This blog post digs into the politics of trustware. “Trustware” is a new word for an old thing: a system that reifies expectations about how social relationships should work, making it easier for participants to cohere to those expectations than to subvert them. I focus on three cases of trustware—the cash register, the national identity system, and the hacker handle—to illustrate how designers’ needs dictate whose trust trustware serves. I call for restorative trustware, which counteracts incumbent power to equalize power dynamics in trust relationships.
On trustware
On trustware
On trustware
This blog post digs into the politics of trustware. “Trustware” is a new word for an old thing: a system that reifies expectations about how social relationships should work, making it easier for participants to cohere to those expectations than to subvert them. I focus on three cases of trustware—the cash register, the national identity system, and the hacker handle—to illustrate how designers’ needs dictate whose trust trustware serves. I call for restorative trustware, which counteracts incumbent power to equalize power dynamics in trust relationships.