Overview of my work on ethical design showing how products and services script or score experiences but that in use improvisation can lead to unanticipated use cases. First presented at the Ethicomp conference in 2005 and then expanded as a journal article in ICES.

1. Ethical Design: Communication,
Speculation and Empathy
John Knight
User-Lab
Birmingham Institute of Art and Design
Gosta Green
Birmingham
B4 7DX
Ethicomp 2005, September Linköping University

2. Design, Consumption and Value
• Nothing is arbitrary: Default settings define the user and what they do
• Everything has a designer
• Computers used in design creating affordances and constraints
• Design crystallises values into products
• Values in products are experienced
• Products embody and communicate meaning
• Products help other people know who we are
• Experience of use may be good or bad
• The experience becomes a relationship
• The relationship is multifaceted including emotion and non-verbal attributes
Ethicomp 2005, September Linköping University

3. Consumption and Networks
• Products are embedded into networks
• The networks are multifaceted e.g. legislation, standards & trade agreements
• The complex networks in ICT makes design difficult
• Not all stakeholders can be accessed
• Usage is no always predictable
• Design is influenced by context and professional concerns
• Technical design seems value free
Ethicomp 2005, September Linköping University

4. Rational Madness
• Design is difficult, makes sense to rationalise it
• 1960s ‘Design Science Decade’
• Software Crisis precipitates NATO Conference & Software Engineering
• Waterfall Model adopted
• Cognitive models of the user adopted
• Focus on performance
• Asking people is not enough
Ethicomp 2005, September Linköping University

5. Emotional Intelligence
• Situated action and improvised nature of human activity
• Ethnography and Ethnomethodology adopted in HCI
• Rise of ‘illogical’ disciplines
• Rise of emotional and experiential studies
• Rise in users expectations
• Rise of discretionary use of products
• Success of post-optimal products
• Success of speculative products
Ethicomp 2005, September Linköping University

6. Human-centred Design
• Rooted in Nordic, Scandinavian participatory design movement
• Difficult for practitioners to remain neutral
• Best solution may not be known to users
• Design increasingly affects emotion and personal qualities beyond usability
• Three perspectives
• Empathy
• Speculation
• Communication
Ethicomp 2005, September Linköping University

7. Empathy
• Personas
• Contextual Enquiry
• Co-design workshops
• Visioning workshops
• Dramatic techniques
• Six hats
• Product deconstruction
• Product semantics
Ethicomp 2005, September Linköping University

8. Speculation
• Scenario based design
• Brainstorming
• Ideation
• Synetics
• Decision making techniques
• Materials and technology analysis
Ethicomp 2005, September Linköping University

9. Communication
• Moodboards
• Storyboards
• Video and film
• Prototypes
Ethicomp 2005, September Linköping University

10. John Knight
Director
User-Lab
UCE Birmigham Institute of Art and Design
John.knight@uce.ac.uk
Ethicomp 2005, September Linköping University