User feedback: Telling affective stories about science, technology and design
Timothy Miller, University of the Arts London & Goldsmiths, University of London
Toronto 2021: Storytelling as Relations
Arguably, storytelling is essential in STS (Law 2004). Some of these stories relate to how technologies enforce interactions (Akrich 1992) which reify identities and affect us and compel us to respond (Latour 2004). As STS scholars, we respond through research, writing and storytelling to foster debate in an often uncertain and unequal world.
For example, we have heard of the inequality-fostering bridges separating some of the residents of Manhattan from the beaches of Long Island (Winner 1980). And how electric shavers (van Oost 2003), mobile telephones (Shade 2007) and social media interfaces (Friz and Gehl 2016) reify female competencies. There are, of course, many more.
But how can our storytelling go further? In this workshop, we will “review” a designed product. We will award it one to five stars. More importantly, we will explore how we can transform our storytelling to create more-affective stories that foster better relations in this often uncertain and unequal world.
