R. James Owen
Description:
Elements of cultural dynamics represented in a computer’s graphical user interfaces (GUIs) result from an alignment between designing for onscreen usability and practicing principles of democratic responsibility. Designers and developers seek to understand how end-users respond best during interactions with computers and technology, particularly regarding instructional and learning materials. Usability methodologies follow a dynamic process that involves planning and testing to ensure that a technological tool meets the needs of a target population of users. The end-users themselves are also dynamic: they are cultural beings with different values, habits, learning styles, interests, and environments. So in planning a union of technology and culture to serve the end user, there is a unique opportunity to design toward a democratic responsibility—to give the users a fair voice in articulating their own learning. Usability methodologies directly involve selfsame end users to help inform the design of the interactivity. This is considered democratic because it garners direct consensus from the end users in regard to onscreen interactions, content, and elements of their cultural aesthetic.At the core of democratic responsibility within usability design is the idea that the interactions onscreen best match the users’ cultural aesthetic, thus increasing the potential agency of the learning.