What Is the Scope and Meaning of User Centricity?
User centricity is not just about consumers’ approach to marketing and relations between providers and users, sellers and buyers, nor just about user experience, user friendliness, and design adaptability.
In the digital world, where user accessibility, user voice and user participation are easily enabled, user centricity is about the active place of users in systems that are there to serve users in the first place, the active role of users, not just in using systems, but in actively engaging, influencing and shaping them in order to become truly reflective of what’s best for the users.
In government systems, the states need to adopt a management system that reflects its duty to serve its citizens. In these dynamic times, e-government, just like any commercial business, needs to build a system that will cater for its users’ needs, and not like, in times past, unilaterally push its policy at its citizens. Democratic states are primarily for us, citizens. E government systems are parts of efforts to bring citizens closer to the governing bodies, in operational and technical matters, and also in involvement in the policy making – as a means to gain our trust that our representatives and governing bodies are indeed acting for our best interests.
If this process is not reciprocal, it’s the citizens’/users prerogative, or in fact right, to get raged enough to remind its leaders that the systems that we are part of, have been originally built by people who were motivated by visions, ideals, social rights and a need for better life.
Stephane Hessel, a 93 years old French former diplomat, fought during World War II in the French resistance. He has recently published a manifesto Indignez Vous or its English version Time for Outrage – a call to the French youth to re-embrace the values of the resistance in France and to actively assume our role as users of the system and make sure that it is properly run – in the spirit and according to its original purpose. It became an amazing publishing phenomenon when upon its appearance; this short “new red book” sold over 1.5 million copies during a very short time in France and Britain,
E-patients, is another example of a very influencing user centricity role in the medical world. It is a health consumer organization that envisions health care as an equal partnership between e-patients and health professionals and systems that support them.Created bottom-up by patients who wanted better information and learning from others’ experience, it empowers patient engagement and active role in the treatment of their medical conditions, relating to individuals who are equipped, enabled, empowered and engaged in their health and health care decisions.
It resulted in a change of relations between patients and doctors because patients/users’ accessibility to better health information that influenced and changed doctors’ attitude and even knowledge and data bases, once users collectively take an active approach to their medical dialogs.
These two examples amplify the scope and meaning of user centered – a true user centric view puts the user at the center – not just as a lip service. It’s up to us, users, to put ourselves in the center of systems with which we engage and engage and influence to help shape it so it really accommodates us.
For information on user centricity from an Icentered point of view, return on attention, the social, marketing, philosophical and economic aspects, you must click – Icentric or can also visit http://www.icentered.com
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