The Limits of User-Centered Design: The Case Study of an e-Government Initiative

For at least two decades, the user-centered design (UCD) approach to designing software, in particular web sites, has been hailed as the best way to create technologies that people find useful and pleasing. Focusing on and satisfying the users' needs and desires is the cornerstone of modern user-centered design, and UCD practitioners in the field often find themselves advocating for users in the face of conflicting needs from companies' engineering, management, or sales teams. However, what happens when the users' needs conflict directly with the needs of a different kind of stakeholder – the government? I use the case study of an e-Government initiative in the Netherlands to illustrate the ways in which UCD and e-Government conflict and also to argue that the traditional practice of UCD cannot, and perhaps should not, fare well, in e-Government initiatives.

Dr. Nalini P. Kotamrajun.p.kotamraju@utwente.nlUniversity of Twentehttp://www.gw.utwente.nl/tpc/mw/Kotamraju/Assistant Professor, Department of Communication StudiesTechnical & Professional Communication Workgroup