I went into this post it project with some idea of what I wanted to do and thus I used this as a way to gather my thoughts and ideas and develop them further rather than form a new one. Therefore, I chose themes that seemed relevant to my idea of a pen that writes on air.
Themes: Education, nature, technology, information, and memory.
Education: Spelling, multi-lingual, grammar, universal, literary, accessibility, academic, scholastic
Nature: Environment, ecosystem (eco-friendly), moral, pollution, resources, going green
Technology: Modern, fact-checking, advanced, renewable, digital, calculation
Information: Accurate, factual, privacy, tailored to user, processing, information dense
Memory: Adaptable, suggestive, retentive, data storing, gathering, sensory, conscious
Education: Government input, calculator, spell-check
Nature: Solar power, overpopulation, tree-cutting
Technology: Screen, battery, smart pen
Information: Textbook data, access to all accurate information, API’s
Memory: Hard drive, storage, artificial intelligence
After combining different descriptor and enabler cards, I came up with the following ideas:
1. Considering the future is currently headed to a disruptive environment and global crisis, while rapidly advancing in technology, the fine line between the digital world and the environment is a currently existing technology which is solar power.
2. I want my product to aid users as much as possible and thus I hope to use artificial to create technologies that are conscious and can adapt to the consumer’s interests and learning pace.
3. By combing technology with all these different aspects of education including language and access to different sources we will make education more accessible. Or perhaps it is a question of making it less accessible considering that this technology is very expensive.
4. However, to add on that last idea, if we are able to get government input we will not only have enough funding as well as access to all sources of information, but new laws that will demand everyone own one of these technologies in order to fully eliminate the use of paper. But this adds the controversy of getting the government more involved with capitalism given that by demanding access to all these different sources, issues of copyright and creators (authors, scientists, innovators) will rise. This might even cause creators to stop providing content for sale since it will all be accessible to everyone with no profit. This adds a paradox of morality (improving the education system and giving students more access to information + becoming eco-friendly and making overpopulation more sustainable) versus freedom (allowing the government to control more aspects of our lives).
Other thoughts: Also, as I am writing these ideas down, specifically that of aiding and adapting to the user’s needs, I am thinking of incorporating disability and special needs into this device. The way that the education system today is able to adapt to their needs by providing extra time on exams and assigning a coach to guide them throughout their academic experiences, this smart pen can adapt to their learning abilities as well. It can explain things more thoroughly or provide more patience, etc. which implements this idea of morality and consciousness with advanced technologies.
In terms of the article on speculative design this is a probable future considering that a lot of these ideas are already being executed today. It is not a foreign idea to eliminate paper through technology, in fact, NYU already does this by switching to electronic mail and billing. The difference is that they give students and parents the option of making the switch. This maintains that relationship between freedom and morals, but this is only true because it is not so essential at the moment to eliminate paper entirely considering that we still have the resources available for it. But in the upcoming future, with the population expanding exponentially and the mass destruction of forests and other parts of the ecosystem, overpopulation will not be as sustainable. This is when we will need to resort to one of our greatest and increasingly expanding renewable resources: technology, to protect us from the global crisis.
