Here is Rebecca’s entry for Task 10: Attention Economy:

Rebecca Hydamacka – TASK 10: ATTENTION ECONOMY

And here is my entry:

Task 10: Attention Economy

Task 10! What a fun experience that everyone enjoyed. I think everyone’s posts about this task likely share several common keywords: “frustration,” “annoying,” and “confusion”. Is that something that an educational task should strive for? In this one case, yes. Rebecca and I shared common experiences of frustration and confusion, and we noticed many of the same things about the design, but we had a key difference: I attempted and completed the ‘game’ in one relatively brief try, and did not return for more punishment, but Rebecca came and went and ultimately attempted the ‘game’ three times. Once was more than enough for me!

It is interesting how we shared similar experiences and made many of the same observances of the ‘game’, but our reaction in the moment while completing it was clearly very different. I have some experience with the principles of good user interface (UI) design, and so found this task both enlightening about some UI design choices and principles, as well as deeply offensive to my idea of the way websites & apps ‘should’ be designed. I get from Rebecca’s description of her difficulty getting past several parts of the ‘game’ that she perhaps didn’t grasp in the moment why it was doing what it was doing. While I was playing, I typically understood the choices that were made, and that they were always the opposite of what a good non-dark design should be, and I think that helped me to understand what needed to be done to progress. This is a case where a specific literacy really helps – understanding what is usually done, and why, helped me speed through the process. It didn’t reduce my frustration though! Perhaps you could say that Rebecca probably was more frustrated, because it took her longer, though.

I think this task, and our two different experiences of it, show how important literacy of a specific technology or technology design is. While there is no real negative consequence to taking an hour to get through this game versus taking 5 minutes, if this was a real process that people had to get through, it would have a real, measurable impact on people. Imagine for example if many of these dark design choices were used in filling out a required form to get a driver’s license or to sign up for health insurance. Making it easier for people would of course be the most ethical thing to do, but even when it is a more ethical design, literacy of the technology design is going to make it easier for some people to get through the process, or get through it quicker, which could have a big impact on a societal level. The other thing to consider is that many times dark designs are used, even for these important and necessary processes in life, no matter that it is unethical. Then the literacy becomes even more important, as if someone had to come back three times to get through filling out a form or signing up for a service, many are not going to complete it at all.