dear erik and list,
i agree, it is always the designers' decision to circumscribe the
stakeholders s/he wants to consider. this said, it would be foolish to
leave out interested parties to whom a design could matter. how one
consults them or whether one works with them is a totally different issue
this applies especially to stakeholders that oppose one's design or are
simply difficult. the reasons for their opposition may be political,
ecological, financially, or whatever. the point is to convert potential
opponents into supporters. the latter has been more or less accomplished
regarding ecological advocacy groups. i think most designers are now aware
that this is a stakeholder group one doesn't want to have as an opponent,
hence sustainable design.
regarding the issue of legitimacy that ken raises, i don't think this
matters at all -- unless you are a lawyer or want to go into court to
prevent someone from opposing your interests. stakeholders always (maybe
one can qualify it by saying mostly) consider themselves legitimate in their
own terms, and their interests, their resources, their conceptions do
matter, whether one considers the them legitimate or not.
also ethical issues, in my opinion, are secondary to the role of
stakeholders. if someone designs something that offends another group or
curtails their income, i would expect that this group will shout,
demonstrate, boycott the product, and drive it out of the market. if nobody
cares, then it is ethical for all practical purposes. competitors tend to
be stakeholders in a particular domain, sometimes regarding very specific
technologies. luckily, we have rules not to get competition out of hand.
but competitors are often formidable stakeholders.
klaus
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Erik
Stolterman
Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2007 3:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Interests - Legitimacy - Research
Dear Francois and list
I appreciate the perspective Francois takes (see below) when he writes that
it is up to the designer to "determine" who are stakeholders and how to
relate and give weight to each of their desires, values and needs. The list
of possible stakeholders in each design situation is basically infinite if
we increase the space that the design can potentially influence. Even the
smallest design, such as a pen or piece of software, might influence the
future of the planet (it takes a bit of imagination, but it is possible).
So, at some level every living and future living person is a potential
stakeholder (this has eloquently been developed by C. West Churchman).
So, in every design situation who is the stakeholder is a design. It is a
design that is a result of the designers judgment, in relation to intention.
Therefore also always an ethical judgment that ultimately rests on the
designers values and character.
Ok, maybe a too abstract view on the question on interests and
stakeholders... :-)
Erik
> Francois wrote:
> Obviously, no one would be in a position to deal with all the
> requirements of all potential "stakeholders". It is then up to each
> expert, each in respective subfield of Design, to determine (a
> professionally enlightened decision) the closeness within which one is
> to intervene: who are the "stakeholders" I wish to deal with in order
> of priority, and within "contingencies" (dixit H.A. Simon) also
> ordered according to their relative pressure.
-----------------------------------------
Erik Stolterman, Ph.D.
Professor of Informatics
Director of Human Computer Interaction
School of Informatics
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN
Home page: http://design.informatics.indiana.edu/erik/
My Blog: http://transground.blogspot.com/
Phone: (812) 856 5803
Fax: (812) 856 1995
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