Assignment of Technological Functions. Constitution of Technological Practices

The function that a technological device has seems to be a direct consequence of its physical configuration. For example, the cellular telephones are calling devices because they are physically designed to do so and the practice of using cellular telephones is logically entailed by their technological configuration. However, even a technological device can perform some operation, that operation may be not be recognized as a function of the respective device and the recognition of a function does not amount to the transformation of that function into a technological practice. For a technological function to become a technological practice it has to acquire a social status.

In order to show this I will first argue, using Ihde’s and Verbeek’s postphenomenology, that a technological device is essentially a multistable object. A technological device has multiple aspects and it depends upon human-technology interaction as well as upon Background practices what aspect will become apparent.

In the second part of my argument I will show that the function of a device is constituted by three successive and interdependent forms of intentionality: a) the intentionality of the designer that establishes the primary function of the device, b) the intentionality of the user that assigns to the device a different function in accord to its needs and c) a joint intentionality of user and artifact that emerge in the process of technological interaction. The first two are forms of prior intentions while the last one is a form of intention in action. During interaction, the device mediates user’s prior intention in unforeseen ways bringing about unexpected results and making apparent new technological functions.

The last part will analyze the constitution of technological practices as assignment of status function. Designing a technological object implies also the assignment of status functions for it. From different possible uses and functions of a device, some are adopted, codified and stabilized by collective intentionality. The assignment of status function on technological devices and the emergence of technological practices are less a matter of declaration but a matter of increasing recognition and modification of status function established by the designer.