I think you made an excellent transition from information to agency. Even in the DMOC class, we struggled with the question, “Wherein lies agency?”

It’s interesting to tie it in with culture and the big picture. Maybe we might even take it a step back from information and talk about data. Once we start using the word, information, we attach interpretation to data. Perhaps data is what surrounds us. Once we become AWARE and start caring about the very activities that make us us, that data turns into information. However, as you pointed out, it suddenly becomes frustrating if we can’t do anything about the information we now know.

As Dewey writes, “The north pole is a significant element in the environment of an arctic explorer, whether he succeeds in reaching it or not, because it defines his activities … environment or medium signifies what enters into his activity as a sustaining or frustrating condition” (emphasis mine).

So, at best, an awareness or involvement in an environment is followed through with action (having an experience) at best, and at worst, stuck in a state of frustration. Kind of like when Neo is presented with the red and blue pill. How can you live with the knowledge of something and not take action?

This is why I mentioned freedom at the end of the post. For me, the question is, “How can we provide individuals the freedom to move from information to agency?” We certainly cannot force it. The equivalent design vocabulary would be affordance if we’re talking about usability. I wonder what other issues come up when looking at the theme of bridging information and agency (is this another name for theory and practice?).

My biggest take away is simply that these distinctions aren’t as clear as they once were, and that makes things confusing and complicated for people. Hearing daily updates about violence in Iraq or other tragedies can make us desensitized, frustrated, or have other negative emotions. Those being symptoms of not being able to act to change what we may be unhappy with.

So maybe that is part of the dilemma: a disconnect between information and agency (or the capacity to act). And to bring it full circle to design, and your paper about culture… can we design products that allow us to act in our environments that are spread out and include multiple cultures? Instead of just being fed information, what can we do to enable people to become a part of a culture/environment/place/whatever that they currently feel disconnected(physically, emotionally, socially) from?

Good discussion…

also, for reference, here’s Dewey’s definitions:
Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (pp.12-14)

I don’t know if your interpretation necessarily has to be different from mine, though. If we take “surrounding” to be a topoi, there’s still a range of meaning. Yes, in application to the digital age, environment transcends our immediate surrounding. Hence, the focus on experience design.

However, just as you’ve explored the multiple notions of “place” in your thesis, one’s surrounding can be something outside of the immediate environment. Notice how Dick’s mom didn’t really care about the stars that were light years away – they were not part of her immediate environment but were nonetheless part of her surrounding.

This is exactly the point with translocal media. With our world becoming “flatter,” what goes on in China can become headline news in America within seconds. YET, many people do not care. Just look at Time Square – this kind of global information ACTUALLY becomes part of one’s physical space with digital billboards and displays.
My point is that even things that would have been potential environments, thanks to the digital age, have now desensitized people and have become surroundings. But to your point, yes, digital media has also made us consider the access we have to other environments, beyond our current surroundings.

(Yeah, you geeked out. No need for forgiveness.)

Either way… let’s see some Dewey … I think the distinction that Dick/Dewey makes is important because most authors use them interchangeably… and using Dick/Dewey’s distinction opens up discussion and thought to more possibilities when considering how the design of something might effect someone, especially in the digital age, when obviously the relevancy of things in our lives has transcended our immediate surroundings.

Yeah, I totally geeked out. Forgive me