[IxDA Discuss] Use of "Your" or "My" in Personalized Web Application Design

[Nasir Barday]

Funny you mention this-- I'm actually waiting for a Product Developer
to get back to me about a design I did involving "My" for
personalization. This very minute.

We've all kind of settled on "My" as a standard way to indicate
personal options. I suppose it's all about how you want to frame the
dialog. Where does the boundary between the firm/provider and the user
lie? If we use"Your," we extend the boundary of the system all the way
to the user's desktop. But if we say "My," the personalized data lies
on the user's side of the interaction, which is why when she
manipulates it, she "owns" the information.

And if you want to strip that emotion altogether, you can just drop
the My/Your modifier. e.g. "My Favorites" --> "Favorites." Less
mushiness, if your client is after that.

I agree with Stewart's notion of evaluating whether the
personalization is needed at all-- sometimes sites go overboard with
giving users control, copping out of design decisions by making them
preferences, or burdening users with content organization.

- Nasir