A Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other Mundane Artifacts

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User-Centered Technology

• A Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other
  Mundane Artifacts
• By Robert R. Johnson

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Chapter One

• Users, Technology, and the Complex(ity) of the
  Mundane Some Out of the Ordinary Thoughts

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From Politica by Aristotle

• the user, or, in other words, the master, of
  the house will even be a better judge than the
  builder, just as the pilot will judge better of
  the rudder than the carpenter, and the guest will
  judge better of the feast than the cook.

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Purposes of the book

• Focus on everyday users of technology
• Raise issues and ask questions about technology
• Reflect on interactions with technology
• Develop theory through user-centered concepts
• Engage with social, ethical, and political
  arguments in relation to technology

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Key Terms (Chapter One)

• Mundane
• Users
• User-centered
• Know-how
• Cultural ambiance
• Technique

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Without a voice

• Going back to the quote from Aristotle at the
  beginning of the chapter, we must realize that
  the users voice is an important one.
• Johnson is attempting to use the art of rhetoric
  to awaken users to enter into a dialogue about
  technology.

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User-centered

• Draper and Norman describe it like this
• The emphasis is on people, rather than
  technology, although the powers and limits of
  contemporary machines are considered in order to
  know how to take that next step from todays
  limited machines toward more user-centered ones.

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User-centered (continued)

• Johnson wants to take it a step further by
  placing the study of user-centered technology
  into a historical context. (Think Aristotle)

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Cultural Ambiance

• All artifacts are affected by the social sphere,
  the cultural ambiance, thus making technological
  artifacts and systems dependent upon, instead of
  autonomous of, human intervention.
• --Staudenmaier
• (Notes, Page 12)

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Black Box Point of View

• Computer users, thus, are more often viewed as
  idiots who must have technologies dumbed down
  to their level, a level that has no knowledge of
  its ownonly that knowledge that is handed down
  by those who made the object in question. (Page
  13)

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Chapter Two

• Refiguring the End of Technology Rhetoric and
  the Complex of Use

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Key Terms (Chapter Two)

• End
• Complex of Use
• Interface
• Rhetoric
• System
• User-Friendly
• Users Situation

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Prometheus and Fire

• Johnson uses a mythological reference to
  illustrate the meaning of ends by relating the
  story of Prometheus gift of fire to mankind. He
  emphasizes the user-centered approach the titan
  used by showing the humans how to use his gift
  to harness nature for their desired ends. (Page
  18)
• He essentially gave them the power of technique
  (ways of making) and the technology (artifacts
  that come from the making)

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RhetoricGood or Evil?

• Often times, rhetoric has the negative
  connotations of empty words or the use of
  language to deceive
• A positive and powerful definition of rhetoric is
  the art of creating (inventing), arranging, and
  delivering language for the purpose of evoking
  action upon the part of an audience
• The main difference in the two definitions is
  based upon the perceived ends desired by the
  rhetor. Hence, the end of rhetoric as art is in
  the hearer.

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The dichotomy of technology

• In school we are taught that technology offers
  great solutions that help us avoid hardships and
  make our world what it is today.
• We also read works that warn about the dangers
  technology can pose to us through works of
  fiction and nonfiction.
• Johnson argues that this dichotomy is reductive
  and simplistic, but worth exploring.

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Technological Paradox

• We are enamored of the things that technology
  can promise, but we simultaneously live in fear
  of the power that unchecked growth and
  dissemination of technology has over our lives.
  We want technology to help us get where we want
  to go, but we feel uncomfortable if we are unable
  to control the direction and speed of the
  journey. (Page 20)

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Questions this paradox raises

• How is this having a hand in the direction and
  speed of technology possible?
• How can individuals or small communities have an
  effect upon the growth of technologythose
  technologies that we see as getting out of
  control or moving beyond reasonable limits?

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Neglectful ends of technology

1. The interest of the developers who hope to gain
   from it,
2. The interest of the disseminators who likewise
   hope to reap the fruits of its success,
3. Those who develop and then release a technology
   into the public sphere with little or no concern
   about its end whatsoever.

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Proposed ends of technology

• Johnson proposes that the end of technology shift
  its focus to the user those humans (virtually
  all of us) who interact with various technologies
  on a daily basis in our public and personal lives.

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Another important note on users

• Users, being human, operate in a world where
  things are constantly coming into being. Thus
  technologies must be described or explained
  through a lens of contingency, probability,
  and/or mutability that accounts for shifting
  contexts and situations. (Page 24)

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The System-Centered Model of Technology

• The artifact or system is primary.
• Developers know its design, dissemination, and
  intended use best.
• The technology, the humans, and the context
  within which they reside are perceived as
  constituting one system that operates in a
  rational manner toward the achievement of
  predetermined goals.

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The System-Centered Model of Technology
(continued)

• It is so embedded in our ways of thinking about
  technology that sometimes user-centered design
  approaches are actually formulated from
  system-centered ideologies.
• See figure 2.2, page 30
• The user is required to acquire a users model
• No role for the designer after the initial
  development of the system (Page 29)

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Users role in system-centered approach

• Ancillary or nonexistant the system is the
  source and ultimately the determiner of all.
• The designer goes through the process of
  prototyping which results in an artifact
  reflective of the designers image of the system.
• The interface between user and artifact is often
  addressed at the end of development when little
  can be adjusted.

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User-centered questions

• What tasks will the user be performing within the
  given situation?
• How would the user represent these tasks within
  that situation?
• Are the tasks visible in the situation of use?
• Can the users see what they are doing or are the
  tasks hidden behind an opaque or clumsy interface?

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The User-Centered View of Technology

• Argues for the user as an integral, participatory
  force in the process and placing the user at the
  center of the model.
• Surrounding the user Interface, Artifact/System,
  Designers/Artisans Image, Users Situation.
• Users are active participants in design,
  development, implementation, and maintenance of
  the technology, but arent the sole or dominant
  forces. They merely are offered the opportunity
  to take part in a negotiated process of design,
  development, and use.

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The User-Centered View of Technology (continued)

• Technology is created through a process of give
  and take that places users on a par with the
  developers and the system itself a space within
  which users and developers can learn to value
  each others knowledge and accept the
  responsibilities of technological design and
  development in new, shared ways.

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Work cited

• Johnson, Robert R. User-Centered Technology A
• Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other
  Mundane Artifacts. Albany SUNY Press, 1998.