Who is responsible for the unintended consequences of design actions? Many information technology researchers tell us it’s unfair to blame them for the marketing and innovation strategies of their employers.
Human Computer Interface designers, in particular, often comprise tiny groups in huge companies. The issue arose again in Vienna last week, when 2,000 people assembled for a Computer Human Interaction conference (CHI), the world’s most important meeting for interaction and usability design professionals.
In the greater scheme of our technology-filled world, CHI contains the good guys: their mission is to put the interests of human beings first in system and device design. The trouble is that in complex systems, as in society, even the smallest action can have unexpected consequences.
So what to do? Is some kind of research governance for IT needed, of the kind that is emerging in the health sector?
See: http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/cso/ResGov/ResGov.htm
Via Doors of Perception
