1. michel.puech@paris-sorbonne.fr
4S/EASST Joint Conference 2012, October 17-20, 2012
Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Design and displacement
Michel PUECH
Philosophical bases for the acceptability
of Universal Design
Oct. 20, 2012
funding : ETOS (Éthique, Technologie, Organisations, Société)
Telecom ParisTech, Paris, France

2. introduction
“There is a danger that
Design may be perceived as a
top-down framing and
shaping of devices and
environments, conveying a
tinge of technocracy and
paternalism that does not fit
in the picture we have of the
new sets of common values.
It is crucial to consider how
UD will fit into the emergent
values of the 21st century”
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3. introduction
my point
in the immaterial (digital) world
access is a core value and is currently reshaping the
entire system of values
in the material world
we are more reluctant to implement access as a
universal value and right
→ a question in technoethics about the coevolution
and merging of digital and “real-world” values
→ (?) the constant effort of “control and command”
incumbents to delay change and maintain the top-
down management of human affairs
→ conflicts with the bottom-up, collaborative and
micro-action oriented emergent spirit of the digital
age – and particularly the acceptability trigger
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4. e-values
immaterial affluence (e-affluence): access as a
right!
Jeremy RIFKIN, The age of access (2000) →
The empathic civilization (2009)
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5. e-values
4 emergent e-values:
facilitation
transparency
collaborative processes
end-user design and generativity
ZITTRAIN Jonathan, The future of the Internet - and
how to stop it, Yale UP, 2009:
"Generativity is a system's capacity to produce
unanticipated change through unfiltered
contributions from broad and varied audiences."
(p. 70)
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6. e-values
compare the e-values with the 7 principles of
UD
(next slide)
apply these principles to the user's experience
on the website Amazon
possibly with MS Windows accessibility tools for the
impaired
compare with the “brick and mortar” bookshop
in the nearby city
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7. e-values
1. Equitable Use: The design is useful and marketable to people
with diverse abilities.
2. Flexibility in Use: The design accommodates a wide range of
individual preferences and abilities.
3. Simple and Intuitive: Use of the design is easy to understand,
regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language skills, or
current concentration level.
4. Perceptible Information: The design communicates necessary
information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or
the user's sensory abilities.
5. Tolerance for Error: The design minimizes hazards and the
adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.
6. Low Physical Effort: The design can be used efficiently and
comfortably and with a minimum of fatigue.
7. Size and Space for Approach and Use: Appropriate size
and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use
regardless of user's body size, posture, or mobility.
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8. material world
material affluence: access as a right?
the societal influence of online values
notion of user-experts in UD
technology perceived as a transparent facilitative
environment
but: neglect of material access as a right
the all too easy neglect of the real world, a common
ethical flaw
the lack of ethical care for the ordinary
“environments that can be accessed, understood
and used regardless of age, size and ability”: we
made it real in the virtual, what's next?
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9. acceptability
the ethics of acceptability
recent societal upheavals
the Indignados, Anonymous, 99%, Occupy
movements...
there seems to be only one trigger to mobilize
social energy: unacceptability
the non-acceptability of non-access
a good candidate for a transversal common value
real-world/e-world
a good trigger to mobilize social energy
a legitimate case for public action, when confronted to
the unacceptable
from Californian to Scandinavian spirit, in the
transition e-values / material implementation
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10. inspirations
implementing the acceptability of UD, free-style
inspirations
↔ ↔
facilitation and transparency
ramps/stairs // icons/console
voice recognition commands on new
generation smartphones - not adding a special
access but managing a single inclusive access
(non-suppressive) – the universal and the global
are no special feature but rather transparent
ordinary use 10

11. inspirations
collaborative processes
how can every person feel involved in the co-
conception of her material environment?
→ a wiki-environment
contributive, from disseminated initiatives, using
disseminated e-devices to collect and compile
micro-assessments and suggestions
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12. inspirations
end-user design and generativity
my favorite idea in UD:
every human is not a young (rich) anglophone male
in perfectly good health
→ apply it not only to the user-end, but to the
designer-end:
the designer is not a young (rich) anglophone male
in perfectly good health
they could have trouble finding a job
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13. inspirations
just imagine...
think again: he is (was) a young (rich)
anglophone male in perfectly good health
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14. inspirations
imagine a material environment mostly
designed by old (poor) sick ladies from Asia or
Africa...
it would terminate the automobile civilization, for
one thing
when joining a party of best-world-designers,
use this test: “where is the old poor sick
Asian/African lady?”
→ it gives a feeling of the tension between
Universal and Design, doesn't it?
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15. online access...
http://michel.puech.free.fr
this presentation
more
a forum
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