Book Reading #45 - Things That Make Us Smart

Chapter 3: The Power of Representation

Summary:

Chapter three talks about how external aids make us smart. The two basic external aids mentioned by the author are - paper and pencil. Paper and pencil made it possible to store, retrieve and spread information, thus making people smarter. These cognitive artifacts help people to keep a track of complex cognitive tasks. Then the author talks about the representing world and the represented world. Represented world is the world that the user sees or interprets. The representing world consists of parts of the represented world.

Discussion:

This book, also written by Don Norman is very easy to read. The author proves his point using lucid language and excellent examples. It was interesting to know that how easy it was to add Roman numerals, but I had no idea how to do it since we don't do roman numeral algebra quite regularly. I completely agree with Norman's view of representation, when correctly used, it can enhance a person's understanding about using a device or understanding a technology.

Chapter 4: Fitting the Artifact to the Person

Summary:

In this chapter, Norman continues to talk about artifacts. He differentiates between different types of artifacts - surface artifacts (we see all the information being represented) and internal artifacts (some information is latent and can't be seen). He also differentiates between active and passive artifacts and provides various examples to explain these differences. Then Norman discusses different ways to effectively represent information. Various affordances should be taken into account while representing information.

Discussion:

I thought the examples of puzzles he provides were really interesting - The Tower of Hanoi, Oranges and Coffee. He proves the point that artifacts must be designed carefully with a proper underlying purpose so the the user's learning is facilitated instead of being hindered.