“Apparently, people have a hard time keeping up with the times,” says electrician Steen in the classic film Norske byggeklosser from 1972 as he tries to install smart solutions in the bathroom of home builder Olav Femte. And, today, 45 years later?
“We take for granted those things that are effective and that work.”
“We have spent 20 years trying to develop smart refrigerators, but still simply need a place to store our food. The fact that we receive our tax returns by text message should actually give us the goosebumps, but that’s not the case. We take for granted those things that are effective and that work,” says Einar Sneve Martinussen, PhD, associate professor at The Oslo School of Architecture and Design and coordinator for interaction design.
The times they are a changin
He is joined by Fredrik Matheson, Experience Lead at the Bekk consultancy firm.
“There are plenty of changes on the way. But the greatest difference is that we try to make life easier for most people, not just the elite. That’s something we’re quite good at in Norway,” he says.
“We’re very good at being scared of computers. There’s a popular notion that computer development will lead to massive unemployment. But it won’t. We can simply do different things or do the same things better.”
Want to learn more about what’s to come? Sit back and join us on a journey from 1972 to the 80s and from there into the future. (Available in Norwegian only.)