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

[Peter Merholz]

Spurred by Pernicious Peter's post, I posted how I've used conceptual models
in interaction design to my blog (specifically, in the Epinions redesign):
http://peterme.com/archives/00000180.html

A couple of notes to Pernicious Peter's post

> 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

Hey! That's the thread *I* started. Which lead, fairly directly, to the work
that I'm showing in the post on my blog. Funny to see this stuff come around

> 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/

The mental model that we depict there is a kind of conceptual model, but
definitely different than what, I think, Peter is getting it. It's a way to
group the tasks that users are involved in when approaching a problem.

The models that we developed for Epinions were deliberately metaphorical.
They attempted to imbue the user's behavior with *meaning*. The mental model
from the Adaptive Path material isn't so semantic. The conceptual model for
Epinions  uses metaphors (camera, drawer, window) in an attempt to suggest
some meaning, to provide an anchor of understanding. The Adaptive Path
mental models don't have a singular "a-ha!" around them, the way we tried
with the Epinions' models.

--peter