Interface: the anatomy of tool

Kuba Kulesza
(grupa.robocza.org)

Abstract:
For Marx, labour is a process by which man, through his own actions, mediates, regulates and controls the metabolism between himself and closest surrounding. In the context of infosphere the main tool that enables the interaction is interface. By establishing and managing the process of exchange between two complex systems, interfaces are shaping new form of cognitive labour based mostly on information processing. We move from object-oriented tasks to system-oriented ones, where the results of our work become unspecified and hardly graspable. The switch from ‘hands to heads’, from objects to systems, establish new forms of labour control, based mostly on attention and time management. In my short talk I would like to characterise the anatomy of interface in the context of cognitive labour. I am going to present how interacting with interfaces shapes not only work environments, but also workers. It would be also an opportunity to speculate how interaction design can define the future of labour and post-work society.

Kuba Kulesza has been working as interaction designer on various projects and products. He is also co-founder and strategist at grupa.robocza.org, the interdispciplinary research and design unit. He has got a great pleasure to conduct classes on Interface Design, Interaction Psychology and Design Strategy at the Faculty of Humanities, within the AGH – University of Science and Technology in Cracow. He graduated with degree in Philosophy, Electronical Information Processing and Visual Culture studies at Jagiellonian University in Cracow.