There's an argument that one distinctive feature of the Enlighment (read: Wester Civilization in its preferred form, at least for many people) is bases on this kind of critical engagement.
And I read a book once that locates that the seeds of this particular form of Western tritical thought firmly in the Middle Eastern prophetic tradition of speaking truth to secular powers. So maybe this is a nice thing about Middle Eastern Civilization also.
Ok, but in that most UX design (on the web at least) isn't being paid for by users, it is very often not always designed for the benefit of users. It's designed to encourage users along the path towards wherever whoever's paying for the UX design wants them to do (typically a shopping cart, or away from the "cancel my subscription" button). See "Dark Patterns" in UX to get a sense of how UX is perfectly capable of encoding bias / being evil, against the interests of users, or even usability.
The 4/4 time is a silly little example of course - chosen, I imagine, precisely because it's so silly and non controversial. But UX is a discourse of great power in our lives. And I don't see how employing critical though towards what it's actually doing is going to be a bad thing (much less how it's going to destroy Western Civilization).
Which has me thinking .. I should really try writing more in 3/4 time. Fight the Power!
And I read a book once that locates that the seeds of this particular form of Western tritical thought firmly in the Middle Eastern prophetic tradition of speaking truth to secular powers. So maybe this is a nice thing about Middle Eastern Civilization also.
Ok, this is pretty much nonsense. When we design a product that enables you to use different settings, we always default to the one that is most often used. This is UX design. It's fine to think about *why* this the most often used setting, but the have yet another racial and cultural foodfight over it is just not helpingl
Ok, but in that most UX design (on the web at least) isn't being paid for by users, it is very often not always designed for the benefit of users. It's designed to encourage users along the path towards wherever whoever's paying for the UX design wants them to do (typically a shopping cart, or away from the "cancel my subscription" button). See "Dark Patterns" in UX to get a sense of how UX is perfectly capable of encoding bias / being evil, against the interests of users, or even usability.
The 4/4 time is a silly little example of course - chosen, I imagine, precisely because it's so silly and non controversial. But UX is a discourse of great power in our lives. And I don't see how employing critical though towards what it's actually doing is going to be a bad thing (much less how it's going to destroy Western Civilization).
Which has me thinking .. I should really try writing more in 3/4 time. Fight the Power!