Discursive Construction of Usability Work in the Cultural Context of Software Product Development

Users should be involved in the interactive systems development. However, involving users is often difficult and rare, especially in the product development context, referring to the development of commercial software products or systems. This paper critically examines user involvement in the cultural context of three software product development organizations. User involvement is indirect and labeled as usability work. Empirical, qualitative material has been gathered from the organizations during three years time. A set of discourses constructing usability work and its cultural context are identified by following a poststructuralist, Foucauldian approach. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.