How Users Matter

How Users Matter
Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
Total Pages : 353
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780262651097
ISBN-13 : 0262651092
Rating : 4/5 (092 Downloads)

Book Synopsis How Users Matter by : Nelly Oudshoorn

Download or read book How Users Matter written by Nelly Oudshoorn and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2005-08-12 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Users have become an integral part of technology studies. The essays in this volume look at the creative capacity of users to shape technology in all phases, from design to implementation. Using a variety of theoretical approaches, including a feminist focus on users and use (in place of the traditional emphasis on men and machines), concepts from semiotics, and the cultural studies view of consumption as a cultural activity, these essays examine what users do with technology and, in turn, what technology does to users. The contributors consider how users consume, modify, domesticate, design, reconfigure, and resist technological development—and how users are defined and transformed by technology. The essays in part I show that resistance to and non-use of a technology can be a crucial factor in the eventual modification and improvement of that technology; examples considered include the introduction of the telephone into rural America and the influence of non-users of the Internet. The essays in part II look at advocacy groups and the many kinds of users they represent, particularly in the context of health care and clinical testing. The essays in part III examine the role of users in different phases of the design, testing, and selling of technology. Included here is an enlightening account of one company's design process for men's and women's shavers, which resulted in a "Ladyshave" for users assumed to be technophobes. Taken together, the essays in How Users Matter show that any understanding of users must take into consideration the multiplicity of roles they play—and that the conventional distinction between users and producers is largely artificial.


How Users Matter Related Books

How Users Matter
Language: en
Pages: 353
Authors: Nelly Oudshoorn
Categories: Technology & Engineering
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005-08-12 - Publisher: MIT Press

GET EBOOK

Users have become an integral part of technology studies. The essays in this volume look at the creative capacity of users to shape technology in all phases, fr
A Small Matter of Programming
Language: en
Pages: 196
Authors: Bonnie A. Nardi
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 1993 - Publisher: MIT Press

GET EBOOK

Analyzes cognitive, social and technical issues of end user programming. Drawing on empirical research on existing end user systems, this text examines the impo
Do You Matter?
Language: en
Pages: 255
Authors: Robert J. Brunner
Categories: Business & Economics
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-08-12 - Publisher: FT Press

GET EBOOK

“Definitely, a game changer! Design experience is the power shift to our era what mass marketing was to the last century.” John Sculley former CEO, Pepsi an
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People
Language: en
Pages: 436
Authors: Susan Weinschenk
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-04-14 - Publisher: Pearson Education

GET EBOOK

We design to elicit responses from people. We want them to buy something, read more, or take action of some kind. Designing without understanding what makes peo
How People Matter
Language: en
Pages: 351
Authors: Isaac Prilleltensky
Categories: Medical
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-06-17 - Publisher: Cambridge University Press

GET EBOOK

Mattering is about feeling valued and adding value. These components are essential for health, happiness, love, work, and social justice.