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Sun, Oct 14, 2007

Business, Content, Design

In & Out Employees, uploaded by SeraphimC When desigining a user interface, we often take into account the motivation level of our users. It's a critical factor in determining just how likely Joe or Jane Employee will be to learn and use, say, the new touch-screen order-taking system. Even if users are required to use a system, there's no guarantee that they will feel motivated to enter data correctly or thoroughly. (And dirty data is a widespread problem.) So, imagine if you are designing a system for hourly wage earners at a retail store or, worse yet, a fast-food chain? A just released study by the The National Survey on Drug Use and Health ranked depression among adults by occupation. No surprise that food workers are near the top of the list. Do they bring their depression to the job or does the ceaseless grind of meaningless work drive them into depression? I won't even speculate, because I'm sure the causes are complex and also vary greatly from one individual to the next. Regardless, the reality of life in many workplaces is that many employees just don't care. And that poses a challenge for designers of software and web-based applications. So, how do you approach the writing and design of a system if you know that your users are likely to be depressed, unmotivated or even hostile? Can you humanize an application so that it engenders positive feelings in its users? Is there a place for humor in task-focused applications? Can you create a application that helps raise the flagging spirits of despondent employees while they do their work?

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Don Ball - who has written 91 posts on Buy Soma Online Without Prescription.


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