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Duncan Stephen

Duncan Stephen

@duncanstephen.net

Human-centred decisions

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9d agoLast active

Understanding what we mean — Ontology in information architecture

Just as human-centred approaches as a whole have suffered from being flattened to a superficial layer, information architecture has suffered its own flattening. Ontology helps us deepen our practice and improve user experience by getting alignment around what we mean.

Agentic artificial intelligenceAlignment

The third horizon of human-centred approaches

The way we work as human-centred practitioners needs to change. From its beginnings as an engineering technique, through its transition to being a product design tool, user experience now needs to be adopted as a strategic approach.

AgileDesign thinking

Restoring the elements of user experience

Some human-centred practitioners have been consigned to increasingly superficial considerations. Artificial intelligence presents an opportunity for us to bring the focus back to the fundamentals that make our work important and successful.

Artificial intelligenceClaude

Ethical personalisation of public services — Talk at Services Week

We have developed a set of ethical personalisation principles to guide our early work to deliver personalised public services. I will present about this work as part of Services Week 2026.

EthicsMobile apps

Don’t make me thick

We say “don’t make me think”, and “less is more”. But a naive application of these principles risks limiting our users when we should be helping them grow.

ArchitectureBerrypicking

Towering Inferno

I don’t normally write about music any more, but I feel compelled to write about the new Boards of Canada album, Inferno. It has far exceeded my expectations. I can’t remember the last time I was so immediately hooked on an album — 15 or 20 years ago, or longer.

Aphex TwinArtificial intelligence

Grounding AI the webby way — Taxonomy Boot Camp London 2026 takeaways

There was a heavy focus on artificial intelligence. But what really struck me was that the semantic approaches that are preparing us for our AI future are well-established web standards that have been around for decades.

AmazonArtificial intelligence

From answer engines to learning engines — Why fast answers are like fast food

People crave fast answers. But the purpose of information systems is to help people gain knowledge. So we should seek better questions.

Answer enginesArtificial intelligence

Man down – How I injured myself in a daft cycling accident

Now that I am living and working in Edinburgh, I have decided to take up cycling. Unfortunately, I have already managed to injure myself on my bike.

AccidentsCommuting

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