Finally, and perhaps more importantly, user needs and behaviours are constantly shifting; they are inconsistent; they are difficult to predict. “Designing out” context may be more important than designing it in. Like danah, I don’t see a point in chasing the techno-determinist tail of cause and effect. I believe that where social research can have most impact is in design iteration and studying overlapping patterns of design and use; realistically, we can improve, far more than we can "optimize". As researchers, we are almost always playing catch-up, and we capture or describe the social “what” long before we start to understand the “why”.
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.