Joe - I know what you're saying, and it's something I've considered quite a lot.
But what do you think in cases where users' goals/needs really *could* align with an environmentally beneficial perspective, assuming they realise it? E.g. no user wants to spend more on energy, but the design of consumer products often makes it easy to waste electricity for no benefit to the user. Things on standby often draw significant current even though many people assume that "it's just that LED that's being powered". If a system can be redesigned to make it easier for users to understand what's going on, and how they can use less electricity, then they benefit * and* the environment benefits. It needn't necessarily be an ideological/political thing at all: it could just be that a more efficient interaction behaviour helps both user and 'society' as a whole. Just as, say, improving the usability of medical equipment to reduce the likelihood of error helps both patients and medical staff, by making their jobs easier. I see that as a fundamental aspect of the whole field of design to influence behaviour: if you can align users' needs with the 'other' intentions of the system, then 'success' is much more likely... Dan ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
