[Sigia-l] Point of View: New metaphors for user interfaces

[Jean Graef]

"Point of View" is the first in a series of commentaries on current business
and trade articles indexed in the Knowledge Base Editor's Digest
(http://www.montaguelab.com/Infotech/digest.htm).
 
In this month's column, Montague Institute Founder Jean Graef comments on a
recent article by Amy Wohl, who writes that the next big thing in user
interfaces is unlikely to be a single, all-purpose design based on folders
and file cabinets. Instead, she speculates that there will be multiple
designs based on new metaphors drawn from life sciences, health care, and
even computer games.
 
Graef likes the metaphor idea but wonders why IT consultants often ignore
the two most important information metaphors of the last 500 years - books
and libraries. She also questions the assumptions behind methods used to
determine the ROI on A - Z indexes and taxonomies, and she argues for more
products that let users express their own metaphors using computer tools.
 
To read this month's POV article, see http://www.montague.com/POV/1205.htm
 
The Editors
Knowledge Base Editor's Digest
 
-----------------------------------------------
Jean Graef
The Montague Institute
www.montague.com
-----------------------------------------------