Steven Dorrestijn

pasfoto steven dorrestijn

Steven Dorrestijn MA

Department of Philosophy

University of Twente

P.O. Box 217

7500 AE Enschede

Netherlands

visiting address:

Cubicus, room B221

telephone: +31 53 4894811

email: s.dorrestijn@utwente.nl

Background

My interests and education are in product design and in philosophy. I completed a two-year program in mechanical engineering and courses on the history of design. I graduated in Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society at the University of Twente in 2004. In 2005-2006 I studied philosophy in Paris with the support of a grant from the French government. In May 2007 I started a PhD research on Product Impact – Technical mediation in philosophy and design.

NS prillenbak

PhD Research: Product Impact

The research project I participate in is in the domain of Industrial Design and is called Design for Usability. It is supported by the Innovation-Oriented Research Programme ‘Integrated Product Creation and Realization (IOP IPCR)’ of the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs.

My research will focus on Product impact and will contribute to the overall project with a view from philosophy and ethics of technology. The project focuses on the impact that technical products have on user behaviour. Design practices would greatly improve if they could anticipate this influence. In order to realize this, the project focuses on (1) elaborating a framework to anticipate product influences on user practices; (2) translating this framework to the practice of design; and (3) systematically addressing ethical questions resulting from the explicit design of behaviour-steering products

Supervisors: Prof.dr.ir. Peter-Paul Verbeek and Prof.dr. H.J. Achterhuis.

Product impact project website

Animation about the product impact tool

Teaching

·	Philosophy of technology for Industrial Design (Techniekfilosofie voor IO) (with Prof.dr. Petran Kockelkoren)

·	Human-Product Relations for Industrial Design (Mens-productrelaties IO) (with others)

·	Guest lectures in courses on Philosophical Anthropology, Media Studies (Mediabeschouwingen) at thje University of Twent.

·	Guest lectures at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

·	Guest lectures at the Design Academy, Eindhoven.

Research Themes

Technical mediation and subjectivation:

The transformation of ourselves through technology

The topics of product design and philosophy were surprisingly brought together in an advertising slogan by IKEA: “Design your own life”. The slogan is fascinating because it expresses how design and human life merge. You design your life by gathering furniture, utensils and gadgets around you. To be sure, IKEA products may not necessarily give your own life a very unique form, nor is it likely that the company intends to promote advanced philosophical ideas. Still, there is a philosophical sense to the slogan, expressing that the use of technical products transforms our way of living and shapes our mode of being. Human existence has in many ways become technically mediated. In the case of furniture we tend to take this for granted without much consideration. In other cases, however, like for example emergent e-paying systems in public transport, there is a lot of worry about privacy, tracking and control. Therefore, a need exists for awareness and understanding of the life transforming power of technology. Coping with the influences of technology is an important task and a challenge for contemporary politics as well as for design theory and practice.

Parijs fietspad

For theoretical elaboration of this theme I find particularly helpful the research on the subject by Michel Foucault (French philosopher, 1926-1984). There is an important shift of perspective in Foucault’s work. First Foucault stressed how people’s lives have become more and more governed and fashioned by the growing network of institutions, regulations, and technology. Later he complemented his earlier approach by investigating how people govern and fashion themselves by actively coping with the influences from this network. Foucault has thus developed notions of the subject, freedom, and ethics which are highly relevant for ethics in contemporary technological culture. At stake in this approach is not so much to retain human freedom by rejecting any technical constraints, but to shape and to practice concrete forms of freedom by deliberate design of constraints.

Blikvanger

Publications

·	Dorrestijn, S. (2012), “Technical Mediation and Subjectivation: Tracing and Extending Foucault’s Philosophy of Technology”. In: Philosophy & Technology, 25 (2), pp. 221-241. http://www.springerlink.com/content/24q38572t515t52p/)

Eijk, D. van, van Kuijk, J., Hoolhorst, F., Kim, C., Harkema, C., & Dorrestijn, S. (2012), “Design for Usability; practice-oriented research for user-centered product design”. In : Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation (Supplement 2012/1: IEA 2012: 18th World congress on Ergonomics – Designing a sustainable future), 41 (0), pp. 1008-1015.

·	Dorrestijn, S. & Tromp, N. (2010), “Design for behaviour. How can user behaviour be guided and changed through design?” In: Daan van Eijk (ed.) Symposium Design for Usability 2009. Delft: IOP IPCR Design for Usability Research Project, pp. 76-79.

Dorrestijn, S. (2009) “Design and Ethics of Product Impact on User Behavior and Use Practices”. In: M. Schneider et al. (ed.), Workshops Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Intelligent Environments: Volume 4. Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments. Amsterdam: IOS, pp. 253-260.

In Dutch

·	Dorrestijn, S. (2011), “Utopisch design: Technische mediatie in de ontwerppraktijk”. In: Kunst & Wetenschap 20/3, pp. 35-36.

·	Dorrestijn, S. (2011) “Gedragsbeïnvloedende techniek en usability”. In: Tijdschrift voor ergonomie 36/1, pp. 5-12.

·	Dorrestijn, S. (2010) “Boekbespreking: Niet vergeten uit te checken!” (Recensie van: Christian van ’t Hof, Rinie van Est, Floortje Daemen (red.) Check in / check uit. De digitalisering van de openbare ruimte. Rotterdam, Nai Uitgevers, 2010). In: Filosofie & Praktijk, 31/3, pp. 88-91.

·	Dorrestijn, S. (2010) “Design your own life: Over ethiek en gebruisvriendelijk ontwerpen”. In: M. Huijer & M. Smits (red.), Moralicide: Nieuwe morele vocabulaires voor technologie. Kampen: Klement, pp. 90-104.

·	Dorrestijn, S. (2009) “Ten geleide” (as editor for special issue “De actuele Foucault”) In: Wijsgerig Perspectief 49-2, pp. 4-5.

·	Dorrestijn, S. (2009) “Filosofie met het eigen bestaan als inzet. Inhoud en actualiteit van Foucaults late werk”. In: Wijsgerig Perspectief 49-2, pp. 30-37.

·	Dorrestijn, S. (2009) “Foucault ten strijde: Intellectuele en persoonlijke aanvaringen”. In: Filosofie 19-3 (juni), pp. 45-48.

·	Dorrestijn, S. (2008) “China uit de tijd. Gesprek met Jos de Mul over het Rijk van het Midden”. In: Filosofie & Praktijk 28-5, pp. 23-28.

·	Dorrestijn, S. (2003) “Foucault als neo-existentialist” (Recensie van: K. Vintges, De terukeer van het engagement, Boom, 2003). In: Krisis 4-4, pp. 105-109.

·	Dorrestijn, S. (2001) “Afscheidsconferentie Tijmes en Fleischhacker”. In: Filosofie 11-5 (Oct./Nov.), pp. 42-43.

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