Column: Envisioning New Horizons

Data privacy has transformed from a niche concern to a global imperative. Recent trends reveal a significant shift in consumer attitudes toward data protection, particularly in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The Cisco 2022 Consumer Privacy Survey [1] paints a compelling picture: In 2023, an overwhelming 81% of users expressed apprehension about corporate data practices. Moreover, 64% of respondents reported avoiding businesses because of data-security concerns, while a striking 76% stated that they would stop purchasing products and services from companies that mishandle their personal information.

These statistics underscore a growing trend in which users prioritize privacy in their digital interactions. In response to this evolving landscape, experts have introduced the concept of the privacy experience (PX), which advocates for the seamless integration of data privacy and UX design. This approach places users’ needs at the forefront, empowering them with granular control over their personal data throughout their digital journeys. [2] Read More

Just a few years ago, UX professionals weren’t talking about topics such as user privacy, technological governance, cybersecurity, or sustainable information technology (IT) as much as we are now. We have come to an inflection point in the history of the Web and are now seeing some unintended implications of the digital innovations that have bubbled up on the Internet—from online fraud to mental-health issues to unsustainable consumerism. However, the ways in which we, as UX professionals, do our work has not yet caught up with these issues.

As I touched upon in a previous column, UX design practices still hinge upon principles that maximize productivity, efficiency, and cognitive ease, in ways that are fundamentally at odds with some of the priorities and values that are emerging today. The formalization of these principles is grounded in the notion of user-centered design (UCD), a paradigm that gained steam at the onset of the Internet era, in the late ’90s. [1]

If people’s attitudes toward and needs for digital experiences are shifting, why are we still using the same UX design methods that made sense for the burgeoning Web? Read More

In February 2024, Fast Company [1] reported on the rise of conversational AI search engines. Large language models (LLM) power these tools, which can answer users’ questions by retrieving and summarizing information from the Internet.

Since the rise of generative AI, several conversational AI search applications have cropped up online. Academic and scientific research is spearheading a wave of experimentation in this field. [2] Frenzied enthusiasm exists around what seems to be a new way of searching for content that provides an alternative to the Google model of search to which we’ve all become accustomed. Read More