"Jan Coker" <[log in to unmask]> wrote : > Cameron, > Cameron > Thankyou for setting some early discussion points in a discussion of design > research ethics and gender polities. The points you make are some of the > intellectual ethical issues which have been I think generally ignored by a > designer population in the west which is approximately 90% male. It raises the > issue of gender in terms of politics, ethics, and power. I am interested in > whether we can shift into a discussion which can start with a premise that > humans have characteristics, rights and responsibilities that are not delimited > by gender. Hopefully we don't have to go back to the basics of the 70s and > discuss whether there are prescriptive gender characteristics beyond the > obvious physical differences of sexual attributes and capabilities. There are > qualities which have been slotted into gender which are not gender specific but > human. Some examples are compassion, anger, tenderness, caring, determination, > etc. > > Like racism and homophobia, gender stereotypes may be blocking good design from > being accessible to society and human populations. The issue of what is > acceptable commercial design research is a big one. Can designers tell big lies > as a part of trying to "get the design right" or "sell the most products", do > people have the right to speak on their own behalf? When can that speaking be > an advantage to design development and what are ways that can be effectively > done. Do commercial agendas preclude honesty? Do designers have any special > need for clear ethical boundaries similar to doctors (of course I am not really > holding the medical profession up as an example just the Hippocratic oath). > Feel compelled to share some personal feelings here. Hope the list doesn't mind. Anyway here goes : If there were no form of discrimination of any kind, the world would have stocked only fine and useful products on the shelves. We would not have big problems or rather silly but harmful ones around. I used to just take away what I don't like to read in the papers, namely politics and business. The reading exercise goes like this : Anything about Business--->crushed and sent into bin; anything about Politics -->page co-shredded by pup and me; before shooting them to the bin. I was the merry shredder and newspaper ball thrower. I tore pages out after skimming the headlines, the pages I don't like to read. I admit it was damn fun but I think I learnt a lot too that shredding doesn't throw away problems. I later learnt that it was far better and economical to finish reading them before using them as 'puddle' paper for pups. I still don't have good impressions of politics and business as I don't believe they really solve problems. The more you learn about them the more you are convinced they merely move around problems. I never like how some business people shed their workers in the light of resizing/rationalisation, then offer large sums to Charities. But it happens. But I want to know what I shreded now despite I dread them. The reason why good products rarely go through the lines because the people who created them are not as aware about both business and politics as strategies. I believe we have the ethics in place. But there are always people who run around them. So the root is how to prevent people from bending rules. Commercial agendas often are smart culprits of rule bending. So when you happend to read too many ads for a particular product, beware. All products need some form of promotional help, but fine products do not need a lot of advertising. How many times do we see a so-so product that goes pass ethics and even good design basics ? The fact is people. People make the rules, form cliques, make roads with inroads and side paths; people form what is prefrential and discrimatory based on money and power objectives. Luckily we also form what we believe in fairness and righteousness. Its a matter of people and principle. I was fortunate the last time both my written ideas and design concepts were taken away from me, that they only took what is the skin of the work to benefit one of their kind. That person took it, modified it with the help of fellow gang, obviously benefitted big time, while putting me down. So definitely I remember that very solidly that some people are just what they are even when you have been kind. Were there rules in place ? Yes there were. Were they bent ? Yes they did. But was there anything I could do ? Nothing. Because it was basically about people and I was at the wrong time in a bad place with unscrupulous people. Fortunate to keep myself one piece is what I am thinking now. However, it made me more careful and definitely much wiser. Rules are dead. But people are not. So how to handle people should be emphasized other than setting the ethics in. Do I loose hope in humanity ? Nay. In fact, it made me believe that if you are straight and honest, somehow you are protected. Karen Fu