Moving Beyond "Using to Do": Broadening the Mandate for Usability Professionals to Include Lifestyle Interfaces
Presentation 12
Bill Hart-Davidson, Writing, Rhetoric, & American Cultures (WRAC) and Writing in Digital Environments (WIDE) Research Center, Michigan State University

One of the characteristic features of technological development in the last decade is the full-scale entry of information technologies into the personal realm. As networked software applications and digital devices of all types are built with the express purpose of connecting their users to information and to others, technologies formerly associated only with high-tech workplaces have become part of the daily routines of many North Americans, regardless of their work affiliations. Along with this migration of information technology to the personal is a shift in the overall aims that users bring to use situations. Simply put, users employ sophisticated information technologies not only to get things done, but also to live the sort of life they envision for themselves on a personal, emotional, and interpersonal level. Users are using information technologies to be, or to become, who they are. These shifts have begun to influence a broader mandate for usability professionals to look beyond the rational, procedural models of use that have characterized our design and evaluation practices. This presentation will suggest some ways to prepare usability professionals for these new challenges using examples and video clips taken from a recent design studio course taught by the presenter.

Presentation Material

Speaker:

Bill Hart-Davidson is Co-Director of the Writing in Digital Environments Research Center and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures at MSU. His teaching and research involve topics at the intersection of technical communication and human-computer interaction.

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