Stop using "users"! An examination of word usage in CHI literature and the impact of objectifying people

Abstract

In this paper we describe, though a philological and philosophical investigation, what we think the effects of the word "user" are on HCI research. By recognizing the words themselves carry historical meanings and semiotic/semantic suggestions we will attempt to show that a shift in terminology, replacing "user" with "human" or "person", will positively affect not just our use of jargon, but our fundamental concerns with design. Through a study of the word itself, its historical usage in the English language, and then its usage in the corpus of CHI scholarship, we will attempt to show that a consideration of these factors could drastically change how we envision and interpret the work of our own community.