User Error: Resisting Computer Culture [Paperback]

Ellen Rose (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2003

User Error explodes the myth of computer technology as juggernaut. Multimedia educator Ellen Rose shows that there is no bandwagon, no out-of-control dynamo, no titanic conspiracy to overwhelm us. Instead, there is our own desire to join the fraternity of users, a fraternity that confers legitimacy and power on those who enter the brave new world. Rose exposes how we surrender decision-making power in personal and workplace computing situations. As users we willingly grant authority to the creators of software, support materials, and the seductive infrastructure of technocracy. "Smart" users are rewarded; reluctant users are pathologized. User identity is deliberately constructed at the crossroads of industry, consumer demand, and complicity. User Error sounds a timely alarm, calling on all of us who use the new technologies to recognize how we are being co-opted. With awareness we can reassert our own responsibility and power in this increasingly important interaction. Savvy, accessible, and up-to-date, User Error offers insight, inspiration, and strategies of resistance to general readers, technology professionals, students, and scholars alike.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

"Over the centuries the idea that technological developments are the key to human progress has become entrenched as a mythology, by which I mean that it is a truism we no longer question or even think about."

Ellen Rose

in conversation with Ansely Wong, July 2003

ANSELY WONG: Who do you see as the audience for User Error?

ELLEN ROSE: I had a fairly diverse audience in mind as I was writing this book. Certainly, anyone who has ever used a computer or whose life has been affected by computerization--in other words, just about everyone--should be able to relate to the issues User Error raises. And I made it a point to write in a style that would be accessible to the general public, not just to academics or people involved in the information technology industry.

AW: How is User Error different from other books on computers and society?

ER: Most other books on computers and society have a very definite focus on the technology itself. More and more people are becoming computer users-and by this I mean not just users of PCs but also of ATMs, Palm Pilots, computerized home appliances, and so forth-but we continue to give very little thought to the role of the user, or to the way that role is constructed by computer software, user documentation, and so forth. Even books that address the social impacts of computerization are, when you come right down to it, focused on computers, not on the people who interact with them on a daily basis. With User Error, I sought to remedy this situation by offering a detailed exploration of the nature and social implications of computer use.

AW: You use the word "technolust" throughout the book. What does this word mean, and what effect does it have on modern society?

ER: The word is ironic in that it is part of the new vocabulary of computerization-words prefaced by "techno-", "cyber-", or just plain "e"-which is in itself an expression of our society's technolust. Technolust as I use it denotes the social and personal yearning to acquire technology and to be considered, by virtue of a knowledge and use of technology, "smart." It has as much to do with a fear of being left behind as it does with an overwhelming desire to partake of the power of technology. And lust is, I think, an appropriate term, given how little this desire is tempered by a consideration of the consequences of computer use. For example, it's largely technolust that keeps us buying upgrades of Microsoft Word, even though the improvements are dubious at best and the program is actually becoming absurdly complex, bug-ridden, and unwieldy.

AW: You mention that the major players in the industry, including IBM, Compaq and Macintosh, use marketing techniques to persuade consumers that computers will "empower" us, and make us "smart." Why do you think this approach is so effective?

ER: There's a whole mythology surrounding computer use. It goes back to that period of history known as the Enlightenment. During the 1700s, people began to reject the ways of knowing that had sustained society until then-for example, religious belief, traditional legends and lore-and to regard science and technology as the only sources of true knowledge. Over the centuries the idea that technological developments are the key to human progress has become entrenched as a mythology, by which I mean that it is a truism we no longer question or even think about. When advertisers tell us that computer use will empower us and make us smart, they are simply tapping into that powerful mythology. They're telling us what we expect and, in a way, want to hear.

AW: The issue of how computers and technology affect society is increasingly becoming a crucial concern as technology becomes more advanced. What specifically propelled you to write this book, and why now?

ER: In many ways, I've been writing this book in my head for several years. I worked in the software development field for about fifteen years, and was therefore immersed in computer culture, but always in a role in which I served as the end user's representative or primary contact. Over the years, having a foot in both camps, I often heard programmers and tech support workers talk about the idiocy of users-in fact, my title comes from a joke a programmer shared with me-while at the same time I often heard users talk about how they felt the softwa

About the Author

Ellen Rose holds the McCain/Aliant-Telecom Chair in Education and Multimedia at the University of New Brunswick. She directs a graduate programme in instructional design. In addition to numerous journal articles on media, technology, and pedagogy, she has published Hyper Texts: The Language and Culture of Educational Computing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Between the Lines (September 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1896357792
• ISBN-13: 978-1896357799
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,771,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating social insight, if awkwardly conveyed, June 16, 2005

By 

K.M. (Albany, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: User Error: Resisting Computer Culture (Paperback)

This is an illuminating study of the social hierarchy of computer knowledge and how the lowest class, the "User," was constructed. The author puts forth that technological advancement has, instead of liberating the User, subjected him to greater bondage as he becomes a slave to technology and a pawn in informational politics. Why are Users compelled to pursue needless upgrades? Is there really a need to expose children to technology in elementary school? What's behind the software makers' ostensible interest in their users' needs? These are among many questions that Rose addresses in her thought-provoking analysis.

This book will be a revelatory read for many people who work directly with "end users" in the information technology field. This book is *not* for self-important technicians who already relentlessly despise the User for his ignorance -- if that's you (you know who you are), you will probably learn nothing here. But if you seek a deeper understanding of why people interact with technology the way they do, you'll gain a lot from this book.

My main complaint is that the author employs long, burdensome sentences that make the book read like a thick college text. A more succinct style would have made it much more enjoyable.

3.0 out of 5 stars Berglund Center for Internet Studies Review by Jeffrey Barlow, May 11, 2011

By 

Berglund Center for Internet Studies - See all my reviews

This review is from: User Error: Resisting Computer Culture (Paperback)

As acting book review editor of Interface, I prefer to review books that I can heartily recommend. Most of us are so busy that reading even one book a month can be a challenge. This is not such a book, yet from a particular critical perspective it is nonetheless a potentially useful one. If you are yourself suspicious of the passion for computers and the Internet, or want to understand a more critical scholarly perspective, then this is the book for you. It is practically a pastiche of critical scholarship. Many pages consist largely of references or quotations strung together to suit the author's purposes...

For a full review see Interface, Volume 3, Issue 9.