In the article “First Word Art /Last Word Art,” Naimark distills the contrasting reception between work that pioneers new technology and work is more developed by building upon its predecessors. I found myself nodding at every sentence while reading it, as I had had this dilemma for quite a while as a Design student at CMU. I’ve always been fascinated by projects that deal with emerging technologies, but became easily frustrated with the low level of fidelity those technologies offer when trying to design around it. On the flip side, the more traditional mediums have allowed me to “perfect” the design to its fullest potential, but the perfection felt undeserving, knowing that it wasn’t anything very novel.
I think I am continuing to mediate between the two ends of the spectrum. While I am fascinated by technologies that bubble up tons of different ideas for design and application, I have become more cautious in going head over heels, as I know that many of the pathways in my head would not be very successful upon trial and error. Not only that, the implications of new technology are a double-edged sword. Paving the right, ethical pathways is a heavy and often not a ‘fun’ task, as the “novel and exciting” opportunities can yield too many consequences. As such, understanding why certain artifacts transcend over time seems to be crucial when approaching new technology, such that we can minimize the irrevocable mistakes that are so easy to make when diving into novel tech.