[Sigia-l] Conceptual models (again): metaphors or categories?

[PeterV]

Hi Thomas,
thanks for your input.

I was more trying to find the difference between *mental models that use 
categories* (what you talk about), and *mental models that use metaphors* 
to explain how things work (the desktop, ...). The first type seems quite 
useful in webdesign (as in: you use the labels your users use to organise 
information). The second type doesn't seem that useful, or else I'm missing 
something.

Ziya, thanks as well :) I'm sure users have or create mental models 
(they're alive after all), and I also suspect they don't create mental 
models about the navigation (as in a previous discussion). And I think you 
have a good point that maybe we can't really predict/influence these.

PeterV
http://petervandijck.net

At 05:46 PM 4/16/2002 -0400, Thomas Vander Wal wrote:
>Peter,
>
>I don't know to what degree this will help you, but I ran into a similar 
>issue and have used the following (still in rough form) as a seemingly 
>helpful method of explaining to clients and others not germane to our world.
>
>I have been using the model/metaphor of attraction to explain to 
>sub-clients how the mental model works in building categories.  (I have a 
>rough overview of the attraction model/metaphor on my site at 
>http://www.vanderwal.net/essays/moa1.html ).  I found clients glazing over 
>when talking about mental models, but seemed to understand the attraction 
>metaphor.
>
>Essentially I explain to the client that the users have a set of terms 
>they use to define the information they are seeking.  Terms that are 
>identical or seem to be close to the term in the users mind will attract 
>the user to click to seek more information.  The card sorting task is 
>essentially users grouping items they believe are similar and would have a 
>common attraction.  A user would be attracted to certain terms (to 
>varrying degrees) if it seemed like it would bring the information they 
>wanted closer to their screen.  Explaining to clients that categories are 
>like magnetic rods that are points of attraction to not only the users, 
>but also to the information and draw an attraction to related 
>information.  The rods pull the inforation to themselves when the user 
>activates the rod by clicking on it.  In this way pieces of information 
>that have an attraction to more than one category rod could be found by 
>more than one path.
>
>Xerox Parc did have very helpful information on information scent posted 
>and information foraging, but seem to have restricted access to that 
>information.  These elements are similar but do not exend quite as far 
>(i.e. the metaphor breaks and other metaphors have to be used to extend to 
>understanding or explaining mental models or even out to Web Services).
>
>All the best,
>Thomas Vander Wal
>
>www.vanderwal.net
>
>PeterV wrote:
>
>>Hi all,
>>trying to understand better how conceptual and mental models are used. I 
>>found Don Norman's description quite useful:
>>http://www.acm.org/archives/wa.cgi?A2=ind0008A&L=chi-web&D=0&P=9325
>>
>>I also had a look at Adaptivepath's deliverables, where the mental model 
>>they describe is about how the user organizes or *categorizes* the tasks.
>>http://www.adaptivepath.com/presentations/complete/
>>
>>Does anyone have examples or stories about how they describe/use mental 
>>models of users when building websites? The Adaptivepath approach (as 
>>described in their deliverables) focusses on grouping tasks, finding 
>>*categories* that users use. I'm wondering about much of the Xerox parc 
>>work, where it's more about *metaphors* users use, like here
>>http://hci.stanford.edu/bds/2-liddle.html
>>
>>So how do metaphors and categories fit in together in this whole mental 
>>model thing? I can think of examples (almost any website I've done) where 
>>finding categories that users use makes sense, but metaphors is another 
>>story... Any reading material / ideas?
>>PeterV
>>http://petervandijck.net
>>
>>
>
>
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