Architectures of control are features, structures or methods of operation designed into physical products, software, buildings, city layouts—or indeed any planned system with which a user interacts—which are intended to enforce, reinforce, or restrict certain modes of user behaviour.
While the use of architectures of control in computing is well-known, and a current issue of much debate (in terms of digital rights management, ‘trusted’ computing and network infrastructures themselves), it is apparent that technology—and a mindset that favours controlling users—is also offering increased opportunities for such architectures to be designed into a wide range of consumer products; yet, this trend has not been commonly recognised.
This site examines some of these applications, the intentions behind them, wider consequences and future uses of architectures of control. The assumption is made that products and systems can be engineered and designed with rationales and intentions behind them beyond the functionality or appearance requirements of a conventional specification or brief.
Home | Next: Architectures of control in the built environment
[...] This site aims—with readers’ input—to examine and analyse the ideas and techniques of architectures of control in design, through examples and anecdotes, and by keeping up-to-date with relevant developments. If you can suggest an example, please get in touch, or add a comment—all help is much appreciated. [...]
Love the site. Some very interesting ideas and comments.
[...] The guys at Meme Therapy – incubating the world’s premature ideas have produced a great podcast of last Sunday’s fascinatingLondon Copyfighters event, with interviews, dicsussion and some of the speeches from Speakers’ Corner, including my own rather spur-of-the-moment rant (about 25 minutes in) in which I didn’t manage to include the phrase ‘architectures of control’ once! [...]
I think you have done such a nice with your blog. Best of luck to ya TajaC
[...] The classification ‘architectures of control‘ ought rightly to include cigarettes alongside any other product designed to be addictive or to reinforce patterns of users’ behaviour. In this sense, any psychoactive drug intended to control/alter users’ behaviour must be considered part of the same phenomenon, certainly when it is created or administered with that specific intention. And of course, these are not just designed to be unpleasant, but designed to injure and endanger life (not until revenue’s been extracted, of course). [...]
[...] Not too sure about that term myself, as I feel the affordances the technology is controlling are moving further and further away from actual ‘rights’. DRM is bad enough as a catch-all term for technology which in many cases is denying users rights they may legally hold in some countries (e.g. fair use or backup copies). I think “technology lock-ins” or “technology razor-blade models” might be a more descriptive label than ‘PRM’. (Or ‘architectures of control’, of course, but my definition of these is much broader than simply lock-ins). [...]
[...] Architectures of Control in Design » What are architectures of control in design? Blog on how products increasingly control and restrict your behaviour – affordances turning evil? (tags: architecture politics affordances design blog culture interaction product ui) [...]
[...] La Arquitectura del Control: Desde Inglaterra nos llega el blog Architectures of Control in Design, que se enfoca en analizar cómo se diseñan productos con la intención de restringir el comportamiento del usuario. De la descripción del blog: “Las arquitecturas de control son funciones, estructuras o métodos de operación que están por diseño en productos físicos, software, edificios, ciudades – o en efecto cualquier sistema planificado con el cual un usuario interactúa – cuyo propósito es forzar, reforzar o restringir ciertos modos de comportamiento en el usuario”. [...]
Canon powershot g3-g6 reminds me of Sony VX100 video camera (a “cult” product of the 90s). Both are products that made accessible good quality and creative features to independent producers, artists and beaver souls. It seams like once in a while companies are touched by some kind of fairy or muse that has the purpose of refreshing communication through democratization of technology, but sooner than later corporations return to their ontological state of greed and the “curse of satus-quo” prevails
… “Architectures of control” sounds appropriate.
[...] A blog by Dan Lockton on The Architectures of Control. How “many products are being designed with features that intentionally restrict the way the user can behave, or enforce certain modes of behaviour. The same intentions are also evident in the design of many systems and environments. This site aims—with readers’ input—to examine and analyse the ideas and techniques of these architectures of control in design” [...]
[...] Architecture[s] of control, feedback and surveillance are integrated into the fabric of our built environment; increasingly absorbed into its material-texture and as a result, has become an indistinguishable component of spatial signification. Despite the ostensible influence of communication technology on the real world built environment, we have yet to feel any significant pressure from virtual worlds (like Second Life) or even MMOPGs (like the hyper-active World of Warcraft), on the conception of concrete, real world architecture, and perhaps more importantly, on the sensation of space, form and the urban environment.The impact 3-D synthetic worlds will have to wait; a unique expressive media must first be discerned from the mass of collective intelligence that is latent within these immaterial places. Those spatial and graphic codes, a pattern language of synthetic space, will be the lone force capable of metaversal autopoiesis, exerting its influence by being rendered visible within the material landscape. This development will be perceived as the singularity’s formal manifestation, a radical vision for art and architecture: The forms that emerge from the new technologies, instead, eschew all ambition of representativity; consequently, in the new ars emerging from digital art, it is the invisible that produces the visible. abstraction architecture art atmosphere building built environment cloudcomputing ideas immaterial immaterials landscape language metaverse mmorpg new media newmedia reality representation space spatial syntheticworlds virtual virtualworlds [...]
[...] Architecture[s] of control, feedback and surveillance are integrated into the fabric of our built environment; increasingly absorbed into its material-texture and as a result, has become an indistinguishable component of spatial signification. Despite the ostensible influence of communication technology on the real world built environment, we have yet to feel any significant pressure from virtual worlds (like Second Life) or even MMOPGs (like the hyper-active World of Warcraft), on the conception of concrete, real world architecture, and perhaps more importantly, on the sensation of space, form and the urban environment.The impact 3-D synthetic worlds will have to wait; a unique expressive media must first be discerned from the mass of collective intelligence that is latent within these immaterial places. Those spatial and graphic codes, a pattern language of synthetic space, will be the lone force capable of metaversal autopoiesis, exerting its influence by being rendered visible within the material landscape. This development will be perceived as the singularity’s formal manifestation, a radical vision for art and architecture: The forms that emerge from the new technologies, instead, eschew all ambition of representativity; consequently, in the new ars emerging from digital art, it is the invisible that produces the visible. [...]
[...] These architectures of control, according to Lockton, include any planned system with which a user interacts and which are intended to enforce, reinforce, or restrict certain modes of user behavior. These restrictions are somewhat evident to most of us in the digital world, where places such as online bookstores can force-feed readers with materials that are similar to those that the reader researched or purchased days or weeks prior. This type of control limits choices and forces the consumer to search for something that might be difficult to find. [...]
[...] Leider kenne ich auch ein paar Hinweise, die Firmen an Kunden rausgeben, die ganz offensichtlich vorwiegend dazu dienen, im Nachhinein "aber ich habe darauf hingewiesen" sagen zu können. In dem geschilderten Fall ist das meiner Ansicht nach aber anders, weil ja aktiv verhindert wird, dass sich jemand in aller Öffentlichkeit (und bei IKEA ist echt immer was los) erleichtert. Hier geht es eher in die Richtung "Architecture of Control". [...]
[...] Architectures of Control av Dan Lockton och Do Artifacts Have Politics? (.pdf) av Langdon Winner som bägge diskuterar hur ett objekts design påverkar användningen både på individuell och social nivå – exempel som vi kan se även här i Sverige. (Tipstack till Simon Winter på Infontology) [...]