Project Cybersyn

Project Cybersyn was a groundbreaking development in the 70's, the clever design elements are what made this particular project so intriguing. The designers used light, colour and motion or help display what was happening in Chile during the time of 1971 - 1973. The machine was originally made out of around 500 fax machines which had been funded by the government at the time. The impact of this project was relatively large, it enabled us to see how the government in the 1970's went around decision making, this was a machine that was used to make a revolution in a political sense. This system helped the government to stay alive around this time, it allowed them to gain real time citizen data using new cutting edge technology with the most basic of materials.

Project Cybersyn Operations Room
1971

Each design element within the operations room has been thought through to see how it would benefit the decision making. The operations room displays a futuristic surrounding with 7 chairs, placed to create an inwards looking circle, this was done along with the exclusion of a table to promote conversation within the room, resulting in speedy decision making. Geometric shapes were used on the right hand-side panel because Beer and his team understood that the people of Chile had never used a keyboard before. The design elements were important when learning about this project, however there was no further development due to all operations being abandoned after the military coup in 1973.

Medina. E (2016) The Cybersyn Revolution (Online) Available from: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/04/allende-chile-beer-medina-cybersyn/ (Last Accessed 25/10/16)

O'Reilly (2015) Big Data Lessons from Our Cybernetic Past - Eden Medina (Strata + Hadoop 2015) (Online Video) Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qKoaQo9GTw (Last Accessed 10/11/16)