Human-tool Assemblage: Designers in the Big Data World

摘要: Being able to create data is important for designers to frame problems and ask the appropriate questions in the big data world. In this paper, we present the Community-Centred Urban Sensing approach and introduce the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) urban sensing strategy. This strategy possesses great potential for designers to create multi-dimensional, multi-temporal and site-specific environmental data, but it also raises questions and concerns about the roles and agency of designers and community participants in urban sensing systems. By deploying the concept of the assemblage, we argue that framing urban sensing as a human-tool assemblage can conceptualize 1) the community’s role in urban sensing, and 2) the designer’s role in this technological system. The discussion helps to cultivate a sense of self-reflexivity− the ability to question the role and agency as data creators and the non-neutral qualities even of purely quantitative environmental datasets. This ability is important for designers who participate in the big data world through data creation.