All people have an ethic by which they conduct themselves in their dealings with other people and their work. However, this ethic is frequently unstated and hidden away. It is a challenge to ask ourselves where we are coming from in making design decisions. What are the things we believe and how are they reflected in our lives and our decision making?
I’ve been calling this ethic, our culture. I’ve also been saying that a massive cultural paradigm shift is occurring right now. It isn’t making headline news but it is out there if you watch for it. Just look for people talking with words like “honest”, “truthful”, and “open”. If you don’t see those words, then just look for buzzwords that equate to them such as “transparency”. That’s just a fancy name for a company that is open, honest, and truthful. I encapsulated what I thought were these cultural values in my post entitled I Work For The Web.