Gabriel White

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  Gabriel White uploaded Multi-Device User Experience

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  • 6 months ago

  
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  Gabriel White commented on Ethics and Everyday Design

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  • 1 year ago

  

  1. Today I want to talk about the relationship between ethics and design and in particular how we can bring ethical thinking into the everyday practice of design. With all the talk these days about socially responsible design, the launch of the designers’ accord a few weeks ago this is becoming a more pressing issue There are three main ways of thinking about ethics and design Photo credit: theefer (flickr.com) 2. One way of thinking about ethics is in terms of professional behavior The way we behave towards clients - honesty, disclosure The way we behave towards our colleagues Photo credit: ghindo (flickr.com) 3. The other way to think about it is in terms of the kinds of projects that we work on The things having a significant positive effect on the state of the world Examples: water filtration system, housing for refugees, Problem is the everyday work of most designers in the world isn’t focused on working on this stuff. Photo credit: andyandorla (flickr.com) 4. The third way of thinking about it is how we carry out design - how is we can introduce ethical evaluation into the activity of designing everyday objects. How can we explicitly introduce the ethical dimension to the design of everyday things? This is the problem I want to focus on today So most of the time we just think that ethical judgements don’t apply - E-commerce experience. I don’t think that’s the case. Photo credit: philgyford (flickr.com) 5. Ezio Manzini "The openness of the field of possibilities where designers are operating is one of the factors that characterizes their actions...Given this degree of freedom, designers have to adopt some criteria for choice and on this basis choose what, in their view, is better to do. That is, given that ethics is defined as dealing with "what is good and bad, right and wrong", they have to make ethical choices.” We focus on the big questions “we have to save the environment” - which are very difficult to bring down to actionable steps in the course of a project We don’t have time to reflect philosophically What I’m proposing here is a framework for bringing ethics down to the everyday level. I’m not proposing a complete ethical system, I’m expecting you to disagree with some of the things I’m saying. My point for this presentation is more about a way of bringing ethics to bear on everyday design problems - and to do that by providing some concrete examples of how that can be done. A set of tools will help designers take action on their projects. Photo credit: kalavinka (flickr.com) 6. The model of using heuristics has a lot of potential for bringing ethical questions down to earth for solving this problem. The idea of a rule of thumb, something that is open to change and reinterpretation, is I think a flexible and non-definitive way of testing out different ways of bringing particular ethical principles. The basic model is that you take an ethical principle, and from that principle you derive a set of heuristics that can have a direct impact on the way design is carried out. Those heuristics can be used in the design process, evolved, discarded, new ones created as their usefulness is determined.
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  Gabriel White commented on Ethics and Everyday Design

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  • 1 year ago

  

  7. I want to dispel the idea that this is a crazy way of using ethics. In fact I’d argue that we use heuristics in our everyday ethical lives. But it’s rare that we use the principle on its own in our everyday actions - we operate much more based on something that is similar to the idea of rules. The principle that you shouldn’t harm people an example of an ethical principle in real life. “you shouldn’t tease people needlessly” “try to resolve disagreements through discussion rather than argument” Photo credit: jcalhoun (flickr.com) 8.Control is an ethical question Being in control of our lives taps into some of the fundamental ethical questions about freedom, and self determination. Photo credit: tkkate (flickr.com) 9. Maintaining life control means that people must be aware of their behavior status. It’s important to show people how their behavior is changing through the use of the system so that they can evaluate whether or not their use of the system is within the bounds that their desires. Examples: Let people know how much time they spend using a system Let people know how often they use a system Let people know how their usage patterns change through the use of the system Allow people to compare their use of the system with the way other people use the system Photo credit: sashawolff (filckr.com) 10. Being in control of your life means being able to moderate behavior in a controlled way. In designing systems that create new possibilities for people, designers need to think about how the users of the systems can use the systems successfully without succumbing to addictive or compulsive behavior. Examples: Design features so that users are not encouraged to repeatedly, obsessively use the system - think about the behavioral impact of what you’re designing. Surface how individual user’s use behaviors compare to other people if they are starting to use the system in a compulsive or addictive way Allow users to engage with systems at different levels - do not require only a high or continuous level of commitment Photo credit: doug88888 (flickr.com) 11. Being able to control your life is in part dependent on having skills, knowledge and abilities that allow you to realize your goals Examples: Understand people’s life goals and the skills they need to get there Focus on developing skills and abilities through the use of the system that are relevant to users Allow people to guide and moderate their use of a system so that they can develop particular skills and abilities Photo credit: bobjadendorf (flickr.com) 12. Part of being in control of your life over the long run means that realisation of life goals over the long run is critical. Once you have a good understanding of what it is people want to achieve through use of the system, provide users with reinforcement as they meet those goals. Examples: Allow users to implicitly or explicitly set goals for use of a system Communicate to users that goals have been met Photo credit: clintjcl (flickr.com) 13. This is the environmental ethical principle Photo credit: ariaphotography (flickr.com) 14. Understanding of how actions have an impact on the environment is often a catalyst for behavior change. By better understanding the relationship between action and effect, people are more easily able to moderate their actions. Examples: Fuel consumption meter on vehicle that shows how driving style has an impact on fuel economy Comparison of products that shows the amount of energy consumed or carbon impact of the creation or shipping of different products Display on printer showing the lifetime number of trees that have been consumed in creating printed output Photo credit: safoocat (flickr.com) 15. Changing behavior is often a matter of ease of access. It is often difficult for people to 'do the right thing'; the additional effort required to do so is a deterrent for many people. By surfacing elements that make it easy for people to have less of an impact, those features will be more frequently used. Examples: Bundling In 'Print' dialogs, provide direct access to functions that allow people to print double-sided, multiple pages to a page, or just sections of pages Make it clear when a piece of software or device is running, and make it easy for people to stop the process Make it easy for people to suspend and resume their work, so they don't need to leave things running Photo credit: mtsofan (flickr.com) 16. The way digital products are designed has an impact on the resources consumed by devices. Designing to reduce the digital resources required to use a product will help reduce things such as energy consumption and storage needs on those devices. Examples Instead of displaying rich animations continuously in an interface, only use animation in critical moments Reducing the fidelity of images stored on the computer reduces the need for storage Encouraging users to use lower-bandwidth intensive resources reduces the need for more connectivity infrastructure 17. Part of the environmental impact of creating digital tools is the effort required to create them, both in design and development. Designing systems that can be adapted and reused as business and and customer needs evolve will help reduce the impact of creating products. Examples: Consider the product road-map and corporate strategy, and then design the product to scale to include future functions without requiring a complete rework Consider different future alternatives for the product, and account for those possibilities in the design Understand trends in user behavior so that future needs can be anticipated Photo credit: rkimberly (flickr.com) 18. What I hope to have shown here today is that there is a tangible way that high level ethical questions can be brought to bear on design, These heuristics are directly actionable by designers working in the cut and thrust of everyday design work. I hope that you can see that ethical evaluation can have a meaningful impact on everyday objects of design With a standard way of talking about ethical evaluation designers will be able to engage in a conversation with each other more easily Designers will be able to engage in a conversation with clients and stakeholders more easily And of course have a positive ethical impact on the projects they are working on Photo credit: eatmorechips (flickr.com)
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