Things That Make Us Smart
Donald. A. Norman
Summary:
Chapter 1: A Human-Centered Technology. Norman opens the chapter by stating that technology not only has positive effects, but negatives as well. The main idea of this first chapter is that technology has been developed with a focus apart from humans. It has not been design to accommodate humans, but humans must adapt to technology. He also introduces the two types of cognition relevant to his studies, experiential and reflective.
Chapter 2: Experiencing the World. In this chapter, Norman goes more in depth in describing experiential and reflective cognition. In summary, they differ in the way information is processed. Norman describes the experiential mode as of data-driven processing. It is automatic, it is our reactions to events. The reflective mode in the other hand is the one concerning concepts, planning and evaluation. He also describes three kinds of learning: accretion (accumulation of facts). tuning (practice to become experts), and restructuring (not losing practice).
Chapter 3: The Power of Representation. In this chapter Norm talks about how we represent the world utilizing cognitive artifacts. He defines the Represented World (Real World), and the Representing World (symbols which represent the represented world). He also discuses various ways in which data can be represented, and explains how some lead to experiential cognition while others to reflective cognition.
Chapter 4: Fitting the Artifact to the Person. Norman introduces the concepts of surface and internal representation. Surface representation is when what we see is all there is to it (a book), an internal representation has more in the background that we cannot see (calculator). He also discusses how representations must fit the task or the person, depending in the situation. He also brings back the concept of affordances in terms of technology. He claims technology also has affordances.
Discussion: Overall I like the way Norman is presenting the concepts of the book, however I think the examples are too long. Even though the chapters are long, they are still interesting to read. I really enjoyed the first chapter since I think it deals more directly with CHI, and how our designs should be of positive results for users. On the third chapter, the discussion about representing numbers was really interesting. It made me remember my days of school when I had to learn Roman numerals. I think it is really interesting how each representation allows you to do different things easier than the others. For chapter four, the discussion about affordances in technology was the best part in my opinion. I like how Norman bring this concepts back from The Design of Every Day Things, and includes it in this chapter.
Chapter 4: Fitting the Artifact to the Person. Norman introduces the concepts of surface and internal representation. Surface representation is when what we see is all there is to it (a book), an internal representation has more in the background that we cannot see (calculator). He also discusses how representations must fit the task or the person, depending in the situation. He also brings back the concept of affordances in terms of technology. He claims technology also has affordances.
Discussion: Overall I like the way Norman is presenting the concepts of the book, however I think the examples are too long. Even though the chapters are long, they are still interesting to read. I really enjoyed the first chapter since I think it deals more directly with CHI, and how our designs should be of positive results for users. On the third chapter, the discussion about representing numbers was really interesting. It made me remember my days of school when I had to learn Roman numerals. I think it is really interesting how each representation allows you to do different things easier than the others. For chapter four, the discussion about affordances in technology was the best part in my opinion. I like how Norman bring this concepts back from The Design of Every Day Things, and includes it in this chapter.
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