[Sigia-l] Re: Less Spatiality, More Semantics?

[Victor Lombardi]

This was one of the most thought-provoking sessions
for me as well.

I came away thinking that both spatial and semantic
navigation are important. After all, a simple visual
grouping of labels implies they are related somehow,
and the labels themselves have meaning. Dillon's
emphasis on semantics was a reaction to the "spatial
metaphor" topic of the talk, but actually he includes
both in this thinking. I scribbled a model he showed
from his book "Designing Usable Electronic Text" into
my notebook...
<http://www.noisebetweenstations.com/personal/third_party/dillon-shape-model.gif>
And more of his thoughts on the "shape" of information
can be found here:
<http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~adillon/pubs.html>

My other thought was that learning theory tells us
people learn in different ways: analytically, through
storytelling, experientially, and yes, visually. Given
the diversity of people and the diversity of
applications I don't think there is one perfect
balance of spatial and semantic navigation.

=====
Victor Lombardi
http://www.noisebetweenstations.com

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