Infrastructure and the Future
PANEL TWO: SYSTEMS INFRASTRUCTURE Moderated by Tom Keane, the second panel began and ended with a discussion of the potential of communication systems as catalysts for greater user awareness, systemic efficiency, and a connection to larger cultural values. Sustainability was a deeply interwoven thread throughout the conversation, and the panelists found the balance of resource conservation with a pleasurable user experience as essential to the success of the contemporary infrastructural system. Speculation on the role of the designer in the development and evolution of systems infrastructure included architect as visionary, cultural interpreter, interface designer, local activist, and map maker. Tom Keane I got up this morning and turned on the lights. They went on. I don’t pay a lot for power, quite frankly. I turned on the faucet, clean water came out and I brushed my teeth—so I got power, water, and sewer. And then I took a walk, got on the Orange Line and there was a little bit of delay, but I got here with no problem. I came down here, turned on my computer, and I was able to get onto the internet—so I got all of the four things that I really needed. I had power, water, and sewer, and I had communications and transportation. They all worked pretty well. What’s the problem with that? Do we need to fix it? What needs to be fixed? Beto Lopez Invariably we’re solving for needs and those needs must be facilitated by features, whether it’s that prompt that you get at the beginning of the screen when you’re logging on or the way you connect to something else. In order for us to inherently begin to change behaviors—if that’s what we’re going after with a different way of doing things—we need to connect to values. Michael Jones The interesting thing about your experience this morning was you were an end user. The big unknown for me is how those things were delivered to you. What were the systems and the regime that went together to deliver those things to you? How do we get the energy for entire cities and communities in a way that’s responsible? That can only be done within the context of the big picture.
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