About metaphorical expressions The essence of a metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of things in terms of another Metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action –”Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature ” (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) –i.e. You disagree ? Okay, shoot! The user as …

The user as a problem-solver The user is viewed as a mental processor who achieves a task (goals) by solving sub-goals using some device Focus on the logic or practice of the task –users’ competence and performance- Human actions are characterized in terms of perceiving the world, represent it internally, manipulating it –The model human processor provides a means of characterizing the various cognitive processes that are assumed to underlie the performance of a task Models of the user (hierarchical tasks analysis) seeks to model the internal representation and processing

Cognitive Psychology

The user as a component of a system The user is viewed as a part of a functional system The user is part of a collection of individuals and artifacts in the work setting Focus on the dynamic aspects of activity (i.e. the means by which knowledge is propagated and transmitted through the functional system) rather than static entities (e.g. the power and role structures within an organization) Human actions are characterized in terms of coordination of distributed structures

Distributed Cognition

The user as human actor The user is viewed as the active individual or sub-group whose agency is chosen as the point of view in the analysis of the activity system Users often wish to accomplish tasks, to understand what is going on, they are always struggling to make sense of their world Focus on what is the engine of human activity Human actions are always motivated and instrumented

Activity Theory

The user as a reader The user is viewed as the subjective interpreter The user as a reader brings certain assumptions to a text based on the interpretive strategies s/he has learned in a particular interpretive community Focus on the user and her meaning-making process –Instead of asking what the text means the question is on what the text does to the reader –Different types of readers : ideal reader, the intended reader, the real reader, the implied reader, and the resisting reader Human actions are characterized in terms of a dialectical process between the reader and the text

Reception theory

The user as a resourceful person The user is viewed as a situated person making use of resources (i.e. Plans) Focus on the ongoing user’s action, on located accountability of human action Focus on boundaries between persons and machines, but ”differences without separation”… Human action are emergent and contingent

Situated action