The Rhetoric of Influence: Models for User-Centered Collaboration Uday Gajendar UI Design Group, Oracle Corp. 500 Oracle Parkway Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA +1 650 506 3643
[email protected] ABSTRACT UCD experts leverage their high-level view of a problem in The goal of this paper is to suggest rhetorical strategies for discussions with others from differing (yet complementary) influencing stakeholders in a user-centered collaborative disciplines? Perhaps we should consider a step beyond process. I propose rhetoric as a guide to framing UCD, towards the art of rhetoric. interdisciplinary dialogue, thus empowering designers as RHETORICAL MODELS agents for positive change. Two ideas from scholars of Rhetoric is commonly seen as sly doubletalk by politicians rhetoric are offered: the rhetorical stance and rhetorical and scheming salespeople. Beyond this negative meaning, situation. What emerges is the theme of communication rhetoric is in fact a Classical art originating 2,500 years informing successful design practice. ago, formalized by Aristotle in a treatise to become a Keywords practical discipline devoted to studying and performing Rhetoric, user-centered design, influence, persuasion persuasive public speech [4]. As a situated “art of communication”, rhetoric offers strategies to shape INTRODUCTION people’s actions and thoughts with language [4]. Two A colleague likes to tell me that design is the easy part, but scholars offer particular models that bear upon product the hard part is convincing the right people to implement development process— Wayne Booth with his “rhetorical the recommendations. I’d like to suggest that persuading stance” and Lloyd Bitzer with his “rhetorical situation”.