Convivial tools
Last updated: Tuesday, 02 July 2024
After Ivan Illich. Convivial tools allow people to make and learn things in ways that align with their own interests, abilities and choices. They foster individual freedom and creativity. A capabilities framework?
Convivial tools are accessible, flexible, and non-coercive. They can be easily used by anyone.
Support autonomous, creative interactions between people and their environments.
- [?] Can digital technologies and platforms be designed to be more convivial? What are the challenges in creating convivial digital tools?
- [?] Can convivial tools be scaled up or mass-produced without losing their conviviality? Is there a inherent trade-off between conviviality and scale?
- [?] What are the limits of conviviality as a guiding principle for tool design and use? Are there situations where specialised industrial tools are necessary or preferable to convivial ones?
- [?] How might the concept of convivial tools apply to intangible things like methodologies, mental models, or organisational structures? What would a convivial institution or convivial pedagogy look like?
- [?] Similarly, what would a convivial approach to urban planning and architecture entail? How might we design spaces and infrastructures that foster participation and autonomy?
- [?] How does the concept of convivial tools relate to ideas of open-source technology and knowledge commons? Are there tensions between personalisation and interoperability?
- [?] What role do convivial tools play in shaping cultural memory and transmission (cf. Gopnikism)? How do the tools we use affect what and how we remember?
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