The User
Looking at most software products today, I wonder who is using whom. Is the user using the product or is the product using the users? Anyways, that's tough to change and not the question here. The question is whether we should still call them users?
I think the term "Interactor" sounds good, as suggested in this MIT article. An even better idea that's mentioned here, is to switch to the default names: like "patients" in healthtech, "students" in edutech, "shoppers" in eCommerce and so on.
At times the term "user" does not have proper context when you're dealing with complex applications associated with a range of users and one needs to constantly mention the type of user one is actually referring to. Switching to default names, works best. Let's keep it simple. It gives us a good context, sounds more human, and also helps us to easily visualize their fundamental high-level needs.
This article also reminds me of the book Computers as Theatre where Author Brenda Laurel mentioned that, whenever she sees the term "user", drug users come to mind. If you ask me, in most cases today, products have stayed true to this name, and really turned users into addicts in so many ways. Going back to the first question I asked in this post. Who is using whom?
It's quite hard to change well proliferated terms and jargon overnight in an industry. Hopefully we'll find better names as we progress into a new world of AI and discover a better name for the user, the user experience industry, and the practitioners.
I think the term "Interactor" sounds good, as suggested in this MIT article. An even better idea that's mentioned here, is to switch to the default names: like "patients" in healthtech, "students" in edutech, "shoppers" in eCommerce and so on.
At times the term "user" does not have proper context when you're dealing with complex applications associated with a range of users and one needs to constantly mention the type of user one is actually referring to. Switching to default names, works best. Let's keep it simple. It gives us a good context, sounds more human, and also helps us to easily visualize their fundamental high-level needs.
This article also reminds me of the book Computers as Theatre where Author Brenda Laurel mentioned that, whenever she sees the term "user", drug users come to mind. If you ask me, in most cases today, products have stayed true to this name, and really turned users into addicts in so many ways. Going back to the first question I asked in this post. Who is using whom?
It's quite hard to change well proliferated terms and jargon overnight in an industry. Hopefully we'll find better names as we progress into a new world of AI and discover a better name for the user, the user experience industry, and the practitioners.
Interactor.
