IT in society: a multi-disciplinary course

The authors describe a course, the aim of which is to provide a multi-faceted understanding of the interactions between technology, users and designers. This involves examining each type of interaction-between users, between designer and user, between user and system, between designer and system and looking at how other factors (e.g., environmental, social, cognitive) influence each interaction. This requires particular attention to interactions between people and to the ways in which technology influences them, for example, looking at interactions between users and how those interactions are affected by the computer systems employed. Considering these interactions between users draws on areas like cognitive psychology, group dynamics, psychology of language, discourse, and inter-cultural communication.