- What did you find interesting about the article?
I was very interested in the section where the authors discussed the effectiveness of keeping a history of active representations to enhance interaction and allow for relevant information to automatically be presented during the task.
Also, the section that dealt with the intelligent use of space was easy to visualize in my own day-to-day working where I often rearrage my table or my room to ensure that all important things get my attention. The applicability of this theory to everyday life served to prove its validity.
- What did you find not interesting about the article?
The authors could probably have spent a little more time on the ship navigation system and the airline cockpit examples to illustrate the resutls of those cognitive ethnography studies.
- What do you consider the main message of the article?
The main message of the article is that people form tight bonds with their environments. Human-computer interaction has to be viewed within the sociotechnical context of the environment and only in doing so can the design of systems be greatly enhanced.
- Of the themes discussed in the article which you would like to know more about?
Could you please explain the idea of "active representations" again? And maybe say a few lines about the two examples (cockpit and ship navigation system).
- Please describe briefly your understanding of:
Distributed cognition:Distributed cognition implies that cognitive powers extend beyond the individual to cover interactions between humans and their environment (tools, resources, materials, etc). It is a broad concept that includes phenomena that emerge in social interactions as well as interactions between people and artifacts in the environment.
Ethnography:Ethnography, roughly, is a study of the effect of the environment (and cultures) on human cognition; examining the way humans interact with and use the available tools and materials, and vice versa.
Active Representations:Not too clear on this one.
"In future work environments people will pursue their goals in collaboration with elements of the social and material world":This is the theory of distributed cognition that emphasizes the importance of understanding human cognition beyond the individual's mind. The future of HCI lies in examining and utilizing group interactions with computer systems and everyday devices.
- The article talks about "new foundations" for HCI. Please discuss a couple of "old foundations" for HCI. How "new" according to your knowledge are these "new foundations"?
The "old" foundations placed emphasis on the individual directly interacting with the system without taking into account other environmental factors that could essentially enhance the cognitive design process. The user typically manipulated the system manually to achieve a goal. Examples of this would be a word processor, and GUI(s) for operating systems. As compared to the systems developed with the theory of distributed cognition, these systems are not that old. One of the factors of distributed cognition is the interaction of the individual with the tools. Systems like the word processor or spreadsheets can be considered as tools for the individual's use; these software systems do have (albeit limited) capacity to record histories, suggest tips, etc. I believe, the "new" foundations are definitely much more encompassing though not altogether novel.
- Do you have any ideas how this research could/should be extended based on your own knowledge and experience?
The recording of histories would be a good extension for the EDC system. This could be done with audio and video media. In fact, I think attempts are already being made in this direction.
