On May 6, Dr. Roger Clarke from the Australian National University, Canberra (Australia) will visit the ITeG. As part of his research visit to Kassel, the visiting scientist from Australia will give a research talk at the ITeG on the topic of "The Digital User/ee: Consumer, Actor or Participant?".

Roger Clarke has many years of experience as a consultant with a focus on strategic and political aspects in the areas of eBusiness, information infrastructure, data surveillance and data protection. He spent 10 years as a researcher in Information Systems at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra and continued his academic career as a Guest professor in Computer Science at ANU in Canberra and in Cyberspace Law and Policy at UNSW in Sydney.

Roger Clarke's research talk will take place on May 6, 2015 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the ITeG in Pfannkuchstr. 1, room 0420 (ground floor) in the ITeG lecture hall.

Research Talk:
The Digital User/ee: Consumer, Actor or Participant?

Abstract:
The 'digital business' and 'user, use and utility research' memes have at their core the concept of the digital user. This concept acknowledges that users can no longer be regarded as passive consumers, and takes advantage of their activity by capturing and exploiting it. The notion of the digital user doesn't yet perceive people as participants. It also overlooks the considerable number of circumstances in which people are 'usees' rather than 'users'.
This presentation reviews the dark side of current business models and the philosophy underlying them. It then discusses the notion of perspective in IS research, and the lack of attention to perspectives other than that of the corporation. It proposes adjustments to current approaches, in order to integrate the interests of people, and to avoid business inviting further rounds of impediments and active opposition by the people it deals with.