Abstract
When we design information technology we risk building specific metaphors and models of human activities into the technology itself and into the embodied activities, work practices, organisational cultures and social identities of those who use it. This paper is motivated by the recognition that the assumptions about human activity used to guide the design of particular technology are made active, in use, by the interaction design of that technology. A fragment of shared design work is used to ground an exploration of different solutions to one of the technical problems that arise when technology is used to support similar work over distance. The argument is made that some solutions to design problems are better than others because they enable human interaction in different ways. Some solutions enhance the possibilities for human agency, others diminish it. This means that there can be a moral basis for choosing between alternative interaction design decisions that might otherwise be considered equivalent in terms of the functionality and usability of the technology.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Philip Brey (2000) ArticleTitleMethod in Computer Ethics: Towards a Multi-level Interdisciplinary Approach Ethics and Information Technology 2 IssueID2 125–129 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1010076000182
Jeanette Blomberg J Giacomi A Mosher P Swenton-Wall (1993) Ethnographic Field Methods and Their Relation to Design D Schuler A Namioka (Eds) Participatory Design Principles and Practices Lawrence Erlbaum USA 123–155
Susan Bødker (2000) ArticleTitleScenarios in User-Centred Design – Setting the Stage for Reflection and Action Interacting with Computers 13 IssueID1 61–75 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0953-5438(00)00024-2
Jim Carroll (2000) Making Use. Scenario-Based Design of Human-Computer Interaction MIT Press USA
Alan Cooper (1999) The inmates are running the asylum Prentice Hall USA
Daniela Cerqui (2002) ArticleTitleThe Future of Humankind in the Era of Human and Computer Hybridisation. An Anthropological Analysis Ethics and Information Technology 4 IssueID2 101–108 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1019940127052
William Clancey, Situated Cognition. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Roger Clarke (2001) ArticleTitleWhile You Were Sleeping... Surveillance Technologies Arrived Australian Quarterly 73 IssueID1 10–14
Dean Cocking Steve Matthews (2000) ArticleTitleUnreal Friends Ethics and Information Technology 2 IssueID4 223–231 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1011414704851
Michel Foucault, Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth. Paul Rabinow, editor, The New Press, 1994.
Moira Gatens, Imaginary Bodies. Routledge, 1996.
J. K. Gibson-Graham, The End Of Capitalism (as we knew it): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy. Blackwell, 1996.
Joan Greenbaum and Kyng Morten Design at Work: Cooperative Design of Computer Systems: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, USA, 1991.
Saul Greenberg and David Marwood. Real Time Groupware as a Distributed System: Concurrency Control and its Effect on the Interface. In CSCW ’94, Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, pages 207–217. Chapel Hill, North Carolina. ACM Press, USA, 1994.
Jonathon J. Grudin and John Pruitt, Personas, Participatory design and Product Development: An Infrastructure of Engagement, In PDC2002, Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference, 23–25 June, 2002, Malmö, Sweden, pp. 144–161, CPSR, 2002.
Edwin Hutchins, Cognition in the Wild. MIT Press, 1995.
Lucas Introna, editor, Ethics and Politics of Electronic Surveillance. Special issue of Ethics and Information Technology, 3(3): 155–235, 2001.
Hans Jonas, The Imperative of Responsibility. In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age, University of Chicago Press, 1984.
Rob Kling, editor, Computerization and Controversy, Second Edition. Academic Press, 1996.
Bruno Latour, Science in Action. Harvard University Press, 1987.
Ivy Lu Marilyn Mantei (1991) Idea Management in a Shared Drawing Tool Bannon Liam Robinson Mike Schmidt Kjeld (Eds) Proceedings of the 2nd European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work Kluwer Academic Publishers Amsterdam, The Netherlands 97–112
Scott Minneman and Sara Bly. Managing a Trois: A Study of a Multi-User Drawing Tool in Distributed Design Work. In Reaching Through Technology, Proceedings of CHI ’91, pp. 217–224. New Orleans, Louisiana. ACM Press, New York, 1991.
Thomas Moran Kim McCall Bill Melle Particlevan Elin Pederson Frank Halasz (1995) Some Design Principles for Sharing in Tivoli, A Whiteboard Meeting Support Tool Saul Greenberg Stephen Hayne Roy Rada (Eds) Groupware for Real-Time Drawing: A Designer’s Guide McGraw-Hill UK 24–36
Lydia Plowman Yvonne Rogers Magnus Ramage (1995) What Are Workplace Studies For? Hans Marmolin Yngve Sundblad Kjeld Schmidt (Eds) Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work Kluwer Academic Publishers Stockholm, Sweden, Netherlands 309–324
Tim Plowman (2003) Ethnography and Critical Design Practice B Laurel (Eds) Design Research MIT Press USA 30–38
Jenny Preece, Yvonne Rogers and Helen Sharp. Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction. John Wiley, 2002.
Markus Rittenbruch, Gregor McEwan, Nigel Ward, Tim Mansfield and Dominik Bartenstein. Extreme Participation – Moving Extreme Programming Towards Participatory Design, In PDC2002, Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference, 23–25 June, 2002, Malmö, Sweden, pp. 29–41, CPSR, 2002.
Toni Robertson Tim Mansfield Lian Loke (2004) Human-Centred Design Issues for Immersive Media Spaces, Futureground Melbourne Australia
Toni Robertson (2000) Building Bridges: Negotiating the Gap Between Work Practice and Technology Design International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 53 Academic Press London, UK 121–146
Toni Robertson, Embodied Actions in Time and Place: The Design of a Multimedia, Educational Computer Game. Computer Supported Cooperative Work: The Journal of Collaborative Computing, Vol. 5, No. 4. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht The Netherlands, pp. 341–367, 1996.
HongHai Shen Prasun Dewan (1992) Access Control for Collaborative Environments Jon Turner Robert Kraut (Eds) CSCW ’92, Sharing Perspectives, Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work ACM Press Toronto, Canada, USA 51–58 Occurrence Handle10.1145/143457.143461
Richard Spinello. CYBERETHICS Morality and Law in Cyberspace. Jones and Bartlett, 2000.
Lucy Suchman. Preface. In Lucy Suchman, editor, Representations of Work. Hawaii International Conference of System Sciences, 1994.
Lucy Suchman (1993) Do Categories Have Politics? The Language/Action Perspective Reconsidered Georgio Michelis ParticleDe Carla Simone Kjeldt Schmidt (Eds) Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work Kluwer Academic Publishers Milan, Italy, Netherlands 1–14
Lucy Suchman, Plans and Situated Actions. Cambridge University Press, 1987.
John Tang. Listing, Drawing, and Gesturing in Design: A Study of the Use of Shared Workspaces by Design Teams. Doctoral Dissertation, Stanford University. Xerox PARC Technical Report, SSL-89-3, Palo Alto, CA, 1989.
Tavani Herman (2001) ArticleTitleThe State of Computer Ethics as a Philosophical Field of Inquiry: Some Contemporary Perspectives, Future Projections, and Current Resources Ethics and Information Technology 3 IssueID1 97–108 Occurrence Handle1850285
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Robertson, T. Ethical issues in interaction design. Ethics Inf Technol 8, 49–59 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-005-8308-3
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-005-8308-3