Short answer

Consider the potential for 'digital dissonance' and explore how emerging cultural narratives, like technohorror, reflect societal anxieties about technology to inform more empathetic and responsible design.

Field: Innovation & Design
Source: Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (2017)
Method: Qualitative research, theoretical analysis, and expert interviews.
Evidence: Moderate effect

Emerging literary genres like technohorror offer a fertile ground for designers to explore the psychological and societal impacts of technology. This innovation & design research insight is drawn from a 2017 study published in Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research. Using Qualitative research, theoretical analysis, and expert interviews., researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: Consider the potential for 'digital dissonance' and explore how emerging cultural narratives, like technohorror, reflect societal anxieties about technology to inform more empathetic and responsible design.

Study

Innovation & DesignHigh ImpactModerate effect

Technohorror: A New Frontier for Design Exploration

Emerging literary genres like technohorror offer a fertile ground for designers to explore the psychological and societal impacts of technology.

Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research · 2017

Key Findings

01Technohorror leverages plausibility, mundanity, and surprise to explore technology's alteration of the human experience.
02Key themes include paradigm shifts in textual production, authorial hybridity, digital materiality, posthumanism, and cognitive/physical degeneration due to technology.
03Digital dissonance, characterized by disruptive technological impacts on traditional cultures, is a central concept.

Application

Design takeaway

How to apply

When designing products or systems that involve significant technological change, research popular culture and speculative fiction for insights into potential user concerns and emotional responses.

Project actions

01Explore popular culture (films, books, games) that deal with technology to understand user perceptions.
02Consider the emotional and psychological impact of your design, not just its functionality.

Method & Evidence

AimHow can the narrative and thematic elements of the technohorror genre inform design practice regarding the human experience of emerging technologies?

MethodQualitative research, theoretical analysis, and expert interviews.

ProcedureThe study analyzes contemporary technohorror texts and industry trends, drawing on theoretical frameworks of art-horror and conducting interviews with scholars, artists, editors, and librarians in the horror field.

ContextCultural studies, literary analysis, and the impact of technology on society.

Variables

IVTechnological advancement and its cultural reception.

DVUser perceptions, anxieties, and the emergence of technohorror narratives.

Strengths & Limitations

Strengths

+Integrates cultural analysis with technological impact.
+Utilizes diverse perspectives through interviews.

Limitations

The genre is speculative, and direct correlations to real-world design problems may require further validation.

Reliability & validity

The qualitative nature of the study relies on interpretation; findings may be strengthened by triangulation with quantitative user surveys on technology acceptance.

Think critically

To what extent do fictional explorations of technology's negative impacts accurately predict real-world user reactions, and how can designers ethically leverage such insights without succumbing to fear-mongering?

Design Principles

"Anticipate and mitigate user anxieties by understanding the cultural narratives surrounding technological advancement."

Understanding how artists and storytellers grapple with technological anxieties can inform design decisions, particularly in areas where user experience intersects with complex technological systems. This genre provides a lens through which to anticipate potential negative user perceptions and design proactively against them.

What This Means for Your Design

Stories about technology gone wrong, like in horror movies about AI or the internet, can teach designers how people feel about new tech and help them make better, safer designs.

How to use in your project

1.Use the concept of 'digital dissonance' to frame the challenges or anxieties your design aims to address.
2.Reference technohorror as an example of how societal concerns about technology are being expressed, informing your user research.

Add to My Project

Quick Cite

Paragraph starter

The study 'Digital Dissonance: Horror Cultures in the Age of Convergent Technologies' highlights how emerging genres like technohorror articulate societal anxieties surrounding technological advancement. This provides a valuable framework for designers to anticipate and address potential user fears and psychological impacts, moving beyond mere functionality to consider the broader human experience of technology and the phenomenon of 'digital dissonance'.

Source

Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research

Digital Dissonance: Horror Cultures in the Age of Convergent Technologies

journal · 2017

View source

Questions About This Research

What does the research say about technohorror: a new frontier for design exploration?: Consider the potential for 'digital dissonance' and explore how emerging cultural narratives, like technohorror, reflect societal anxieties about technology to inform more empathetic and responsible design. Evidence: Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (2017).
Why does "Technohorror: A New Frontier for Design Exploration" matter for design?: Understanding how artists and storytellers grapple with technological anxieties can inform design decisions, particularly in areas where user experience intersects with complex technological systems. This genre provides a lens through which to anticipate potential negative user perceptions and design proactively against them.
How can designers apply this research?: Consider the potential for 'digital dissonance' and explore how emerging cultural narratives, like technohorror, reflect societal anxieties about technology to inform more empathetic and responsible design.
What were the main findings?: Technohorror leverages plausibility, mundanity, and surprise to explore technology's alteration of the human experience.. Key themes include paradigm shifts in textual production, authorial hybridity, digital materiality, posthumanism, and cognitive/physical degeneration due to technology.. Digital dissonance, characterized by disruptive technological impacts on traditional cultures, is a central concept.
What research method was used?: Qualitative research, theoretical analysis, and expert interviews..
How strong is the evidence?: Evidence strength is rated Moderate effect, based on a 2017 journal from Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research.
What should I do differently in my next project?: When designing products or systems that involve significant technological change, research popular culture and speculative fiction for insights into potential user concerns and emotional responses.
What are the limitations?: The focus is on a specific literary genre, and its direct applicability to all design fields may vary. The research is qualitative and interpretive.