Interesting article. I'll play contrarian. We as designers see a world as it could be, often a more user friendly one. But if end users can't see it, they won't every get there and we'd be stuck with torches and caves. Progress is change, people don't like change, so we have to lure them into the future. Design is also communication, which often involves conveying a message. In short I don't know how really to not influence people in the process of design.
I've had similar discussions on ethics and video games (with Will Wright of Sims Fame), like how much responsibility to game makers have for controlling the length and addictiveness of the the games they create. We see with WoW, this can destroy marriages and be equally as addicting as drugs. Is that the responsibility of the game maker to temper the users, or the users responsibility to moderate themselves? IxD that we think of is a more confined to applications, but the rules still apply, there are paths to fun/productivity and paths of tedium and dispair, as designers we have the responsibility to setup roadsigns...and listen to users when they always miss that perfectly placed sign to turn left at Albuqurque. ________________________________________________________________ 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
