When I say ‘APP’ – I don’t mean that I’m building the next Facebook or TikTok. I am building, a very simple application. Something web-based. Local for now. Meaning, it exists ONLY on my computer. It’s a simple HTML file that opens up on my browser. No internet needed. I have to admit, I am not a developer, despite many years of trying to be. I know basics – enough to build websites for clients on Shopify, SquareSpace, WordPress and the likes. I am a designer though. I am a resourceful person. (p.s I think it’s important to name our attributes – to claim them, to know ourselves in such a way that orients us in alignment with possibilities) .. so I must admit, I used … ChatGPT.
And as I explore ‘AI’ – with mixed feelings, because YES, I do know about its social and environmental impacts, I also think about its use-case. I think about how there is so much focus on its negatives – actually on our INDIVIDUAL responsibilities (we need this, but also we need more accountability for the companies) , without looking at the idealogical structures and the material conditions that wrap the technologies. That’s for another day.
SO, as I explore it, I also think about … well, how can I use this tool to create the kind of world I want to live in. How do I use it to point me through ideas, references (always double check what ChatGPT shares with you – ask for citations and further readings, so you get OFF that tool and look into scholars, peers, PEOPLE who think and share their interpretations and ideas) … . Okay, I’m veering off and on here today.
My argument is that … one way we change the world is by creating things that do resist the idealogical frameworks we live in. It challenges us to build in such a way that aligns us with our values – how do the things we build by design usher into another way of relating, being, and doing.
For me, this is why I am building a simple weekly reflection and intention tool. I’m actively thinking about how these kinds of productivity tools often measure productivity in a specific way. Did you get it done? Or it gamifies. I have to think about how does this tool enforce certain ways of engaging with productivity under Capitalism. How might this tool look like if we lived in a world where time-telling looked much different? What if we lived in a world where all of our needs were met and urgency was measured by color instead or metrics and ‘streaks’?
Anywho this is just a quick reflection.