Analogy considered harmful

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Analogy considered harmful

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Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems archive
Proceedings of the 1982 conference on Human factors in computing systems table of contents

Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States

Pages: 383 - 386

Year of Publication: 1982

Authors

Frank Halasz
Thomas P. Moran

Sponsors

SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction
NBS : National Bureau of Standards
ACM Wash. DC Chap. : ACM Washington DC Chapter

Publisher

ACM New York, NY, USA

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Downloads (6 Weeks): 22, Downloads (12 Months): 120, Citation Count: 34

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abstract references cited by index terms collaborative colleagues

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ABSTRACT

The computer is like a typewriter. The computer is like a filing cabinet. The computer is a personal servant ready to obey your every command. It is often claimed (e.g., Carroll and Thomas [3], Rumelhart and Norman [7]) that the best way to introduce a new user to a computer system is to draw an analogy between the computer and some situation familiar to the user. Given the analogy, the new user can draw upon his knowledge about the familiar situation in order to reason about the workings of the mysterious new computer system. For example, if the new user wants to understand about how the computer file system works, he need only think about how an office filing cabinet works and then carry over this same way of thinking to the computer file system.

REFERENCES

Note: OCR errors may be found in this Reference List extracted from the full text article. ACM has opted to expose the complete List rather than only correct and linked references.

	1	du Boulay, B., O'Shea, T., and Monk, J. The black box inside the glass box: presenting computing concepts to novices. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 1981, 14, 237-250.
	2	Carbonell, J. G. Metaphor: an inescapable phenomenon in natural language comprehension. Technical Report, Carnegie-Mellon University, Department of Computer Science, May 1981.
	3	Carroll, J. M., and Thomas, J. C. Metaphor and the cognitive representation of computing systems. Report RC 8302, IBM Watson Research Center, May 1980.
	4	Gentner, D. The structure of analogical models in science. Report 4451, Bolt Beranek and Newman, July 1980.
	5	Lakoff, G., and Johnson, M. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.
	6	Moran, T. P. The Command Language Grammar: a representation for the user interface of interactive computer systems. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 1981, 15, 3-50.
	7	Rumelhart, D. E., and Norman, D. A. Analogical processes in learning. In J. R. Anderson (ed.), Cognitive Skills and Their Acquisition, Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1981, 335-360.
	8	Young, R. M. The machine inside the machine: users' models of pocket calculators. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 1981, 15, 51-85.

CITED BY 35

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	J. M. Carroll , W. A. Kellogg, Artifact as theory-nexus: hermeneutics meets theory-based design, ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, v.20 n.SI, p.7-14
	Pippin Barr , Rilla Khaled , James Noble , Robert Biddle, A taxonomic analysis of user-interface metaphors in the Microsoft Office Project Gallery, Proceedings of the Sixth Australasian conference on User interface, p.109-117, January 30-February 03, 2005, Newcastle, Australia
	Katherine N. Macfarlane , Barbee T. Mynatt, A study of an advance organizer as a technique for teaching computer programming concepts, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, v.20 n.1, p.240-243, Feb. 1988
	Mark Bernstein, Enactment in information farming, Proceedings of the fifth ACM conference on Hypertext, p.242-249, November 14-18, 1993, Seattle, Washington, United States
	Randall B. Smith, Experiences with the alternate reality kit: an example of the tension between literalism and magic, ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, v.17 n.SI, p.61-67, May 1987
	Thomas W. Malone, Heuristics for designing enjoyable user interfaces: Lessons from computer games, Proceedings of the 1982 conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.63-68, March 15-17, 1982, Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States
	Robert P. Bostrom , Lorne Olfman , Maung Sein, Training for end-user computing: are basic abilities enough for learning?, Proceedings of the twenty-second annual computer personnel research conference on Computer personnel research conference, p.1-11, October 1986, Calgary, Canada
	Allan MacLean , Victoria Bellotti , Richard Young , Thomas Moran, Reaching through analogy: a Design Rationale perspective on roles of analogy, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems: Reaching through technology, p.167-172, April 27-May 02, 1991, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
	J. E. McDonald , D. W. Dearholt , K. R. Paap , R. W. Schvaneveldt, A formal interface design methodology based on user knowledge, ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, v.17 n.4, p.285-290, April 1986
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