Speculative Usability

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 2016

Nathaniel Rivers ; Lars Söderlund Western Oregon University

Abstract

This article introduces Speculative Usability. Whereas traditional models of usability rely on the salient features of an object–user relationship focused around the uses for which the object was designed, the goal of Speculative Usability is to notice an object as it interacts with other objects (in addition to but including human users) and to be vulnerable to an object’s unintended effects. The payoff of this speculative approach is an increased inventional capacity for usability testing.

Journal: Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published: 2016-01-01
DOI: 10.1177/0047281615600635
Open Access: Closed
Topics: multimodality technical communication

Citation Context

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