Voice and Choice: Onscreen Usability as a Praxis of Democracy

dc.creator	R. James Owen
dc.date	2007-11-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-07-20T22:40:04Z
dc.date.available	2015-07-20T22:40:04Z
dc.identifier	1948-075X
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/a7ccc7ed43574b66bf9230ea9f8ff6d5
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/23258
dc.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.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	Kent State University
dc.relation	http://www.rcetj.org/index.php/rcetj/article/view/46/77
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1948-075X
dc.rights	CC BY-NC-ND
dc.source	Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology, Vol 3, Iss 2, Pp 1-11 (2007)
dc.subject	onscreen usability
dc.subject	cultural dynamics
dc.subject	democracy
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.title	Voice and Choice: Onscreen Usability as a Praxis of Democracy
dc.type	article