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Title: Relative communication aid (2010)
By: Gerard Rallo
Link: http://www.ideesabsurdes.net/wordpress/?p=367
Keywords: device, socialInteraction, research, speculativeDesign, criticalDesign, communication
On my Flickr: xxx

Concept:
Replace your “routine” conversation by an automatic digitally displayed one to save your time : mindless communication
Description:
Most of the conversations we have through our life are redundant. This fact clashes with modern praise of time efficiency and real time data consumption.
This device tracks conversations you have throughout your entire life, analysing your patterns of communication. Eventually, when a repeated pattern is detected, the device is able to replace you in that conversation, allowing you a freedom to explore anything and everything else.

Be sure to check his other projects here: http://www.ideesabsurdes.net/

Opinion:
That project of critical design is nearly a dystopia for communication as it kills our richer channel of social interaction: live communication (even if it’s only for “routine” dialogues). I find it interesting as it emphases a real problem of nowaday: the omnipresent use of computers for our work gives ourselves habits, in our work being more efficient means spending less time to do things as well as fore communication which is often part of our work (e-mail, phone, chat’, etc), having the habits to save time on communications is something that brings terchnology because it facilitate social interaction, but therefore it turns the communication into a task where an economy of time can be made.

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http://player.vimeo.com/video/12796931?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=CA1134