Technoculture and democratization
noise, limits and opportunities concerning Labs
Keywords:
technoculture, democratization, design, labAbstract
Technoculture, the paradigm that emerges from the computational impact, defines a huge innovation and change movement where the concept of design reaches very radical dimensions and consequences. New identities and institutions arise. Among the latter ones, the “lab”, has been used as a fuzzy descriptor of a multitude of actually rather different entities. It also has been identified as a space to accommodate and promote requests for the democratization of the current changes. The popularity of this concept requires some clarification, since even the concept of “laboratory” has exploded under the impact of the digital era. This paper contrasts these new laboratories with earlier forms of the lab organization and compares them against technological practices and new forms of innovation and research that are specific to technoculture. This allows us to identify problems and shortcomings of these new labs with respect to their ability to contribute to the democratization of technoculture. It also helps us to identify new research opportunities in the intersection between technology, design and social sciences.
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