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reflect both operational and measurement difficulties and philosophical differences. I will briefly
mention three such issues. Firstly, conventional data-gathering instruments may not be enough to
measure the range of responses associated with the aesthetic experience. This calls for the develop-
ment of novel measures, whether behavioral (e.g., Desmet et al., 2000) or physiological (Cela-Conde
et al., 2004). Secondly, it is difficult to operationalize and to manipulate the interface's aesthetics
independently of other system attributes, such as usability. This is a problem regardless of whether
we study objective or subjective attributes of the information technology. Finally, another issue of
methodological importance is whether measures of aesthetics and of other system attributes
should be taken within individuals or be averaged over individuals. We may use either method, but
the conclusions to be drawn from each method are different. Some of these issues are discussed in
more detail by Norman (2004b), Monk (2004), Tractinsky (2004), and Hassenzahl (2004b).
Beyond the Research Framework
There are many open-ended issues and research questions that do not fit neatly in the framework
described above. Some of these issues are discussed below.
Consider, for example, the idea raised by Postrel (2002) of IT as a vehicle for aesthetic creation
and communication. IT has considerably augmented our ability to copy, produce, reproduce, and
distribute aesthetics. Digital photography, editing equipment, scanners, powerful and easy-to-use
graphic applications, and Internet-based communication methods are just a few examples of how
this is done. What are the psychological, organizational, economic, and societal impacts of this
IT-based aesthetic revolution? Does the aesthetic use of IT promote self-presentation of individu-
als (Tractinsky and Meyer, 1999) or of organizations? How do organizations and industries use IT
aesthetics to create value and to compete in increasingly crowded markets?
These questions are closely related to the value of IT aesthetics. How much are people willing
to invest in improving the aesthetics of IT? What are they willing to trade off for more aesthetics?
For illustrative purposes, consider the endowment effect, a situation in which owners of an object
request more money to give it up than they would be willing to pay to acquire it (Thaler, 1980).
In the context of evaluating mobile phones, Hassenzahl (personal communication) found that
the endowment effect was stronger for hedonic qualities (e.g., beauty) relative to utilitarian qual-
ities (e.g., functionality). If replicated in other IT contexts, such findings would suggest that
the aesthetics of IT is perceived and is valued separately from other attributes of the IT artifact,
and that quite often its effects on users are even more pronounced than the effects of the other
attributes.
A related question centers on how individuals and organizations use aesthetics to create, change,
or preserve their identities. Several studies have been conducted on this role of aesthetics in
organizations (e.g., Rafaeli and Vilnai-Yavetz, 2004; Schroeder, 2002). On the individual level of
analysis, one of the most fascinating behaviors on the Web is the downloading of skins in order to
personalize one's applications, whether on desktops, PDAs, or cell phones. Koeppel (2000) esti-
mates that by the year 2000, more than fifty million skins had already been downloaded from the
major skin sites. Current research in this area suggests that aesthetics plays a significant role in
this domain as well (Blom and Monk, 2003; Tractinsky and Zmiri, 2006). While the use of skins
reflect individual differences, the emergence of aesthetic genres, mainly in Web design, suggests
commonalities within, and differences between, groups of use. Postrel suggests that Web genres
are formed according to horizontal social affiliations, rather than vertical, or even national, affili-
ations. Thus, an intriguing line of research relates to the study of aesthetic genres of IT: how they
emerge and evolve, and how they influence the development and usage of IT.
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