Experience Design at the IxDA Conference

I'm in Vancouver for the IxDA conference, and while the conference hasn't officially started yet, I'm already in the thick of interaction mayhem. I gave a talk today at Simon Fraser University, in Ron Wakkary's course; the title was "Experience Design is a Bunch of Horse-Shit", and the talk obviously generated some good discussion. I'm not the first to point out the disservice our industry has caused by claiming to control experiences; Hugh Dubberly's article on The Experience Cycle notes that:

Of course, producers (and designers) have goals for their customers' experience. But all they can do is provide artifacts and services that create opportunities for experience. We should be cautious about proposing to "design experience." Ultimately, construction of experience remains with the customer. You own your experience; no one else can construct it for you. In John Dewey's words, "a beholder must create his own experience."

This talk emphasizes the same point, building on - and emphasizing - the importance of allowing people to embody their own experiences, in all of their rich complexity. You can grab my slides here.