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of computing, through such disciplines as human factors design.
4
In the de-
cade of the 1970s and on through the 1980s, cognitive psychologists devel-
oped critical and theoretical perspectives on human-computer interaction
that were more focused on interface design than those of their colleagues in
other branches of psychology. The work of Donald A. Norman, founder of
the Institute for Cognitive Psychology at the University of California at San
Diego, is especially illuminating. In the 1980s, Norman built a lab at UCSD
that fostered some of the most innovative and germane thinking about
human-computer interaction to that date (see Norman and Draper 1986 for
a collection of essays by members and associates of this group). Norman's
perspective is highly task-oriented. In his book
The Psychology of Everyday
Things
(1988), Norman drives home the point that the design of an effec-
tive interface—whether for a computer or a doorknob—must begin with an
analysis of what a person is trying to
do
, rather than with a metaphor or a
notion of what the screen should display.
Norman's emphasis on action as the stuff that interfaces both enable
and represent bores a tunnel out of the labyrinth of metaphor and brings us
back out into the light, where what is going on is larger, more complex, and
more fundamental than the way that the human and the computer “talk”
to each other about it.
Norman's insights dovetail nicely with those of the “common ground”
linguists, suggesting a notion of the interface that's more than screen-deep.
The interface becomes the arena for the performance of some intentional
activity in which both human and computer have a role. What is repre-
sented in the interface is not only the task's environment and tools, but
also the process of interaction—the contributions made by both parties and
the evidence of the task's evolution. I believe that Norman's analysis sup-
ports the view that interface design should concern itself with representing
whole actions with multiple agents. This is, by the way, precisely the defi ni-
tion of theatre.
Norman was also a key fi gure in the development of another pivotal
interface concept, the idea of direct manipulation. Direct manipulation
4. The literature in human factors and other psychological perspectives on human-computer
interaction is huge. It is beyond the scope and purpose of this topic to provide even a cursory
survey of the entire domain. The work mentioned in this chapter is selected in terms of its
relevance to the thesis of this particular book. Interested readers may wish to review
The Hu-
man Factor
by Richard Rubinstein and Harry Hersh, which includes an excellent bibliography;
Readings in Human-Computer Interaction
, by Ronald M. Baecker and Willam A.S. Buxton; or the
various proceedings of ACM SIGCHI and the Human Factors Society.
