Balancing Transparency and Agency: The Case for Determined Agency Design (DAD)
We’re at a point where algorithms shape everything from the content we see to the products we buy. As such, the need for a balanced approach to digital experiences has never been more critical. Over the course of my career I’ve developed a framework that reflects what I think is the best balance between user control and platform-driven curation, Determined Agency Design (or DAD, because who doesn’t love a good acronym). This framework has its roots in my graduate school work on the history and influence of Computer Mediated Communications (a neighbor of sorts to Human Computer Interaction) and applies the decades of experience crafting experiences for users across multiple industries.
At its core, DAD allows users to define the extent to which AI and algorithms influence their content consumption while empowering platforms to enhance content creation through algorithmic guidance.
Why Balance Matters
Most platforms today either give users full control (leading to choice paralysis) or rely entirely on algorithms (creating filter bubbles and echo chambers). DAD finds a middle ground by offering transparency and agency at the user-platform interaction point.
Users Control Their Consumption Experience
DAD allows users to determine when and how algorithms shape their feed, search results, or recommendations. This approach increases transparency, empowering individuals to adjust their level of algorithmic influence based on their preferences.Platforms Guide Content Creation Through AI
When users create content, DAD states that platforms should encourage the use of algorithmic enhancements, offering tools that assist in format, engagement insights, and audience reach. This ensures that creators benefit from AI-driven tools without feeling constrained or manipulated by the platform.
Breaking up the Echo Chambers
People tend to create content similar to what they’ve created before and what they’ve consumed before. This repetition reinforces the narrowing of viewpoints leading to a less diverse online ecosystem. DAD challenges this by encouraging the introduction of content inspirations from outside a user’s existing patterns, expanding their online experience without disrupting their agency.
Creating a More Inclusive Society
This UX paradigm reduces algorithmic bias by allowing users to control the influence of AI on their experiences. Doing this inherently encourages exposure to more diverse content. And it does this without forcing users into unfamiliar spaces - a difficult proposition and one that in all honesty I don’t think is possible in the current societal climate.
It also promotes ethical AI use by ensuring transparency in content exposure and creation tools. By exposing AI’s influence, DAD ensures users aren’t just consumers of content but active participants in the shaping of their digital experiences.
The Future of User Experience: A Call for Determined Agency Design
As digital interactions become increasingly AI-driven, Determined Agency Design presents a third way (as opposed to full user or algorithmic control) one that respects individual choice while leveraging AI to enhance, not dictate, digital experiences.
I’ve always believed in the ability of well designed products to solve problems without introducing anxiety or stress. Clarity of purpose and transparency of function. My belief is that UX and content design needs to embrace this balance or eventually we’ll have nothing more than machines making content and platforms for machines with humans being nothing more than stressed spectators.
Determined Agency Design is one way to ensure that the user is always at the center of the conversation. Want to talk more about the impact of agency in UX design? Get in touch!