The theme of study this week is research, including user/audience research, discussion of audience research methodologies and how we can best incorporate them into our own practice. Embracing user-centred design methodologies that focus on putting the audience first helps us design more targeted, meaningful and resonant projects, as we develop empathy for our users and place them at the centre of the creative process (O’Grady, 2017).
According to Gulliksen and Göransson (2001), in order for designs to be successful there needs to be an early focus on users and understanding them. Norman (1986) states that the purpose of user-centred design is to serve the user, and that the needs of the user should dominate the design of an interface. Karat (1996) writes that the end-goal of user-centred design is a usable system, which is achieved by involving potential users in the design process. Audience is the key to success.
However, having researched a lot about unethical data-collection practices of technology companies that have compromised the privacy of their users and blurred the lines of what informed consent means, I am particularly concerned by this topic. The term 'surveillance capitalism' (Zuboff, 2019) has been popularised and as someone who cares about ethics this makes me feel uncomfortable.
In the twenty-first century, advanced capitalism has evolved to significantly centre around the extraction and exploitation of data and unfortunately suppression of individual privacy lies at the heart of the business model of the vast majority of data-driven companies (Srnicek, 2017). Calls for increased user privacy are met with contempt by these companies, as issues of ethics and civil liberties are viewed as mere nuisances that create hindrances and limitations to projects and slow down research and development (Narayanan & Vallor, 2014).
Lanchester (2017) argues that Facebook, now rebranded as 'Meta', is the biggest surveillance-based enterprise in human history. Most of these enterprises have less than favourable track records when it comes to research ethics, as their histories are laden with repeated privacy violations (Srnicek, 2017).
No individual should be subjected to interference with their privacy without having first given informed consent to it. Informed consent is one of the core pillars of research and means that participants must be given all the information necessary in order to decide whether or not they would like to take part (Lazar, Feng & Hochheiser, 2017). Informed consent is extremely important in order to protect participants and it is only valid if the person giving it knows exactly what they are consenting to. Furthermore, the participant is entitled to choose to withhold their private information at any stage.
As UX designers and researchers it is very important to be cautious and careful of how we collect data and classify our own research work. We need to be extremely sensitive to potential ethical risks and, when necessary, submit a full ethics review form. Moving forward I will continue to be very aware of integrity and ethics in my research projects. I firmly believe that protecting privacy is a matter of respect for individuals. I am grateful that ethics is covered in this course. Working as a professional in this industry is likely to carry profound ethical responsibilities and will involve facing moral dilemmas and tough decisions in the future (Narayanan & Vallor, 2014).
Gulliksen, J., & Göransson, B. (2001). Reengineering the systems development process for user centered design. In Michitaka Hirose. IOS Press.
Karat, J. (1996). User Centered Design: Quality or Quackery? Interactions July + August.
Lanchester, J. (2017). You Are the Product. LRB, 39(16).
Lazar, J., Feng, J. & Hochheiser, H. (2017). Research Methods in Human Computer Interaction (2nd edition)
Narayanan, A., & Vallor, S. (2014). Why Software Engineering Courses Should Include Ethics Coverage. Communications of the ACM, 57(3), 23–25.
Norman, D. A. (1986). Cognitive engineering. In User Centered Systems Design. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
O’Grady, J. V. (2017). A designer’s research manual: succeed in design by knowing your clients + understanding what they really need. Rockport.
Srnicek, N. (2017). Platform capitalism. Polity Press.
Travis, D. (2018). Run a usability test [Photography]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/WC6MJ0kRzGw
Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism : the fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. Public Affairs.
