The Wrap #3 | Accelerated Changes to How We Live, Work and Think
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The Wrap #3 | Accelerated Changes to How We Live, Work and Think
A shot of thinking fuel, brought to you each month by Futurestate Design Co.
Over the last month we’ve been debating some big topics – each could impact business strategies in the nearer-than-you-think future.
This year has accelerated a series of behavioural and systemic changes, but those changes were arguably all coming anyway. If it shows us anything, it’s that it can take only a very short time to bring about vast changes in how we live and work – and even to how we think.
Computer says "no job"
What’s going on?
Another legal challenge to Uber, this time in The Netherlands – but this one focuses on unfair firing practices. It’s alleged that Uber’s algorithm unfairly singled out four drivers in the UK and Portugal for ‘gaming the surge’ and got them fired as a result.
Why it matters
‘Unfair dismissal by algorithm’ could become a term we hear frequently in the years ahead, not least because GDPR laws technically prohibit automated decisions having a negative impact on humans. This case will test this principle. It could have an impact on the way services are designed, and how key technologies like machine learning are applied, but perhaps more significantly it raises questions about what many assume will be an increasingly data-automation-based future.
Read the original article on Sifted.
Nudges that shove back
What’s going on?
An extensive study has uncovered a wide range of ‘nudges’ (small service interventions that are intended to subtly nudge a consumer into doing something) that fail consistently, and in some cases backfire adversely.
Why it matters
Nudging is a widely used concept in digital services: many businesses simply take approaches that have worked elsewhere and apply them to their own experiences. Here, as in most areas of digital business, adopting someone else’s practices is more likely to backfire badly than succeed. A nudge in one service can feel like a slap in the face in another, so a careful, nuanced approach is needed to take advantage of what is one of the most powerful behavioural tools in an experience designer’s toolbox.
Read a summary on New Scientist.
Read the full research paper on Trends in Cognitive Sciences (£).
Think digital-first like an Estonian
What’s going on?
While the US is mired in controversy about its early voting system, Estonians are scratching their heads in disbelief: they’ve voted online, from anywhere in the world, for years. Long a pioneer of the digital-first state, Estonia continues to lead the way in how to do important things, digitally, at scale.
Why it matters
Major governments – including the UK and US – still struggle to grasp the importance of digital-by-design, routinely trying to retro-fit digital strategies to inherently non-digital governmental ecosystems. Many companies are in the same boat, ignoring the importance of a whole-system approach to digital business, starting with core business components like Purpose and Vision. Compare Estonia’s digital-by-design society with the UK’s new national data strategy. The former transformed a nation into a digital society while the latter is a great example of how a modern organisation should not be thinking.
Read a great summary on Estonia’s approach on The Conversation.
Read the national data strategy on gov.uk.