[The] dynamics of computational artifacts extend beyond the interface narrowly defined, to relations of people with each other and to the place of computing in their ongoing activities. System design, it follows, must include not only the design of innovative technologies, but their artful integration with the rest of the social and material world.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of considering the social and material context when designing technology.
Lucy Suchman's quote highlights that the design of computational artifacts should not be confined to their immediate interfaces but should also encompass the relationships among individuals and the broader context in which these technologies operate. It suggests that successful system design requires an understanding of how technology integrates into social interactions and everyday activities, advocating for a holistic approach to technology design that respects and enhances the human experience.
In practice
In a presentation about user-centered design, this quote illustrates the need for technology to fit seamlessly into social contexts.
There is a massive apparatus within the United States government that with complete secrecy has been building this enormous structure that has only one goal, and that is to destroy privacy and anonymity, not just in the United States but around the world.
Whenever a technology enables people to organize at a pace that wasn't before possible, new kinds of politics emerge.
What we want to do is make a leapfrog product that is way smarter than any mobile device has ever been, and super-easy to use. This is what iPhone is. OK? So, we're going to reinvent the phone.
Netscape brought the Internet alive with the browser. They made the Internet so that Grandma could use it, and her grandchildren could use it. The second thing that Netscape did was commercialize a set of open transmission protocols so that no company could own the Net.
We cannot idealize technology. Technology is only and always the reflection of our own imagination, and its uses must be conditioned by our own values. Technology can help cure diseases, but we can prevent a lot of diseases by old-fashioned changes in behavior.
Overregulation stifles creativity. It smothers innovation. It gives dinosaurs a veto over the future. It wastes the extraordinary opportunity for a democratic creativity that digital technology enables.
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