SIGIA-L Mail Archives: RE: SIGIA-L: Dressing up in hot pants an
RE: SIGIA-L: Dressing up in hot pants and gazing in the mirror
From: Richard Hill (rhill_at_asis.org)
Date: Mon Feb 25 2002 - 08:04:36 EST
[Forwarded from ["Joe Wheeler" <me_at_joew.tv>]
We may or may not be narcissistic, but something's stopping the
"categorisers" from categorising themselves. This alone is worthy of a
philosophical investigation. In the meantime in response to Tim...
> Clients weren't buying because they heard "cool sounding"
> terminology. They
> rushed to it because it is the Internet and only a fool doesn't understand
> it's potential. I suggest you give clients of the past and present more
> credit than this.
>
You shouldn't confuse the value of internet technology with the terminology
we use to describe it. Yes clients understand the potential of the internet,
but time and time again they don't understand the language that we the
consultants use. If we have any integrity at all we should be constantly
asking ourselves weather our clients understand us.
> That's why in my previous explanation of ED, it was indicated
> that the ED is
> one of a group of persons in an organization responsible for the overall
> customer experience of the brand. The ED merely represents the
> web/app side
> of things. Others would include brand managers, product managers,
> marketing, the list goes on.
>
Yes and brand managers and product managers (and many others) also use the
term experience in there own way (customer experience vs. user experience).
This is another reason why we should NOT use the term experience design. Our
identity should focus on our differentiation not what is the same as other
disciplines.
> As I had suggested earlier, perhaps it's better to call it Web Experience
> Design, or something similar to focus it more. And again, don't let the
> word "Design" shake you; experience can be designed just like a car is
> designed - the best way possible before it encounters real life.
>
Are you designing an experience or a Web site? In the case that your
designing a Web site experience, which element are you more in control of,
the Web site or the experience? What's wrong with Web design, if you are
really trying to keep things simple?
> So should we call civil engineers "blueprint generators"? Or are they
> people who design civilizations?
>
I think you've confused something here. In this instance "civil" means "the
opposite of military" not "everything related to civilisation". Given the
history of the discipline this was at one time a useful distinction to
communicate.
> > The user's experience is created in the mind of the user way down stream
> > of any work we do.
>
> User experience isn't a product that is run down an assembly line
> and we're
> just one segment of it. It is a creature that requires care and
> feeding and
> that only *begins* when we enter the picture (or even before).
>
My point exactly, we're just one part of it and as such we shouldn't claim
to be responsible for the whole thing. Doing this blurs the lines of
responsibility generally causes confusion, which I for one would like to try
to avoid.
> > Terms like UXD are result of a narcissistic hypnosis which
> workers in the
> > technology field should be trying to escape from.
>
> I get the distinct feeling you see it this way because you find it
> impossible to perceive that a term which saw early damage in the industry
> from overuse could not possibly hold value in the industry ever
> again. Just
> because a few fools sold it on the wafts of hot air doesn't make it
> something to "escape from."
>
No, I don't like it because it's nebulas and inaccurate and therefore
meaningless.
> I dare say the entire IT industry is suspect and under scrutiny. It seems
> we can't keep even the simplest data secure, or even produce a system that
> doesn't force users to learn a hundred ridiculous things just to use email
> properly. The only way to crawl out of it is with integrity - honest work
> at honest prices. We've got our work cut out for all of us, so I would
> think any attempt to simplify is not so out of place.
>
I totally agree.
> "Narcissistic hypnosis" is what the minor yet vocal starbucks-swilling,
> trendy-eyewear-wearing, black-turtleneck-with-hotpants, overpaid,
> undertrained, buzzword laden 22-year olds using sleek laptops and palms to
> appear more professional and advanced than they could ever dream
> of managing
> outside the IT world without their technological devices. This is not a
> concept most of us (if not all) on this list and in the industry subscribe
> to nor have too much to worry about, at least from where I'm standing.
>
>From where I'm standing we live in a world that's full of people struggling
to find use for the technology we have. This often means employing
consultants like ourselves to make things better. Though we'd rather not
admit it, we often only make things slightly better. If we really believe
we're doing anything greater than web design (or whatever) then we really
are struggling with a form of narcissistic hypnosis. We aren't artists
creating experiences, we aren't in fact creating anything greater than web
pages (or whatever) and what but a hypnotised mind would claim that we are?
J
Executive Director
American Society for Information Science and Technology
1320 Fenwick Lane, Suite 510
Silver Spring, MD 20910
FAX: (301) 495-0810
PHONE: (301) 495-0900
http://www.asis.org
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