How Users Matter: The Co-Construction of Users and Technology

by Nelly Oudshoorn (Editor), Trevor Pinch (Editor)

Users have become an integral part of technology studies. The essays in this volume look at the creative capacity of users to shape technology in all phases, from design to implementation. Using a variety of theoretical approaches, including a feminist focus on users and use (in place of the traditional emphasis on men and machines), concepts from semiotics, and the cultural studies view of consumption as a cultural activity, these essays examine what users do with technology and, in turn, what technology does to users. The contributors consider how users consume, modify, domesticate, design, reconfigure, and resist technological development—and how users are defined and transformed by technology. The essays in part I show that resistance to and non-use of a technology can be a crucial factor in the eventual modification and improvement of that technology; examples considered include the introduction of the telephone into rural America and the influence of non-users of the Internet. The essays in part II look at advocacy groups and the many kinds of users they represent, particularly in the context of health care and clinical testing. The essays in part III examine the role of users in different phases of the design, testing, and selling of technology. Included here is an enlightening account of one company's design process for men's and women's shavers, which resulted in a "Ladyshave" for users assumed to be technophobes. Taken together, the essays in How Users Matter show that any understanding of users must take into consideration the multiplicity of roles they play—and that the conventional distinction between users and producers is largely artificial.

Genres: Sociology, Social Science

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2003

Reviews

[Karla Kitalong]

I took copious notes. I expect to use this for my contribution to a project I'm connected with. Although none of the authors talk about personas, their work informs persona theory.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This edited volume started off stronger than it finished up. The introduction is comprised of an almost invaluable literature review of user-centered studies of technology (at least, those through 2002). Additionally, the volume's first section, "Users and Non-Users as Active Agents in the (De-)Stabilization of Technologies," provides some useful insights and evidence into the importance of studying non-users or marginal users of technology. In particular, Sally Wyatt's contribution suggests how resistors of technology (in this case, non users of the Internet whom she compares with those who do not drive) help to construct the norms, habits, and guidelines that govern technology's use -- often in ways that are quite formative. From here, the volume takes a turn for the worse. This is not to say that the remaining selections are not vigorous or even well written/argued, but they present far less novel studies of technology use in various contexts. Though they aim to bring things like gender and nationality to the fore, the ways that they do so don't move the discourse in any other direction than a mere expansion of pre-existing theories to new communities/case studies. I'm probably being overly critical. Many of these contributions may well have been more ground breaking eight years ago. Likewise, my lack of inherent interest in many of the case studies surely biased me against reading them as closely as I might. In any case, I would highly recommend the introduction and first section of this volume. Afterward, I would pick and choose based on your own interests.

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Literally, "it was okay." Chapter 11 is sort of cool and the introduction provides a good overview of the literature in this area. But...it's kind of overdone, such that most of the articles don't seem to be saying anything strikingly new. Perhaps this is one of those areas of research that people need to move away from or reinvent somehow. We don't "need" endless case studies about users (maybe businesses do, but do scholars?). It could also have to do with the sociology writing style, which pretends to posit model, "data," then conclusion, like a science article. I find that a desperately boring way to write. Use for reference. That's all.

[morbidflight · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars would be the proper rating for this, because one of the chapters was vaguely interesting, and the overview in the introduction is invaluable. But the rest of it is boring, and I found myself wondering where exactly the users were.