Ethical issues raised by the new orientations in ergonomics and living labs

Abstract

User Experience Theory (UXT) provides us with criteria for designing products and technical systems for everyday activities (playing, learning, working,…) so as to satisfy users. Living Labs (LL), are plateforms used for the design and evaluation of technical systems. As such, they constitute tools that bring to this process some constraints., However these constraints have to be articulated to the UXT. In other words, UXT should specify the place, the role and function LL should play in the design of new products, how it should contribute to satisfying UX, and how the methods and techniques should be conceived or borrowed from other disciplines. UXT also raises ethical issues: impartiality (independent, public, replicable) of research models in the context of economical constraints (dependant, private, secret prototypes) and of industrial pressure, the use of intrusive and persuasive techniques, even with the prior informed consent of participants, ergo-marketing, deontology codes, the use of specific participants, belonging of an UX innovative solution, confidentiality with ICT, and so on. Because the UX, as well as LL literature, have shown little concerns for ethical considerations, till now, we define LL-UX ethical issues as a new research topic, and we list a number of problems to be solved in order to have an ethical LL-UX methodology for open innovation.