The politics of user friendly: A Techno-Anthropological investigation of the role(s) of UX in cultivating infrastructure in a Danish medical company
Authors
Jensen, Emma Karoline Dalgaard ; Holm, Caroline Reimers ; Jørgensen, Frederikke Rønnow
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2023
Submitted on
2023-05-31
Pages
92
Abstract
This thesis examines the roles that user experience (UX) professionals play in building and maintaining the information infrastructure at DMC, a Danish pharmaceutical company. By information infrastructure we mean the interconnected systems, standards, and practices that let data and work flow across the organization. UX work is often portrayed as simple and mechanical, but we show it is a complex socio-technical task that involves people, technologies, rules, and politics. Using ideas from infrastructure studies, we view infrastructure as an actor-network, a web of heterogeneous human and non-human actors such as users, software, devices, and policies. Through an infrastructural inversion approach (making normally invisible background systems and power dynamics visible), we analyze the practical and political work of establishing DMC's information infrastructure and the conflicts that arise along the way. Our analysis identifies four roles performed by the UX team: rescuers who are called in to fix breakdowns; negotiators who connect and broker relations between people and technologies and help users cope with imperfect systems; strategists who plan and target interventions in change initiatives to avert crises; and activists who promote UX as a gold standard in infrastructure change. We argue that UX professionals can act as central change agents in building and cultivating infrastructure, and that recognizing and supporting this often invisible work can lead to more effective and inclusive change.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvilken rolle fagfolk inden for brugeroplevelse (UX) spiller i opbygningen og vedligeholdelsen af informationsinfrastrukturen i DMC, en dansk medicinalvirksomhed. Med informationsinfrastruktur mener vi de sammenkoblede systemer, standarder og praksisser, der får data og arbejde til at flyde på tværs af organisationen. UX-arbejde fremstilles ofte som enkelt og mekanisk, men vi viser, at det er en kompleks socio-teknisk opgave, der involverer mennesker, teknologier, regler og politik. Med afsæt i infrastrukturstudier betragter vi infrastruktur som et aktør-netværk, altså et væv af heterogene menneskelige og ikke-menneskelige aktører som brugere, software, enheder og politikker. Gennem en infrastrukturel inversion (at gøre de normalt usynlige baggrundssystemer og magtforhold synlige) analyserer vi det praktiske og politiske arbejde med at etablere DMCs informationsinfrastruktur og de konflikter, der opstår undervejs. Vores analyse peger på fire roller, som UX-teamet udfører: redningshold, der tilkaldes ved sammenbrud; forhandlere, der forbinder mennesker og teknologier og hjælper brugere med at håndtere ufuldkomne systemer; strateger, der planlægger og målretter indsatser i forandringsinitiativer for at afværge kriser; og aktivister, der arbejder for at gøre UX til en guldstandard i infrastrukturelle ændringer. Vi argumenterer for, at UX-professionelle kan fungere som centrale forandringsagenter i opbygning og videreudvikling af infrastruktur, og at synliggørelse og støtte til dette ofte usynlige arbejde kan gøre forandringer mere effektive og inkluderende.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]