The Video Deck

On the eve of another Apple breakthrough product, I find myself gearing up for the announcement of another futuristic product by a very creative company. I have added another clock on my iPhone set to San Francisco to tune into the spectacular event. Already I set up my computer to download the podcast once the special event is released into iTunes to be viewed at HD 1080p. In all this preparation a thought came to me about the future of technology and its design and functionality for society. If companies like Apple are making these wonderful devices to be bought, consumed, used, and then become extinct over time, then why should the product only be made by corporations for consumers. In other words when will the consumer become the creator, when everyone tunes into a youtube medium to watch a release of a new product or design. Better yet how far are we from a socially created cellphone, or computer design by the same consumers that use them. Think how much facebook, youtube, myspace, and other social media sites created a network ideas, people, groups, organizations and so forth. Those same type of clusters could be used to produce a product that was design in that same network for the people that created it in the first place. It would be a entire collection of ideas of what should be used and what should not be used for this new device. I wonder how far we are from making this happen, since everything in the future will be mediated whats to say society couldn’t create their own device to harness their own mediated experience. To use the smart device do you have to be smart or know the principles behind it? It seems that way when youtube videos are produced and made to entertain. Are the producers of those videos educated in video production or are they learning socially? In the future their will be more smart objects and events, what will society’s role play.