HYDERABAD: Technology has been making man’s life better, as he finds easier ways to get things done. It’s World Usability Day, a day to promote and create awareness about the sensible, easy and stress-free use of technology.
With the theme this year being ‘Design of Our Online World: Trust, Ethics and Integrity’, we get in touch with one of the top IT professionals in the city, who helps us understand how better technology can improve and impact lives. Ganesh Katrapati, executive committee member and Swecha, Member of the General Council, and researcher at IIT Hyderabad, talks to us about the ways technology can be used without causing much stress.
“The goal of technology is not just to make something easier but to also promote equality. It should be easy and non-discriminatory. An easy bank transaction is a good example of technology making life stress-free. Technology by itself is not a good or a bad thing but the progress it makes must be good.” Ganesh believes that the problem with technology today is with the way it is being designed and displayed.
“It is increasingly becoming divisive with each passing day. A person’s access to the Internet or a website depends on the languages they know, because undoubtedly, English is the most dominant language. Not all languages can boast of the same accessibility to information. So the problem here is that it is not easily available to a wide majority of people. Technology must strive to change that. Sometimes technology is designed in a way that most aren’t comfortable with. This makes life more complicated than easy,” he shares.
Helping us understand the theme ‘Design of Our Online World: Trust, Ethics and Integrity’, Ganesh explains, “Where’s there’s no transparency, trust is always lacking. Transparency is a fundamental necessity, but it is not sufficient.
You need the communities’ support because solutions lie within the community. It should not just have to be built by a corporate firm, it can and must be built by people themselves too. It is through our community that we can make our voice heard. It is by being transparent and ethical in building technologies for various purposes, that one can win people’s confidence about their product.”