Teaching
about the technologies themselves often seems to me
to be too reductive and contains a certain degree of
technological determinism that I find distasteful and
inaccurate. Technology training tends to imply that
the medias we use determine the messages we create (which
I do believe is somewhat true) (Mantovani),
but that those technologies then also determine how
we actually think (which I believe is not true and is
an assumption that leads to extremely poor design).
In my experience, students who
focus too much on the technologies they are using often
create weak final designs.
Technology-focused designers
tend to design and create within the constraints of
their technologies and often are poorly informed about
how the world will put to use what they have created.
Therefore, they tend to create devices for other technologists,
not for novices. By
focusing too much on the technology, they forget what
they are trying to say through the creation itself;
they lose track of their thesis
(Gipson & Oviedo).
Students who similarly focus
too much on technology may produce work that appears
functional, and that actually may look "nice,"
but that is, in the end, not really useful
(Eisenstadt & Vincent).
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