Some quotes to get you thinking
The article "Reimagining HCI: toward a more human-centered perspective" by Liam Bannon in the current Issue of the Interactions Magazine contains a lot of food for thought.
Here an interesting quote by Le Corbusier and commented by William McDonough
Le Corbusier said in the early part of this century that a house is a machine for living in. He glorified the steamship, the airplane, the grain elevator. Think about it: a house is a machine for living in. An office is a machine for working in. A cathedral is a machine for praying in. This has become a terrifying prospect, because what has happened is that designers are now designing for the machine and not for people.
And here a thought inspired by Matti Tedre:
[...] informatics as a discipline focused simply on what can be automated[...]. From a human-centered computing perspective, the question becomes what should be automated?
Tedre's Paper "What Should Be Automated?" can be downloaded here.
Bannon mentions the example "Ambient Assisted Living" where elderly people are supported by technology and therefore don't have to move into an institution. But most researchers don't ask the question if 24/7 remote monitoring of one's vital signs really adds to the dignity of these people...