Persuade into what? Why human-computer interaction needs a philosophy of technology

Abstract

Persuasive interfaces in a class of interfaces belonging to a trend in contemporary HCI where user experiences matter more than for instance user performance. In this paper, we argue that in this shift there is also a shift in accountability, but that this shift tends to remain implicit in HCI. What makes a good user experience? To deal with these issues, we argue that HCI needs to develop a philosophy of technology. Two candidate accounts of contemporary philosophies of technology are introduced and discussed. First, Don Ihde develops a phenomenology of relations between human users, artifacts, and the world and technologies are seen as inherently non-neutral. Second, Albert Borgmann argues that we need to be cautious and rethink both the relationship as well as the often assumed correspondence between what we consider as useful and what we think of as good in terms of technology. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.