On 23 June 2015 at 11:11, Guy Keulemans <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> First time poster here.
>
Welcome!
>
> My reading of the article "Please, Corporations, Experiment on Us” was
> that yes, conventional product releases can be considered a form of
> corporate experimentation, and that, rather than legitimising
> experimentation of the A/B type without ethical standards, as the authors
> seem to propose, it instead highlights the lack of consent and disclosure
> in conventional production and consumption. Consumers are assumed to give
> consent by way of choosing or not choosing to use or consume a product, but
> is this informed consent? There is much that manufacturers do not disclose
> about their products
>
It seems to me that before one gets too far into wondering how to address
any problems, one ought try to quantify and qualify it. So: Do consumers
really know about the products they buy/use? If not, are there particular
aspects of those products that they're especially ignorant about? What
segments of society are especially susceptible to it? Does it vary by
sector or product class?
One other factor is the sheer quantity of information that one can imagine
some person somewhere might be interested in knowing about. For instance,
as a nerd/engineer/designer, I'd love it if a product came with a detailed
description of the product's development process. I realize, though, that
this dream will remain just that. On the other hand, it might be very
valuable to people to know where all the bits and pieces of their products
were made. (The whole Apple / Foxconn thing comes to mind.)
Changing times matter too. What consumers may have settled for knowing
about their products 20 yrs ago probably isn't enough for today's public.
This is probably largely due to the spectacular ease with which we can
collect, store, and transmit information (compared to even a couple of
decades ago).
I also think this plays a bit into the whole EULA fiasco - that EULAs are
written in such byzantine language that even bothering to read it will not
enlighten the user as to the nature of those agreements. I note in this
regard the very interesting and humorous article "I read all the small
print on the internet and it made me want to die" (
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/15/i-read-all-the-small-print-on-the-internet
)
>
> I discuss this further on my site:
>
> http://guykeulemans.com/2015/06/product-transparency-corporate-experiments.html
>
Queued into my reading list. :)
(Apologies; this is my 3rd post on this thread.)
\V/_ /fas
*Prof. Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.*
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
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