[Air-l] Internet = toaster = habitual use

[Denise N. Rall]

Dear Ulla & AIR'ers -

This is a bit sideways, but this process of
habituation - and I think it is a *great* point you
are making here - echoes the process of how Ed
Hutchins "tames" cognition into "working practices" in
his book: _Cognition in the Wild_ (1995).

I wrote about it a bit in a paper (1997, unpub.)
"Chunking, linking, surfing and mapping: How four
different memory modes serve as cognitive artifacts
for enhanced human-computer interaction." (not the
habituation part, but the cognitive part).

Donald Norman wrote about the computer as a "smart
appliance" in _the Invisible Computer_ (1999) which
may address habituation, it's a book on my shelf that
I haven't read yet.

I find it interesting when the computer/network moves
from the realm of cognitve artifact (yes, my
computer/network helps me to THINK) to ordinary.  This
could happen through entertainment (games), pragmatic
use (just a typewriter), or a kind of invisibility
(habituation) - which could tie back into the story of
the telephone? as it became a habitual technology.

Great stuff here! Denise



=====
"Stupidity is not just a lack of content; it's also a process" 
Denise N. Rall, Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator &
PhD student, School of Education, Southern Cross University,
PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480 Australia
Phone +61-2-6624-8627 Fax +61-2-6624-8637
Office (Tuesdays) (02) 6620 3577 Mob 0438 233 344
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/edu/research/deniserall/index.html

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