VANDERBEKEN
Théâtre grec. Curation. Anthologie. Annuaire. Hypertexte. Navigation hypertextuelle. Humanisme numérique. Ieml. Milad Doueihi. No More Users. I just wrote a little piece about how to write software, and it contained a few references to the humans who carry the mobile devices on which the software runs, and who interact with it.
I found myself referring to these individuals as “users” or “the user”. Gack; I hate that word. In fact, I hate it almost as much as the word “content” which, in the Internet-biz context means “Words and pictures and sounds that you create and I monetize.” Anyone who uses the acronym UGC in my presence should prepare for a nasty reaction. Adding to my discomfort with the term “user” is that I now work in the mobile space; mobile devices are extremely personal computers, and using faceless terms for the people we are trying to serve just feels all wrong.
Pertinence.