Design Principles for Cognitive Artifacts

Norman, Donald A. (1992). "Design Principles for Cognitive Artifacts". Research in Engineering Design, 4(1), 43–50. doi:10.1007/BF02032391

Notes
Section:

1. Introduction
2. Action and Observation
3. Surface and Internal Representation
4. The Interface Between Artifact and Person

Summary

Notes

1992: Microsoft Windows 3.1, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Intel 486DX2 chip, IBM ThinkPad notebook

Because of the "human action cycle [...] artificial devices must support both execution and evaluation."

Cognitive Artifact: a "device designed to maintain, display, or operate upon information in order to serve a representational function."

The work is broken into four sections.

1. Introduction

"...usability of a design."

"...the problem of making things understandable is with us still..."

2. Action and Observation

1. "The Action Cycle" - Human Action Cycle:
   • Loop of evaluating objects and executing actions.
     • Act usually "in response to some prior evaluation of perceptions."
     • "evaluate the impact of executed act"
     • "modifying the action even as [...] performing it."
2. "The Object-Symbol"

   "...when the same object serves both as the controlling device and the symbol for its state..."
   Electronic systems:
   "controls and indicators have almost no physical or spatial relationships to the device itself."
   Therefore:
   "relationships between the controls, the indicators, and the state of the system" are "arbitrary or abstract"

3. "Providing Feedback" - Confirmation of Action:
   • "The act itself"
   • "Intermediate results"
   • "Final outcome"
     3.1. "Systems for social feedback"

3. Surface and Internal Representation

1. "Surface Representations: What You See Is All There Is"
   • "the display and (relatively) permanent maintenance of representations"
2. "Internal Representations: There Is More Than Meets the Eye"
   • "symbols are maintained [...] within the device.. ..there must be an interface [for changing them] into a surface form that can be used."
3. "Passive Systems"
   • "...the representation is not normally manipulated."
4. "Active Systems"
   • "...can be modified according to the operations requested..."

4. The Interface Between Artifact and Person

People "interact with artifacts only at the level of the surface representations."

Evaluation side: "...the surface representation must provide an appropriate representation of the information to be conveyed."

Execution side "...the controls should match the requirements of the task and the user."

"The interface serves to transform the properties of the artifact's representational system to those that match the properties of the person..."

Summary

After reading this my understand of a cognitive artifact, is that it can be thought as a device that alleviates the clutter of keeping things a person needs represented in their mind or even all in front of them. Details are understood to be hidden. The important aspects of solving some problem are shown and should provide immediate feedback to changes. Not all changes permanently change what is displayed; some might only effect the internal records of the device.

References

• Computer History - 1992