[IxDA Discuss] Defining UCD (and other things)

[Katie Albers]

Let me quote what Tog says in his article on the subject of 
Interaction Design 
<http://www.asktog.com/columns/057ItsTimeWeGotRespect.html>. He is 
talking about the founding of this organization and he refers to the 
article as "The most important I have ever written" and I suspect he 
has some insight into what the original view of the audience of this 
group was.

It's Time We Got Respect
October, 2003 Update

Organizing the new group is underway. Challis Hodge, David Heller, 
Jim Jarrett, Rick Cecil have formed a steering committee and the 
first discussions, centered on the new name of our profession, have 
taken place.

The concensus for the name of our profession is "Interaction 
Designer." One compelling reason for chosing this name, rather than 
the "Interaction Architect" I had proposed is that a growing number 
of jurisdictions forbid the use of the name "architect" by anyone 
other than a building designer. It is also confusingly similar in 
sound to "Information Architect," a title already in wide-spread use.

I am quite happy with the result. It was never my intention to thrust 
a name upon the group, but rather to launch a debate.

Visit the new group to find out what is happening and to get involved.

**************

I highly recommend reading the rest of the article. He has quite a 
lot to say on the question of the name and what practitioners the 
group was intended to represent. Much of it is particularly pertinent 
in connection with the question of What UCD Is and therefore Who We 
Are.

Katie
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Katie Albers
katie at firstthought.com