Human Research in Technology Design

Abstract

Modern technology design processes in intelligent societies are different from the classic electromechanical technology design processes. Future technology design must be based as much on human research as on natural scientific thinking. Today one can find technologies such as social media applications which are created with minimal technical effort. Thus, understanding the human dimension of technologies is becoming much more important today than in the time of electromechanical technologies. The change in focus motivates to pay attention to the foundational differences between natural science and human research in technology design. The differences between the two traditions have been discussed over the last century, but today the differences between human research and natural science get new forms in designing intelligent technologies.