Swedish communication theorist born in Liberia. Working with design, education and writing to support human rights in tech. Decades of digital experience and a deep concern for universal wellbeing.
The idea of addiction to new technology often leads to polarized debates. In this post I bring attention to both perspectives and ask the question: does it matter how many people are being hurt?
The date was September 26, 1983. I was nine years old. Stanislav Petrov was 44 years old. Around my age today. He was working his second straight shift in the control room of the Soviet nuclear early-warning system Oko. Suddenly came what was the greatest fear of the cold war,...
The flowchart on managing impact is intended to give you an overview of the elements that help you avoid and mitigate negative impact in digital design. Of course, it likely makes sense for more design situations than digital ones.
I define impact like this:
Impact in design is the effect,...
In April of 2019 the AI Now Institute [https://ainowinstitute.org/] of New York
University published the research paper DISCRIMINATING SYSTEMS — Gender, Race,
and Power in AI [https://ainowinstitute.org/discriminatingsystems.pdf]. The
report concluded that there is a diversity crisis in the AI sector across gender
and race. The...
As part of the feedback and reactions to my recent post on the Dangers of Nir
Eyal’s books [https://axbom.com/nir-eyal-habit-danger/], I received a very relevant
question. It relates to how we as designers architect the choices that are
available to users, and thereby influence their decision-making. How...
Hired as a speaker throughout Silicon Valley and the international tech world, Nir Eyal’s appeal and influence cannot be ignored. He wrote the book that outlines a technique helping companies create products and services that tap into the psychology of habits. The book, Hooked – How to Create Habit-Forming Products,...
Information stored on phones is increasingly used in court cases and to determine the trustworthiness and honesty of people seeking to enter another country. So what happens when the source of the information is someone else entirely, and you had no intention of saving it on your phone or even...
I found a useful tool allowing me to partake in the joy of well-written
newsletters without having them fill up my inbox. The website Kill the
Newsletter! (KTN) simply allows you to add them to your feed reader.
Here’s how it works when you go to kill-the-newsletter.com
[http:...
