I think behind this polarization is a history in which, for example, there
was a perception that engineered products did not take the user sufficiently
into account, so there was a campaign, or philosophy, or set of
methodological tools that marched together under the banner of advocating
for the user.
I think the concept of usability engineering most likely derives from a
similar, perhaps earlier impulse: a diagnose that things were sometimes
functional but difficult to use, and that studying the user's efforts to use
the product might provide insights into how to improve it by making it more
usable.
I think the user interface and user experience terms (after both "usability"
and "ucd") derive from the same impulse again. To this day UED or UX or UI
people on digital product teams often feel that they are, among other
things, the user's advocate, the person gently and tactfully reminding (or
annoyingly and condenscendingly lecturing) the engineers that lay people
("end users") have to be met halfway.
I think if we called ourself empathomancers we wouldn't get as many gigs.
So when I see Jared tweaking the collective noses of the UCD industry, it
looks to me like in many ways there is agreement on some vague premises
("consider the user"); disagreement on the relative value of different
concerns ("center more on the user," "the user is not the center"); mixed
views of how the playing field is currently tilted and what would most
improve our processes; strong disagreement around the veracity, utility, and
scientific validity of various methods; and a little bit of professional
mindshare meme competition around which framing terms will yield the most
value in the marketplace.
-x-
On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 4:21 AM, Todd Zaki Warfel <li...@toddwarfel.com>wrote:
>
> On Sep 1, 2009, at 11:32 PM, Jared Spool wrote:
>
> No, I wouldn't. Dozens of interviews I've conducted with self-proclaimed
>> UCD professionals shows there is very little overlap in what UCD means or
>> what a UCD professional does.
>>
>
> Precisely why we use a data-driven goal oriented design approach and not
> user-centered design approach. With a data-driven goal oriented design
> approach we can make room for things like user goals, business goals, etc.
>
So you practice Big G design... :D
-x-
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