MEANINGFUL INEFFICIENCIES: - Public Judgment about Novel Technologies through Play and Ambiguity

For most procurement offices, an object in the environment and an object that is actively monitoring the environment and the people in it are practically the same thing. [...] It brings together the public, the public sector, and the private sector to address the problems introduced by urban technologies. [...] With the process muddled by the uncertainty of the novelty and overwhelmed by the technical complexity of the issue, the linear path from information to decision is disrupted. [...] Ambiguity, in this situation, is not a bad thing; it is necessary." V5 Meaningful Inefficiencies: Public Judgment about Novel Technologies through Play and Ambiguity the stakeholders to reflect upon the moral and ethical dimensions of the design’s mechanisms before they disappear into the mundane.7 Take 311, as an example—a tool created or incorporated by many municipal governments around the worl. [...] Who is best served by the technology? Who is excluded? What kinds of things can users report? Who gets to decide? Where are the inequities in reporting, and what is the responsibility of government to address them? These questions are difficult, and they may run counter to the goal of increasing government efficiency in solving everyday urban problems.