The Nature of Technology Strand Explanatory Papers Updated May 2010
Characteristics of Technological Outcomes
Key Ideas
Technological outcomes are defined as fully realised products and systems, created by people for an identified purpose through technological practice. Once the technological outcome is placed in situ, no further design input is required for the outcome to function. Being fully realised means technological outcomes are more than a concept or plan for something to be developed – they actually exist and function as designed in the made world. Function in this sense includes all aspects that underpin the fitness for purpose of the technological outcome – including aesthetic aspects. Taking this definition into account, technological outcomes can be distinguished from natural objects (such as trees and rocks, etc.), and works of art, and other outcomes of human activity (such as language, knowledge, social structures, organisational systems, etc.).
Within this definition, technological outcomes can be further categorised into two types – technological products and technological systems. However, the relationship between the categories of technological products and systems can be complex. In many ways, it depends on the way you look at a technological outcome as to whether you would describe it as a technological product or a technological system. For example, a cell phone could be described as a technological system, which is made up of interconnected components, working together to achieve a task. Alternatively, a cell phone may be described as a technological product, where the focus is no longer on the interconnected components, but on the materials used in the product.
A key feature of technological products and systems is that they are intimately connected to other entities (including natural objects and people) and systems (including political, social, cultural systems, etc.). That is, technological outcomes help to form socio-technological environments as the made world combines with the natural and social world. Socio-technological environments include such things as communication networks, hospitals, transport systems, waste disposal, recreational parks, factories, power plants, etc. For example, the cellular communication environment incorporates a range of technological products and systems (cell phones, towers, data-logging computers, transmitting circuits, receiver circuits, and so on), alongside non technological systems (such as legal, political, financial, energy, etc.) and entities (such as people, geographical features, etc.).
A technological outcome is characterised as having a dual nature. That is a physical nature – what it looks like and/or is comprised of, and a functional nature – what it can do. Understanding the relationship between the physical and functional natures of technological outcomes provides a good starting point for understanding the technological outcome as a whole.
Understanding this relationship is crucial when undertaking technological practice to develop a technological product or system for a specific purpose. This understanding allows technologists to recognise that several potential options exist for an outcome's physical and specific functional nature. For example, should you wish to design a technological outcome that would function as a drinking vessel, you may explore a range of shapes (coffee mug versus long stem wine glass) and/or materials (ceramic versus glass). What will determine the physical nature in the end, will be the decisions made as to what would provide the drinking vessel with the best fitness for purpose. This will be defined by such things as the liquid to be held, the needs/desires of the intended users, and the environment in which the vessel will end up being situated, alongside the materials, components, and equipment available for it production or manufacture. Similarly, should you wish to design a technological outcome using particular materials or components, you may explore the performance possibilities this would provide in order to identify possible functions the outcome could be designed to achieve. Therefore, the functional nature requirements will set boundaries around the suitability of proposed physical nature options, and the physical nature options will set boundaries around what functional nature is feasible for a technological outcome at any time.
The relationship between the physical and functional nature of any technological outcome can provide a useful analytical tool for guiding decisions regarding the fitness for purpose of a technological outcome during its development. It also provides an effective analytical tool for interpreting existing technological outcomes as well as providing a basis for understanding past and contemporary influences on its development such as being able to establish what knowledge, skill, equipment, and materials were available. Understanding the physical and functional nature of a technological outcome also provides insight into possible future implications and subsequent adaptations or innovations for the outcome's development. The physical nature of a technological outcome can provide critical clues as to the possible function of a technological outcome when this is not known.
When undertaking the analysis of existing technological outcomes, design elements provide another useful analytical tool useful for interpreting outcomes and their design decisions. Design elements related to the physical nature of outcomes (sometimes referred to as the form of an outcome) include such things as colour, movement, pattern and rhythm, proportion, balance, harmony and contrast, and style. Design elements related to the functional nature of outcomes include such things as strength and durability, safety and stability, efficiency, reliability, nutritional value, user-friendliness, and ergonomic fit. These elements can be used to understand how physical and functional factors were prioritised in the design and development of an outcome in order for that outcome to be considered fit for purpose.
Design elements are prioritised in different ways as determined by such things as a designer's intent for the outcome, understandings of materials, the socio-cultural location the outcome is to be situated, professional and personal beliefs, etc. These elements also provide guidance when deciding what factors should be considered during the development of technological outcomes.
Technological outcomes can also be described and understood in relation to their intended and actual function. The term proper function is used to describe the function that the technologist intended the technological outcome to have and/or its socially accepted common use. The intended function is what drove the development of the physical and functional nature, as described above, and what allowed the technological outcome to be evaluated as fit for purpose.
The concept of alternative function is also important when understanding technological outcomes. Alternative functions evolve from the successful use of the technological outcome in a way that was not originally intended by the technologist. Not only do users regularly employ technological outcomes for alternative functions, they may modify the physical nature in order to optimise its performance in terms of this new function. They may also put pressure on technologists to redesign the original technological outcome to meet the additional functional needs they have identified. This demonstrates one way in which end-users, technological outcomes, and technologists interact with each other. When an alternative function comes to be the socially accepted normal function of the outcome, this becomes the new proper function of the outcome.
Malfunction is a descriptive term for a technological outcome that does not carry out its proper function successfully. This is referred to as a single event failure, and is usually easy to distinguish from any gradual reduction in function caused by general wear-and-tear effects on a technological outcome over time. Malfunction is also very different to what can be described as designed failure, where a product, or component of a system, is intentionally designed to stop working after a certain number of uses. The ethics of designing the life-time of a technological outcome must take account of complex factors such as market forces, maintaining jobs, consideration of future material developments, changing fashions, social norms, and public opinion. Exploration of examples of malfunction, gradual reduction in functioning from ongoing use, or designed failure of technological outcomes, provides an interesting focus for understanding the complex interface between design, materials, end-users, established instructions, and operational parameters, and the environments in which technological outcomes are situated. Operational parameters refer to the boundaries and/or conditions within which the outcome has been designed to function.
