Materializing Data Bias(4)| FMP
25/7/21–31/7/21
🤝Teammates: Tiana Robison, Jinsong (Sylvester) Liu,Luchen Peng.
After defining the algorithmic bias as a wicked problem, we think original design thinking is not suitable to be used in this project. We decided to focus on critical design and co-design
Literature Review about Critical Design
Each of our group members picks up the books which we are interested in, trying to figure out how to apply critical design in our project.
Affirmative design & Critical design
Simon firstly combed the historical development of the critical design. In that part, he mentioned Dunne & Raby who developed conceptual design into critical design, and talked about the difference between affirmative design and critical design. Affirmative design serves current cultural, technical, and social expectations such as Consumerism, which often expressed unthinking or passively accepted ideologies without challenge. Critical design critiques such ideologies by producing products that embody alternative values and ideologies which helps the audience to balance their own values against them.
Critical theory
Meanwhile, when referring to Critical design, it is unavoidable to mention Critical theory. Simon summary the features of critical theory and thrown out his opinions.
1·Critical Theory represents a different conceptualization of theory — it aims not to just understand the world but to challenge that understanding;
3·People are often unaware of the effects of such factors on their lives; Namely that :People’s unawareness propagates power relationships that oppress them;
4·Critical Theory is reflexive — it accepts that theory is part of the way we engage with the social world, not an objective explanation of that world; So: Critical Theory can change the social world by changing the way we think about it, and therefore engage with it, so that we could ‘make a fairer world’.
By summarizing Simon's key view, we could say Critical theory enlightens us about the “ giveness”, and frees us of oppressive power relationships.
Combing with our project
Through our previous research, we could find that algorithms as a tool are continuously outputting and emphasizing the existing ideology. People passively accepted these ideologies without thinking, and the oppression caused by algorithmic bias is hard to be aware of. Critical design is a way for us to face these oppressions. Dant( 2003)implies that it is those who engage with the products of Critical Theory (its texts) who are enlightened. In that situation, a question is pull out: How do we engage the audience in critical design? that is the next task our group gonna figure out.
