Yesterday, Warren Sack visited IBM to talk about his latest research thoughts about how to evaluate software, in particular the aesthetics of information visualization. Here is an excerpt from his talk’s abstract:

This presentation is a part of a larger project to articulate critical criteria for
evaluating information and communication technologies (ICTs): criteria of democracy and the public good. It is hoped that these evaluative criteria offer alternatives to the way hardware and software developments are usually evaluated by computer scientists and
information architects.

My interpretation of what he said, and a point I heartily agree with, is that we embed our values into the technology we design. A nice example he gave is of object-oriented programming paralleling the structure of modern top-down, distributed corporations. We believe that is how efficient programs and companies should be run. In some situations, the applied value structure is not the best design and it can be hard to break away from certain structures because our value systems are so ingrained into our models for thinking about systems. In particular, he is focusing on issues of democracy and deliberation (see his project Agnostics for some of this).

You know how once something is pointed out to you, you see it everywhere? Well, you have to read Walt Mossberg’s column yesterday, entitled “Free My Phone.” Mossberg is voicing a frustration that many cell phone users have over the limitations of the technology. He describes the problem as a conflict in values. There are two value systems at play: that of the cell phone service providers and that of the creators of the Internet. He claims the cell phone service providers are applying a “Soviet Ministry Model” (obviously that means it is evil) and the Internet was build upon the values of a free market and of free-flowing information (capitalism and free speech, can’t get less evil than that).

Here Mossberg outlines his values:

I refer to the big cellphone carriers as the “Soviet ministries.” Like the old bureaucracies of communism, they sit athwart the market, breaking the link between the producers of goods and services and the people who use them.
…
But, in my view, they shouldn’t be allowed to pick and choose what phones run on their networks, and what software and services run on those phones. We need a wireless mobile device ecosystem that mirrors the PC/Internet ecosystem, one where the consumers’ purchase of network capacity is separate from their purchase of the hardware and software they use on that network.

You will probably agree with him because you wish your phone were cooler and you were able to customize its applications. But do you agree with his value statement that the phone industry should reflect the Internet’s “ecosystem” that was largely invented by libertarian academics? If you are reading my blog, you probably do. But you should be aware that one value system that works for one technology may not be the best model to apply to the next. Our libertarian politics might be great for most things, but are these always the right values for all circumstances?