2450 f15 04-norman3_as_delivered

Comm / INFO 2450Communication and Technology

Professor

Drew Margolin

2450 News

Step 5: Once database is

breached, frustrated culprit

attempts to sort through

incredibly disorganized mess

office manager has made of

the files

• Attribution

– Mental Models – we’re explanatory creatures who find reasons for everything

• Design changes what we see and use in our explanations

Chapter 2 – The Psychology of Everyday Things

• Attribution

– Mental Models – we’re explanatory creatures who find reasons for everything

• Design can modify evidence

– Blame – social roles inform our sense of who is responsible for what

• Design and the way we talk about it can re-negotiate responsibility


Learned Helplessness

• Repeated failure or errors

Combined with..

• Inability to form consistent explanation (attribution)

People (and animals) stop trying to learn/understand

passively accept negative consequences


tfamighetti2450 Learned helplessness is something I see all the time

with people new to coding. Ex. they try to code-& doesn't work-& give

up

“Taught” Helplessness (Norman)

Inducing learned helplessness through poorly designed technology…


lreisch2450 Cornell engineering classes definitely showed me the

extent of taught helplessness


The Seven Stages of Action

Goals



Abstract / General

Goals

Intention to act

Sequence of actions

Execution of theaction sequence



Something

specific that

would fulfill the

goal

Goals

Intention to act

Sequence of actions




Things you have

to do to do the

action

Based on

detail of

mental model

& mappings

Goals

Intention to act

Sequence of actions




Doing the actionInfluenced by

skill, accuracy

of model

Goals

Intention to act

Sequence of actions


The World



Goals

Evaluation of the interpretations

Interpreting the perception

Perceiving the stateof the world

The World



Sensory

feedback

Goals




The World



Understanding

state of the

system

Goals




The World



Understanding

state of the

system

Goals




The World



Was my goal be

satisfied?


Let’s compare

Goals




Intention to act

Sequence of actions


The World



GULF OF

EXECUTION:

How much do I

need to know to do

what I want?

Goals




Intention to act

Sequence of actions


The World



GULF OF

EXECUTION:

How much do I

need to know to do

what I want?

GULF OF

EVALUATION

How hard to I have

to look to see if I

did it?

MTerr2450: NYC metrocard machine- big gulf of eval, says 'please

swipe again' but no feedback given on how to swipe correctly

#baddesign

Goals




Intention to act

Sequence of actions


The World



GULF OF

EXECUTION:

How much do I

need to know to do

what I want?

GULF OF

EVALUATION

How hard to I have

to look to see if I

did it?

MTerr2450: NYC metrocard machine- big gulf of eval, says 'please

swipe again' but no feedback given on how to swipe correctly

#baddesign

Goals




Intention to act

Sequence of actions


The World



GULF OF

EXECUTION:

How much do I

need to know to do

what I want?

GULF OF

EVALUATION

How hard to I have

to look to see if I

did it?

Spitterson2450: Twitter's design is hard to adjust to. Most pages look

so similar it doesn't feel like i am going to different pages

TweetReport

TweetReport

Under-represented:

- Declarative knowledge

- Cultural constraints

- memory through “explanation”

TweetReport

Knowledge in the World - Examples

JoshuaZhang2450: A friend can navigate different routes in NYC perfectly

but cannot read the map, interesting example of knowledge in the world.

MTerr2450: I get frustrated when my iPhone apps get moved around.

Ordered them originally so I could remember their locations quickly!

Both are in the world, but real environment

has much richer information

TweetReport

Procedural Knowledge vs. Declarative Knowledge

jhubbard2450: I prefer to learn through 'Procedural Knowledge'. It's easier for

me to learn by doing rather than someone telling me.

cboutwell2450: I've never thought about it, but I type every single day and

yet I still couldn't tell you where every key is on the keyboard.

elu2450: could procedural knowledge be classified as reacting to your

environment?

Chap 3 – Knowledge in the Head and in the World

Declarative vs. procedural knowledge

Information in the head

Information in the world

Great precision is not required

• Natural constraints

• Cultural constraints

Reminders


Declarative vs. Procedural Knowledge

Declarative – knowing that. Knowledge you can put into words

Procedural – knowing how. Knowledge you can put into actions

Norman: conveying procedural know

how via declarative statements is

inefficient



Norman’s take:

1. Conveying procedural know how via declarative statements is inefficient

2. People have substantial procedural knowledge capacity

rsuss2450: I can't remember how to signal a left turn without visualizing

being behind the wheel. Procedural knowledge wins this time!



Mini-BREAKOUT

• declarative vs. procedural in FB



Norman’s take:

1. Conveying procedural know how via declarative statements is inefficient

2. People have substantial procedural knowledge capacity

3. Both kinds of knowledge are aided by

• Relationships (physical and mental)

• Constraints (natural and cultural)


Information in the head - memory

• memory for arbitrary things (rote memory)

• Information “stands alone” – unrelated and unconstrained

• Difficult to learn

• Difficult to maintain (must rehearse)

avimal2450: Right before any math exam I memorize the formulas (knowledge) and repeat it in my head (rehearsal) till the paper begins.

elee2450: Rote memorization is definitely less effective in the long run: I remember almost nothing from all my cramming sessions



• memory for arbitrary things

• memory for meaningful relationships

• Can connect arbitrary knowledge to something known

• Have to impose or apply the relationship


Making memories more meaningful (but still arbitrary)


Making memories more meaningful (but still arbitrary)



•memory through explanation (mental models and novel situations)

• Must create a coherent model

• Memory automatically follows from model

Everyone was angry during the Civil War but Lincoln held the country together

Eventually Grant won the war.

The only president to ever be impeached is Andrew Johnson


Information in the world

• physical, symbolic or social cues that

• guide behavior (procedural)

• provide knowledge or prompt memory (declarative)

hbianchi2450: I take 'knowledge in the world' for granted. Without street

signs or written reminders in my planner, I wouldn't survive!

mrothstein2450: In high school I kept my gym locker combination under a

contact named 'Jim' ... I guess I'm not as cunning as I thought

jstern2450: With the proliferation and availability of search, I often wonder

the effect it has (or doesn't) on our memory's capability?


Perfect precision is not required

• only need to narrow down the choices enough to ensure the right one

sharrison2450: Minimal knowledge to get by: I don't know most of my

friends' last names even if we're fb friends. I rely on profile pictures


Great precision is not required

BREAKOUT

• declarative vs. procedural in FB

• How does FB let you be

imprecise?

• only need to narrow down the choices enough to ensure the right one


How do we narrow things down?

Natural constraints

• reduce the possible number of options or combinations

• don’t require much learning – can be perceived “in the world”

AKellett2450: I have the entire preamble to the US Constitution memorized because of the constraints of a tune #WeThePeople

Blog Assignment #1

Option 1: Design Hall of Shame

Option 2: Seven stages of action in action

• identify a physical or virtual design (visual might be useful)

• analyze it in terms of principles from chap 1 (feedback, mapping, etc)

• conclude why this design fails and belongs in the hall of shame

• identify a physical or virtual design

• analyze it in terms of Norman’s seven stages of action

• does the model work well in describing how people use it?

• does the design work in bridging the gulf of execution or evaluation?

Evaluation (out of 10)

1. Connecting to theoretical principles from readings

2. Specificity of description experience, design item, etc

3. Clarity, economy and evocativeness of presentation (~500 words)

Must be posted Monday before 6PM (same as tweet)

2450 f15 04-norman3_as_delivered

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