Design of Future Things Ch 6

Reference Information:

Title: The Design of Future Things
Author: Donald A. Norman

Summary:
The author begins with a story encapsulating the importance of feedback in a machine. He discusses how a professor gave a presentation that ended up not working due to outside forces. However, because there was no feedback from his program he could not tell that his program was running perfectly and that the problem was elsewhere. He expands on the importance of feedback from a machine with several examples and then moves on to the question of whether technology or people should be blamed when a machine behaves unexpectedly. His answer is that there are times for both. He gives an example of two hand writing recognition machines. One performed very well or very poorly based on the words entered and gave little feedback as to what went wrong. The other used a letter by letter analysis and therefore showed what letters were being misinterpreted. He found that people blamed the machine in the first case, but in the second they could see where there letters should have been made more accurately and therefore blamed themselves. He then concludes with an explanation of natural signals and natural mappings. His example of natural mappings is that of a 4 by 4 grid stove. The panel that controls the burners are often not in the same rectangular grid as the burners themselves. This is unnatural and leads to people turning on the wrong burner even when the controls are clearly labeled.

Discussion:
I know that a lot of people in class really dislike this book, but I find myself enjoying it. While it is true that all he is doing is complaining, he gives several examples to back his complaints up and they are very entertaining. I enjoyed his description of the two hand writing recognition devices as I personally would blame the machine in the first case and myself in the second. Reading this book, I realize that I should add some sound to my existing projects. I realize that it is a fine line between a helpful sound and an annoying one, but I agree with the authors insistence that feedback is important.