Reading 2 - Taoxi Li

Making an analogy between computers and theatre is an interesting yet bold idea because of the lack of connection most people see in these two fields, and I belong to those people. I started reading this article with a curious mindset, hoping to find something revealing in the uncommon analogy of the two remotely related objects. Unfortunately, I have to admit, after reaching the end of this chapter, I failed to understand the author’s main purpose of making such comparison between computers and theatre. 

A quick research about the author’s background tells you that she has a PhD in theatre and worked in computer field after school. In the article, she admits this idea of relating computers and theatre originated from her PhD dissertation, and that’s probably where the problem lies.  The author uses the entire first chapter trying to convince readers that computer interface has something to do with theatre. However, to me at least, this metaphor is only an alternative to understand a complex concept, and it is only somewhat effective to people who have knowledge in both theatre and computer science. Considering the small target audience, I see little meaning in making such laborious comparison. Maybe this is an interesting idea for the author’s PhD discernment, but I would not recommend this book to general readers who expect to gain in-depth understanding in computer interface design. In that sense, you can compare computers to anything you are familiar with, be it painting, gardening  or cooking. There has got be be a better way of doing that, and I believe the author is totally capable of coming up better metaphors ; in fact, the one she used about looking for information in a library is much more straightforward approach. To be blunt, it feels like the author is trying to convince readers that apples taste like beef(yes beef, not even orange); even if they do, so what?

Aside from the purpose of this book, I admire the author’s diligent work on using outside researches and studies to justify her point. The chapter begins with a brief background on the history of computer interface design and nicely moves into the debate of the ambiguous definition of some key concepts in interface design. We’ve learned from the author that interface design is an interdisciplinary field that covers topics from linguistic to industrial design and of course, psychology. Personally, I am particularly interested in the overlap between computer science and psychology, and how the findings in one field mutually deepens the understanding of the other.

Cognitive psychology witnessed its fast development in 80s and 90s of last century, a period when computers are becoming increasingly popular in ordinary people’s life. As computer engineers kept trying to computers more effective and user-friendly, cognitive psychology was used tool to understand and analyze how humans perceive and react to outside information. On the other hand, the advancement of computers also inspired cognitive psychologist to rethink how people’s cognition (including perception, attention, knowledge-learning and decision-making etc.) works. At the golden age of cognitive psychology, many cognitive models are developed to explain how people’s cognition system work, and unsurprisingly, a lot of those resembled how computers process information. Don Norman, who has been involved in designing several Apple products, as pointed out in the article, is a pioneer in this field, and his milestone book of “The Design of Everyday Things”(originally named “Psychology of Everyday Things”) is still a must-read for todays’ students studying design, psychology and HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) etc. Apparently, the development of computer science and cognitive psychology enhanced the further understanding of the other field mutually. As a consequence, the better understanding of both fields led to the significant improvement of interface design. In fact, a new field of study called “cognitive science” that includes anthropology, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, computer science (artificial intelligence in particular) and philosophy is also gaining increasing interest by scientists in various fields. We can easily foresee that interface design will be going through some exciting evolution in the coming years.

A TED talk by Don Norman on design and psychology.

Last but not least, a bit off-topic probably, the book as a whole illustrates the value of liberal arts education. The author studied theatre, worked on computers, and found the connections between those and turned her findings into a book. Doesn't that sound kinda cool?