Metaphors in Technology
Hi All, I am working on a project dealing with the use of metaphor in communication about technology, as well as communication within software. I am trying to compile a list of metaphors used on the web and in computer software. For example, the "shopping cart" in online shopping, PowerPoint using "slides", "dialog" boxes in operating systems, "bulletin boards", etc. Have any of you come across or perhaps even thought of other metaphors employed in software, online or off, or in communication about technology? I would like to make a giant list of examples. Also, any recommended readings would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help! -Gordon Carlson -University of Illinois at Chicago -PhD Student of New Media Communication and RA in Electronic Visualization Lab
Hi Gordon, What a great topic! Another famous metaphor is the file folder / filing cabinet to indicate a files/server directories. You may know about the use of "mental models" or metaphors in Web interaction design. In my professional work, we use them frequently. check out: http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/alignment/blog/moviegoer_alignment_diagr... there are tons and tons of mental models used on different web design projects. I'd search at Boxes and Arrows, an IA professional site, for even more examples. Further, there are great books on the topic of mental models for software and web design. Cheers, -s. On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 3:44 PM, Gordon Carlson <gordycarlson@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi All,
I am working on a project dealing with the use of metaphor in communication about technology, as well as communication within software. I am trying to compile a list of metaphors used on the web and in computer software. For example, the "shopping cart" in online shopping, PowerPoint using "slides", "dialog" boxes in operating systems, "bulletin boards", etc.
Have any of you come across or perhaps even thought of other metaphors employed in software, online or off, or in communication about technology? I would like to make a giant list of examples.
Also, any recommended readings would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any help!
-Gordon Carlson -University of Illinois at Chicago -PhD Student of New Media Communication and RA in Electronic Visualization Lab _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- ~~~~~ Sam Ladner, PhD Sociologist Toronto
Perfect, thanks for the input. I am compiling my list so as to highlight dominant mental models employed in software. Your link was great. Boxes and Arrows' Case Studies section looks really helpful. Thanks a bunch, Gordon On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 3:17 PM, Sam Ladner <samladner@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Gordon,
What a great topic! Another famous metaphor is the file folder / filing cabinet to indicate a files/server directories.
You may know about the use of "mental models" or metaphors in Web interaction design. In my professional work, we use them frequently.
check out: http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/alignment/blog/moviegoer_alignment_diagr...
there are tons and tons of mental models used on different web design projects. I'd search at Boxes and Arrows, an IA professional site, for even more examples. Further, there are great books on the topic of mental models for software and web design.
Cheers, -s.
On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 3:44 PM, Gordon Carlson <gordycarlson@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi All,
I am working on a project dealing with the use of metaphor in communication about technology, as well as communication within software. I am trying to compile a list of metaphors used on the web and in computer software. For example, the "shopping cart" in online shopping, PowerPoint using "slides", "dialog" boxes in operating systems, "bulletin boards", etc.
Have any of you come across or perhaps even thought of other metaphors employed in software, online or off, or in communication about technology? I would like to make a giant list of examples.
Also, any recommended readings would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any help!
-Gordon Carlson -University of Illinois at Chicago -PhD Student of New Media Communication and RA in Electronic Visualization Lab _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- ~~~~~ Sam Ladner, PhD Sociologist Toronto _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Gordon Carlson C: 541-990-1155
hi gordon- from a historical perspective it might be good to look at "The Internet Imaginaire" by Patrice Flichy. It's a historical account of the rhetoric of the internet, which is certainly much broader than your study of metaphor in software specifically, but it might help. best, lilly
On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 3:44 PM, Gordon Carlson <gordycarlson@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi All,
I am working on a project dealing with the use of metaphor in communication about technology, as well as communication within software. I am trying to compile a list of metaphors used on the web and in computer software. For example, the "shopping cart" in online shopping, PowerPoint using "slides", "dialog" boxes in operating systems, "bulletin boards", etc.
Have any of you come across or perhaps even thought of other metaphors employed in software, online or off, or in communication about technology? I would like to make a giant list of examples.
Also, any recommended readings would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any help!
-Gordon Carlson -University of Illinois at Chicago -PhD Student of New Media Communication and RA in Electronic Visualization Lab _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http:// aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- ~~~~~ Sam Ladner, PhD Sociologist Toronto _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http:// aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http:// listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Gordon Carlson C: 541-990-1155 _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http:// listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
lilly nguyen phd student | dept. of information studies | ucla aim: deuxlits
/ Folks might want to check a few recent postings centering on the just concluded Sixth Annual Chinese Internet Research Confernce. Maybe someone on this list attended it ? Maybe they can post a mini-trip-report and/or a link to the blog / twitter posts ?? Tag: China, Metaphor, Technologies/ China and the Internet: Myths and Realities Sixth Annual Chinese Internet Research Conference June 13-14, 2008 http://jmsc.hku.hk/blogs/circ/ The Chinese Internet: Myth and Reality Wall Street Journal / China Journal Blog A daily look at what we're reading. June 13, 2008, 12:44 pm The Great Firewall as Iron Curtain 2.0: the Implications of China's Internet most dominant metaphor for U.S. Foreign Policy Lokman Tsui Hurl: http://jmsc.hku.hk/blogs/circ/schedule/the-great-firewall-as-iron-curtain-20... Tiny: http://tinyurl.com/563amu Best of the China Blogs: June 16 Wall Street Journal / China Journal Blog A daily look at what we're reading. June 16, 2008, 12:57 am http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/06/16/best-of-the-china-blogs-june-16... Chinese Internet Research Conference: Getting beyond "Iron Curtain 2.0" By Rebecca MacKinnon Jun 18, 2008 5:12 PM PST http://www.circleid.com/posts/86183_chinese_internet_conference_iron_curtain...
Readers of AIR-L might be interested in a PowerPoint I use to teach about Metaphor. "Can you see the forest through the Metaphorist." Anyone interested send a note to arandal@uvi.edu
Hi Gordon, this is a great topic; you might want to check out the work of Marianne van den Boomen. She is also working on metaphors in information technology: http://metamapping.net/blog/ http://www.virtueelplatform.nl/page/4078/en best mirko tobias Mirko Tobias Schäfer | Junior Teacher/Researcher | Department for Media and Culture Studies | Faculty of Humanities | Utrecht University | M: mirko.schaefer@let.uu.nl | W: www.mtschaefer.net Gordon Carlson wrote:
Hi All,
I am working on a project dealing with the use of metaphor in communication about technology, as well as communication within software. I am trying to compile a list of metaphors used on the web and in computer software. For example, the "shopping cart" in online shopping, PowerPoint using "slides", "dialog" boxes in operating systems, "bulletin boards", etc.
Have any of you come across or perhaps even thought of other metaphors employed in software, online or off, or in communication about technology? I would like to make a giant list of examples.
Also, any recommended readings would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any help!
-Gordon Carlson -University of Illinois at Chicago -PhD Student of New Media Communication and RA in Electronic Visualization Lab _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
In addition to what's already been posted, you might find it useful to comb through the "Imagining the Internet" website (http://www.elon.edu/predictions/ ) that Janna Anderson maintains. You might also get in touch with Sabryna Cornish whose recent dissertation looked at newspaper coverage of the internet's evolution and had some discussion of metaphors used in that coverage. Sj On Jun 8, 2008, at 2:44 PM, Gordon Carlson wrote:
Hi All,
I am working on a project dealing with the use of metaphor in communication about technology, as well as communication within software. I am trying to compile a list of metaphors used on the web and in computer software. For example, the "shopping cart" in online shopping, PowerPoint using "slides", "dialog" boxes in operating systems, "bulletin boards", etc.
Have any of you come across or perhaps even thought of other metaphors employed in software, online or off, or in communication about technology? I would like to make a giant list of examples.
Also, any recommended readings would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any help!
-Gordon Carlson -University of Illinois at Chicago -PhD Student of New Media Communication and RA in Electronic Visualization Lab _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
This is a nice early study of how people used and interpreted metaphors of new office technology: Hiemstra, G. (1983). You say you want a revolution? 'Information Technology' in organizations. In R.N. Bostrom & B.H. Westley (Eds.), Communication yearbook 7, 802-827. ======================================================= Ronald E. Rice Arthur N. Rupe Chair in the Social Effects of Mass Communication Co-Director, Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television, and New Media President of the International Communication Association 2006-2007 Dept. of Communication, 4840 Ellison Hall University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4020 Ph: 805-893-8696; Fax: 805-893-7102 rrice@comm.ucsb.edu http://www.comm.ucsb.edu/rice_flash.htm http://www.cftnm.ucsb.edu/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gordon Carlson" <gordycarlson@gmail.com> To: <air-l@listserv.aoir.org> Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 11:44 AM Subject: [Air-L] Metaphors in Technology
Hi All,
I am working on a project dealing with the use of metaphor in communication about technology, as well as communication within software. I am trying to compile a list of metaphors used on the web and in computer software. For example, the "shopping cart" in online shopping, PowerPoint using "slides", "dialog" boxes in operating systems, "bulletin boards", etc.
Have any of you come across or perhaps even thought of other metaphors employed in software, online or off, or in communication about technology? I would like to make a giant list of examples.
Also, any recommended readings would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any help!
-Gordon Carlson -University of Illinois at Chicago -PhD Student of New Media Communication and RA in Electronic Visualization Lab _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Dear Gordon, and other esteemed colleagues: I recommend "Metaphors We Compute By," a lecture delivered by John Lawler to Information Technology Division of the University of Michigan. (He is a professor of linguistics there.) You can find the original here: <http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/meta4compute.html>, or read another version in the anthology "Figures of Thought" (Dona J. Hickey; Mayfield Publishing, 1999). Best regards from Deborah Deborah Elizabeth Finn Cyber-Yenta Boston, Massachusetts, USA deborah_elizabeth_finn@post.harvard.edu www.cyber-yenta.org Skype: Deborah909 Twitter: Deborah909 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah909 "Nothing softeneth the Arrogance of our Nature like a Mixture of some Frailties. It is by them that we are best told, that we must not strike too hard upon others....They pull our Rage by the sleeve and whisper Gentleness to us in our censures." -George Savile (1633 - 1695)
Hi, for geographic metaphors I'd recommend Paul Adams, 1997, 'Cyberspace and Virtual Places' Geographical Review 87(2):155-171. Available on jstor, http://www.jstor.org/pss/216003 cheers martin
Hi Gordon, This sounds like a fascinating project. I, for one, will eagerly await the final compilation. Apart from the names already mentioned and listed, I would also recommend Sherry Turkle's "Life on the Screen" where she indulges in and excavates a series of metaphors about the interface, the perception, the processes and the meaning making of users engaged in MUDs online. Her positing of Windows as not only the metaphor for access but also for the distributed fragmented notion of the self is extremely fascinating. Good luck with the project, Warm Regards Nishant On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 1:14 AM, Gordon Carlson <gordycarlson@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi All,
I am working on a project dealing with the use of metaphor in communication about technology, as well as communication within software. I am trying to compile a list of metaphors used on the web and in computer software. For example, the "shopping cart" in online shopping, PowerPoint using "slides", "dialog" boxes in operating systems, "bulletin boards", etc.
Have any of you come across or perhaps even thought of other metaphors employed in software, online or off, or in communication about technology? I would like to make a giant list of examples.
Also, any recommended readings would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any help!
-Gordon Carlson -University of Illinois at Chicago -PhD Student of New Media Communication and RA in Electronic Visualization Lab _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Nishant Shah Ph.D. Student, CSCS, Bangalore. Research & Development, COMAT, Bangalore. # 0-9740074884
Hi there, I think that nobody suggested Coyne, Richard (1995) : Designing Information Technology in the Postmodern Age. Cambridge MA, London : MIT Press yet. That's not only a great book but it also has a great chapter on a metaphor based design approach. I would also argue that when working with software and metaphore there is no way around Laurel, Brenda (1993) : Computers as Theatre. Boston MA : Addison-Wesley. In the field of interface design, the metaphor debate goes back to the beginning of GUIs when most of the choices that are still with us today were actually made. Laurel, Brenda (ed.) (1990) : The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design. Boston MA : Addison-Wesley is a great historical reference. From there, Ben Shneiderman, Alan Kay, Jeff Raskin and Donald Norman have worked extensively on the HCI and metaphor. best, Bernhard -- Bernhard Rieder Laboratoire Paragraphe Université de Paris 8 ++33 6 84 85 51 98 bernhard.rieder@univ-paris8.fr http://bernhard.rieder.fr http://thepoliticsofsystems.net Gordon Carlson wrote:
Hi All,
I am working on a project dealing with the use of metaphor in communication about technology, as well as communication within software. I am trying to compile a list of metaphors used on the web and in computer software. For example, the "shopping cart" in online shopping, PowerPoint using "slides", "dialog" boxes in operating systems, "bulletin boards", etc.
Have any of you come across or perhaps even thought of other metaphors employed in software, online or off, or in communication about technology? I would like to make a giant list of examples.
Also, any recommended readings would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any help!
-Gordon Carlson -University of Illinois at Chicago -PhD Student of New Media Communication and RA in Electronic Visualization Lab _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
participants (12)
-
Alex -Vipowernet -
Bernhard Rieder -
Deborah Elizabeth Finn -
Gordon Carlson -
lilly nguyen -
martin dodge -
mirko tobias schaefer -
Nishant Shah -
Ronald E. Rice -
Sam Ladner -
Steve Cavrak -
Steve Jones