Christine, I agree with what you say and I did not think that aspect through enough when posting. I subscribe to everything that you say; additionally, I like the research that says that our language affects our thinking, and that it has been proven that the thought patterns of different languages are different. Even though language is supposed to be value-neutral, it does affect thinking.
One of the most important values attributed to usability that I know of, is that it is generally meant to improve human condition in the widest sense. That is precisely what made me respond to the initial post. If companies are doing a good job with improving human condition with their products, and using these products to accomplish their possibly malicious business objectives, then in my view it is not right to make the products "less usable" and thereby make the human condition worse than it could be. Instead, the response should be to scrutinize the businesses on the other, "backend" side, to make sure that they do not abuse their power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48267 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
