Cognitive psychologist Norman searches for humane technology and
just plain user-friendliness in the paraphernalia and artifacts
employed in everyday life. What he finds is that "today we serve
technology," though, of course, "technology should serve us."
Currently a thinker at Apple Computer (actually, "an Apple
Fellow"), Norman expands on his previous offerings (Turn Signals
Are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles, 1992; The Psychology of
Everyday Things, 1988, etc.) - and his current text, though more
thoughtful, is just as user-friendly as his earlier works. Citing
the appalling slogan of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, "Science
Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms," the good Apple Fellow
offers a new guiding principle: "People Propose, Science Studies,
Technology Conforms." Usage, he says - especially of computer
software - follows design, but it doesn't have to be that way. With
intelligences now darting though cyberspace, Norman can
differentiate between the human and the artificial kind. Neither of
them is the sole, true McCoy: They're just different, each with
different innate abilities. People are better at language, the arts
and emotions that make life worthwhile. Technology is better at
such things as logic and mathematics, both invented artifices. Not
new notions, certainly, but when was the last time you heard a
technocrat say that "our goal should be to develop human centered
activities, to make...the task fit the person, not the other way
round"? Norman's presentation is eminently accessible, with
incidental insights into such matters as primitive office
procedures, and why, for addition and subtraction, Roman numeration
is superior to Arabic. As he notes, books are one form of
technology. Television is another. It might be interesting to see
if his message could survive a change of medium, perhaps to
educational TV. Lots of things make us smart, Norman points out.
His book could be one of them. (Kirkus Reviews)
In Things That Make Us Smart, Donald A. Norman explores the complex
interaction between human thought and the technology it creates,
arguing for the development of machines that fit our minds, rather
than minds that must conform to the machine.Humans have always
worked with objects to extend our cognitive powers, from counting
on our fingers to designing massive supercomputers. But advanced
technology does more than merely assist with thought and memory,the
machines we create begin to shape how we think and, at times, even
what we value. Norman, in exploring this complex relationship
between humans and machines, gives us the first steps towards
demanding a person-centreed redesign of the machines that surround
our lives.
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