘failed’ revolution, similar to that of personal computers. To counter this, we introduce the biomaterial probe, a methodology that enables designers to find potential opportunities, challenges and limitations of introducing living systems in the practice of design

The technological invisible - image making as an exercise of power

In this paper we explore the dynamics of power involved in the representation of digital devices. We reflect on a series of images produced by Amazon and Apple and suggest that their role as instruments of power is not defined by the companies’ financial might. We argue that these images are bound in a matrix, the locus of which resides in the representation of the technological invisible, elements of technology that are supra-sensible such as software, data, and wireless infrastructure. We use a research through design approach to analyse how representing invisible aspects of technology involves a series of decisions, through which agendas are embedded to influence the way we imagine the technology to operate and integrate in daily lives. We suggest that these dynamics are not the preserve of traditionally powerful actors, but that can be used by designers to reimagine technology

The technological invisible - image making as an exercise of power

In this paper we explore the dynamics of power involved in the representation of digital devices. We reflect on a series of images produced by Amazon and Apple and suggest that their role as instruments of power is not defined by the companies’ financial might. We argue that these images are bound in a matrix, the locus of which resides in the representation of the technological invisible, elements of technology that are supra-sensible such as software, data, and wireless infrastructure. We use a research through design approach to analyse how representing invisible aspects of technology involves a series of decisions, through which agendas are embedded to influence the way we imagine the technology to operate and integrate in daily lives. We suggest that these dynamics are not the preserve of traditionally powerful actors, but that can be used by designers to reimagine technology

A home with a future. Digital domesticity and the vague fictions of Silicon Valley

The last two decades have seen an explosion in the numbers of digital devices that “weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life.” Here we bring to critical attention the material, ethical and spatial consequences of integrating digital devices in physical spaces. We concentrate on the way Silicon Valley constructs a narrative of digital domesticity. Harriet Riches uses the term to describe online magazines that seek to revive hand-made crafts, domestic life, and a yearning for the slower pace of a, ironically, pre-digital life. We reflect on the way that Silicon Valley makes use of vague fictions—narratives that blur the divide between present and future—as a way of presenting us with a vision of domestic life that is at once nostalgic of social forms and accommodating of new technologies

The biological unseen. Producing and mediating imaginaries of protocells

This paper engages with issues of the bio-image body, identifying the mechanisms by which the microscopic is understood and interacted with by a range of audi- ences. We are interested in how images are used to mediate with the biological unseen, and how the pro- cess can be used to perturb and shift imaginaries of use and transformation of matter, living or otherwise. We take a research through design approach and build the argument using two interventions made in the context of Living Ashes, a project developed by the authors and that explores semi-living matter through protocells. The first intervention produces recorded moving image of protocells, using intercutting to connect events across scales. The second intervention prompts discussion on issues of agency in generating image with/of nonhumans

The biological unseen: producing and mediating imaginaries of protocells

This paper engages with issues of the bio-image body, identifying the mechanisms by which the microscopic is understood and interacted with by a range of audiences. We are interested in how images are used to mediate with the biological unseen, and how the process can be used to perturb and shift imaginaries of use and transformation of matter, living or otherwise. We take a research through design approach and build the argument using two interventions made in the context of Living Ashes, a project developed by the authors and that explores semi-living matter through protocells. The first intervention produces recorded moving image of protocells, using intercutting to connect events across scales. The second intervention prompts discussion on issues of agency in generating image with/of nonhumans

Bio-materialism: Experiments in biological material computation

In his article ‘Towards a Novel Material Culture’ Menges traces the origins of contemporary computational and fabrication techniques in architecture to ‘New Materialism’. Developed by thinkers such as Manuel DeLanda and Jane Bennett, the philosophical school characterizes matter as active and “empowered by its own tendencies and capacities”. In architecture, New Materialism has often become associated with biomimetics. However, over the past four years we have been developing a series of projects that take inspiration from the New Materialist paradigm, but that aspire to develop demonstrators and technologies which go beyond biomimicry and make direct use of living systems, designing through the manipulation of living cells

The technological invisible — image making and dynamics of power

In this paper we explore the dynamics of power involved in the representation of digital devices. We reflect on a series of images produced by Amazon and Apple and suggest that their role as instruments of power is not defined by the companies’ financial might. We argue that these images are bound in a matrix, the locus of which resides in the representation of the technological invisible, elements of technology that are supra-sensible such as software, data, and wireless infrastructure. We use a research through design approach to analyse how representing invisible aspects of technology involves a series of decisions, through which agendas are embedded to influence the way we imagine the technology to operate and integrate in daily lives. We suggest that these dynamics are not the preserve of traditionally powerful actors, but that can be used by designers to reimagine technology

Clima laboral y burnout en profesores universitarios

The objective of this research was to know the functional relationship between the work environment and the burnout syndrome in university professors from a public university in Peru. The sample consisted of 206 teachers; males (79.6%) and females (20.4%); appointed (80.1%) and hired (19.9%). The instruments used were: The Burnout Questionnaire for university teachers adapted by Arquero and Donoso from the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Palma Work Climate Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify validity and reliability. It was found that the level of the work environment was average (x ̅ = 138.8 points); the teachers presented medium level burnout (x ̅ = 115.8 points). Through the structural equations model, it was found that the supervisory factor of the work environment is related to the depersonalization dimension of burnout. Likewise, performing various paid jobs generates a higher level of burnout (p = 0.040). It is concluded that there is a negative and statistically significant relationship between the work environment and burnout. Likewise, the work environment predicts the levels of burnout syndrome (AGFI = 0.991) in university professors. The study suggests the implementation of occupational and organizational intervention programsEl objetivo de la presente investigación fue conocer la relación funcional entre el clima laboral y el síndrome de burnout en profesores universitarios de una universidad pública de Perú. La muestra estuvo constituida por 206 profesores; nombrados (80.1%) y contratados (19.9%); varones (79.6%) y mujeres (20.4%). Los instrumentos utilizados fueron: el Cuestionario de burnout para docentes universitarios adaptado por Arquero y Donoso a partir del Inventario de Burnout de Maslach y la Escala de Clima Laboral de Palma. Se utilizó el análisis factorial confirmatorio para verificar la validez y fiabilidad. Se encontró que el nivel del clima laboral fue promedio (x ̅=138.8 puntos); los profesores presentaron burnout de nivel medio (x ̅=115.8 puntos). A través del modelo de ecuaciones estructurales, se encontró que el factor supervisión del clima laboral está relacionado con la dimensión de despersonalización del burnout. Asimismo, realizar varios trabajos remunerados genera mayor nivel de burnout (p=0.040). Se concluye que existe relación negativa y estadísticamente significativa entre el clima laboral y el burnout. Asimismo, clima laboral predice los niveles de síndrome de burnout (AGFI=0.991) en los profesores universitarios. El estudio sugiere la implementación de programas de intervención ocupacional y organizaciona