[Air-L] Metaphors in Technology

[Joseph Reagle]

On Sunday 29 June 2008, Gordon Carlson wrote:
> In case anyone is counting here is a newer list with the additions
> thus far.  Thanks again and please do keep them coming!

In my class on technology "Understanding how we understand: technological 
predictions, myths, and implications" [1] I talk a lot about technology as 
myth and narrative -- and I've been enjoying this thread. 

[1]:http://reagle.org/joseph/2007/impacts/syllabus.html

I'm thinking of bringing in Goffman's "frames" next semester, but in any 
case I try to identify some of relations implicit/presume in the metaphors 
from our class readings. So, for example:
[[
     * Themes to keep an eye out for
          + technology as artifact
               o In speaking about technological artifacts, the following
                 themes often come up in terms of how we understand
                 technology and its effects
                 relationship: recursive, emergent, shaping, injection
                 (embedded, inscribed values)
                 audience: relevant social group, wider context
                 reading: interpretive flexibility, closure
                 movement: stabilization, momentum, replacement,
                 incremental, organic
                    # propagation: massive (car), limited (cockpit design)
                    # speed: fast, slow
                 scope: micro/macro
                 consequences: intended/unintended
                 causality: singular/multiple; direct/indirect
                 perspective: hindsight, those born to it, those seeing
                 the change
          + technology as social substrate
               o authority: source, operation
                 cooperation/altruism: source, enabling (e.g., crowds),
                 effect, understanding (economic, moral, cognitive)
                 contentment/happiness: contrary to intuitions,
                 hyperactivity
                 identity, power, civic interation
                 pervasiveness/privacy: double edged sword
     * Narratives of technological tropes
          + ascent
               o the "sleeper" "blows up"
               o the new displaces the old (e.g., iPod over Walkman)
               o the old sustains (e.g., silicon)
          + descent
               o fade/die
               o the hype bubble bursts
          + prediction
               o "20-20 hindsight"
     * Technology metaphors
          + e.g., Lawler's computer as machine, tool, workplace, etc.
...
]]