As it's been mentioned, influence is out there in many contexts, not just in Interaction Design. I don't think it's wrong to influence someone, nor can you avoid it in any interaction with people. Being ethical is being aware of the implications of that influence and avoiding causing harm to those being influenced (which includes making decisions they didn't really intend to make).
I think a lot of way we should approach things is summed up well by Aesop's 'The North Wind and the Sun' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_North_Wind_and_the_Sun "Kindness, gentleness, and persuasion win where force fails" As you mention in the articles 'Influence' section, and j. eric mentioned with the toothbrush, unless we're plugging into their brains, the choice is inevitably up to the user. So I don't think it's right to say we have direct control of another person's behavior: a guard could go off the watchclock, a person could keep their jacket on in the sun, and (a phrase I heard that's become a favorite of mine) "If people *really* want to put a pea up their nose, no matter what you do, you can't stop them from shoving it up there...". But we do set up the conditions for people to make certain choices over others, and you're right in that those conditions need to to be established in a way that address the human side of the equation, not just the system's. Those that do it well, I think, will tend to be more successful. Those that don't are found out, perhaps held onto begrudgingly for a while, but eventually abandoned. BTW, the link to Chris Nodder's site that David mentioned near the top is http://usability4evil.com. As David pointed out, the examples in there fall in line with this discussion. Murray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=44045 ________________________________________________________________ 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
