[Air-L] Metaphors in Technology

Denise N. Rall denrall at yahoo.com
Mon Jun 9 21:04:40 PDT 2008


I haven't read the thread, but I am sure someone has
already pointed you to Donald Norman.

If not, here's a classic:

Norman, D. A. (1992). Turn signals are the facial
expressions of automobiles. Reading, MA,
Addison-Wesley.

Norman, D. A. (1999). The invisible computer: Why good
products can fail, the personal computer is so
complex, and information appliances are the solution.
New York, Basic Books.

A basic reference of his: 
Norman, D. (1988). The psychology of everyday things.
New York, Basic Books.

Anything by bonnie Nardi is great, not a superficial
"list" but still very valid material here:

Nardi, B. and V. L. O'Day (1999). Information
Ecologies: Using technology with heart. Cambridge, MA,
MIT Press.

Nardi, B. and C. Zarmer (1993). "Beyond models and
metaphors: Visual formalisms in user interface
design." Journal of Visual Languages and
Computing(March).

Many many metaphors for computer activities (esp.
hacking, etc.) can be found in Levy's classic:

Levy, S. (1984). Hackers: Heroes of the computer
revolution. New York, Dell.

You ahve already been pointed to E. Raymond's
dictionaries I am sure.

Cheers, Denise















Denise N. Rall, PhD. Internationalisation Project Officer
Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA 
Office: Room T2.17, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 Mobile 0438 233 344 
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/staff/pages/drall/
Presenter, Internet Research 9.0, 15-18 October 2008, Copenhagen, DK


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