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Norman: Don’t Confuse Affordances with Conventions

I am a huge fan of Donald Norman’s Design of Everyday Things, as are most of the people who read my HCI-related posts on my blog. Recently, I ran across a 1999 article Dr. Norman wrote in interactions magazine. In the article, he discusses how he is bothered by how designers are using the word affordance, when really they should be saying perceived affordance or convention. Basically, a computer mouse will always afford clicking, no matter where it is on the screen. Icons on the screen are visual feedback on the screen that advertise the real affordances. Therefore, a “print” icon advertises the affordance of printing a document.

It’s tough to change my mental model about affordances, since I was taught differently. I encourage everyone with a similar problem to read the article!

The article is available in the ACM Digital Library (for subscribers or students) or on Dr. Norman’s website in two parts: part one and part two.

Hey Andrew… How’s MASS weather treating you?

I’ve got a Social Computing question for you…are you familiar with CMC (Computer Mediated Communication)?

I’ve got this project here at my Uni and I’m looking for HCI-people’s opinion on the matter…I’m somewhat stuck in my own head…

I need to come up with an idea for a CMC application that can not only help people communicate (like other CMC applications such as Instant Messaging, E-Mail….etc) but that can also help see those communicating with one another the state of emotion of those involved in conversation or collaboration with one another…

The closes thing out there right now to this are Emoticons…

Is there anything that crosses your mind?

It would also help to think in terms of how could I make sure that in a virtual communication environment, the people I’m speaking too are actually paying attention to what I’m saying? (level of attentiveness?) For example, an online University Class in which the professor wants to make sure the student is actually paying attention and not looking at MySpace or YouTube…

Cheers, m8…if there’s anything that flashes thru your mind, either leave me a message on MySpace or e-mail me…

Ciao…

By the way…I DID read that article about a month ago for my Psychology of HCI class….

The guy is brilliant…although my professor doesn’t seem to like him much…

Hey Diego,

Weather is OK… it’s been warm (60F) and rainy this week.

That is interesting about CMC. I have not had a class in the topic, but I am familiar with it. I am not sure of a good solution that exists for what you are asking… There is software to teleconference, but that would require all students having a webcam. The only way to convey emotion over text chat would be with emoticons. To tackle attentiveness, an idle timer could exist in the chat (e.g. after being away a few minutes on Gaim or AIM, an away message may pop-up on my screen, and I may appear idle to others). I am not really sure of any other solutions but I will be thinking about it. Let me know if you come up with any!

And yup, Norman is a leader in the field, but I would not be surprised if professors or HCI enthusiasts did not like him. Nielsen and Norman often do not refer to the theoretical (i.e. psychological) research behind their conclusions.