Chapter 3 – The Power of Representation
Summary
Representation can be used to make hard tasks easier. By doing so, Norman explains this can make accessing knowledge and information more streamlined. The key in these situations is to select the most appropriate way to represent the data. The more self-explanatory the representation is, the more helpful it is at expanding knowledge.
Summary
Representation can be used to make hard tasks easier. By doing so, Norman explains this can make accessing knowledge and information more streamlined. The key in these situations is to select the most appropriate way to represent the data. The more self-explanatory the representation is, the more helpful it is at expanding knowledge.
Discussion
The map representations were an interesting idea to demonstrate this concept. Shading is effective, and people normally know what it means. However, the legend needs to be constantly referred back to until the viewer has it memorized. Using the other representation, minus the shading, the overall size of the state clearly gets the point of the diagram across. With no need for a legend, this becomes a very effective means of representation. This chapter also seems to tie in with some of his other books and catering to humans with better visual design choices.
The map representations were an interesting idea to demonstrate this concept. Shading is effective, and people normally know what it means. However, the legend needs to be constantly referred back to until the viewer has it memorized. Using the other representation, minus the shading, the overall size of the state clearly gets the point of the diagram across. With no need for a legend, this becomes a very effective means of representation. This chapter also seems to tie in with some of his other books and catering to humans with better visual design choices.
Chapter 4 – Fitting the Artifact to the Person
Summary
This reading covered very similar information present in previous reading in other Norman books. He explained how artifacts or devices need to be catered to the person who will be using them. He brought up the example of the voice-messaging systems. His main point was that when the users experience all the deficits of technology but none of the benefits, there is something seriously wrong. This kind of situation usually leads to the demise of this particular technology.
Summary
This reading covered very similar information present in previous reading in other Norman books. He explained how artifacts or devices need to be catered to the person who will be using them. He brought up the example of the voice-messaging systems. His main point was that when the users experience all the deficits of technology but none of the benefits, there is something seriously wrong. This kind of situation usually leads to the demise of this particular technology.
Discussion
Quite often, I have seen a particular program morph into an unwanted piece of garbage. And usually this program starts out as something fantastic. One example is antivirus software. One in particular started out very low on resource consumption and was completely nonintrusive. However, as time went on the company absorbed other companies and continued to add features they figure their users wanted. All this did was make the software bloated and turned it completely away from the reason most users started using it in the first place. I had had enough of dealing with the deficits, and this caused me to switch to a different provider.
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