Can User Centred Design be Harmful?
Source: UN, 6 May 2007 Submitted by Andy Dearden Researchers and practitioners meeting at CHI 2007 produced the surprising argument that user-centred design is a bad idea! Instead, a range of alternative approaches were proposed for projects in developing countries such as community centred design and deployment centred design. The context was a workshop on User Centred Design and International Development, looking at the contribution that HCI can make in developing countries. A critical observation was that in these settings, the idea of a single user owning and interacting with a single device, around some individually oriented task, is often inappropriate. Instead, systems are more often shared and used by communities, and their objectives are also geared to development and growth of the community. The challenge is to find applications that can strengthen a communitys ability to create jobs and income, to improve educational opportunities. Examples of applications discussed included
