What are the ethical possibilities of web design? This book seeks answers to the pessimistic claim that the work is self-exploitative and devoid of values. It is part of a larger research project on counterbalancing critical and negative dimensions in cultural work. Using theoretical and empirical reasoning, Kennedy analyses working practices and conditions of web designers, whilst taking into consideration the ethics and values of practitioners that underpin cultural labour.
The author begins by outlining the reason for writing this book, and quotes from references to the literature that influenced her research. After a short history of web design beginning with Tim Berners-Lee (TBL) in 1991, she provides a rigorous examination of web design, focusing on the distinct ways in which ethics and values surface in the field.
Early chapters in Part 2 concentrate on issues specific to web design, from TBL's dream of an open, inter-operable and accessible medium characterised by ethical considerations to the introduction of web standards and the Web Standards Project (WaSP), based on a set of ethical values that is self-regulated by web designers. Mention is also made of CSS Zen Garden, which set out to change how web design is perceived aesthetically.
The concerns of web designers with web accessibility for people with disabilities are examined, and barriers and obstacles are discussed. Reference is made to data from recent research, including Inclusive New Media Design (INMD). Kennedy reports on a move to make the web accessible for people with intellectual disabilities, but the imperfections of WCAG guidance are not helpful.
The next two chapters examine two issues relating to cultural industries:
free labour; and
celebrity culture.
The former looks at how web designers respond to user activity, whilst the latter is an integral part of web design. Such reputation-building activities are seen as a form of self-branding. Kennedy discusses these practices, maps the rise of celebrity in web design plus the skills required, and concludes that the new economics of self-presentation seems more important than the skill on which the brand is based.
The final chapter summarises the main argument of the book and reflects on its implications for the future of web design and studies of cultural work. It highlights ethics and values as a goal for some web designers in the future, with their commitments to knowledge sharing, improving the web, web standards and accessibility.
The aim of this book is to fill a gap in academic studies and to raise the profile of web designers. The limitations are its UK/USA bias, ethical arguments that may only apply to liberal societies, and the way it prioritises practices over products. It is a thought-provoking book, well written and researched, has an excellent bibliography and index and presents web designers in a different light.
