BassamApr 20, 2017
Are usability tests usable?
So I was watching this: https://vimeo.com/116787124
(context is that the tester is literate but has not used a computer before)
And the thought occurred to me that there is something slightly inhumane about usability tests. We give people tasks, but don't tell them (or help them) do those tasks.
It's as if the goal of computer interfaces is to eliminate all human to human interaction.
Perhaps we can design interfaces that require it? Just a weird thought..
Show threadChris OffnerApr 20, 2017

@bkurdali

"It's as if the goal of computer interfaces is to eliminate all human to human interaction."

Oh, absolutely. Not just interfaces but much of today's tech is proactively de-humanising in my view.

Very relevant article: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/11/the-warped-world-of-web-summit/508442/

I wish we were solving more pressing problems than how to automate all life away for maximum consumer zombie convenience.

WALL-E had the right idea.

Show threadBassamApr 20, 2017
@chrisoffner3d that article is great! Thanks for sharing it;
yeah, me too, though the problems have deeper roots than tech on its own
Show threadChris OffnerApr 20, 2017

@bkurdali Of course - always.

Technology is merely an extension/multiplier of human traits.

The question is always: Which traits do we reign in and which to we reinforce?

Show threadBassamApr 20, 2017
@chrisoffner3d the ones reinforced by market forces (i.e. the ones that make rich people the most immediate profit with the least perceived risk)
Show threadChris OffnerApr 20, 2017

@bkurdali

And market forces themselves come from a system that institutionalises human traits like greed and behaviours like exploitation and domination.

We've managed to erect institutions to reign in human traits like raging violence and murder to a significant extent. We've made naturally occurring behaviour like rape socially unacceptable (although there's still much work to be done).

But we haven't even begun to reign in greed - instead we've exacerbated them.

Show threadBassamApr 20, 2017
@chrisoffner3d limitations on wealth, income redistribution, and to some extent basic income are all political anathema (in the us at least)
Show threadChris OffnerApr 20, 2017

@bkurdali Oh, I certainly don't expect any progress let alone leadership on this front from the US any time soon.

Even seeing the US catch up to basic western European social standards seems unrealistic now.

As John Steinbeck put it: "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."

Show threadBassamApr 20, 2017
@chrisoffner3d that's more true for (some) poor white Americans - and maybe for some minority groups too. I don't think poor black americans have as many illusions about their social status (hence the need for aggressive voter disenfranchisement)
I hope people are waking up though.
Show threadChris Offner

@bkurdali I suspect that it must be true for a significant portion of the voters who elected the current US president.

For a multi-billionaire to be able to dupe people into thinking he is a "political outsider" who will "stand up for the little guy" there has to have been some serious brainwashing with neoliberal ideology going on, and for decades.

Apr 20, 2017 at 8:44pmWeb