Kirsh, D. (1997). Interactivity and Multimedia Interfaces. Instructional Science, 25(2), 79–96. doi:10.1023/A:1002915430871
1. Introduction
2. Two hard problems for open-ended interactivity
3. Revamping the decision cycle model
4. Conclusion
"This paper revisits Norman's decision-action cycle"
It "argues that [the decision-action cycle] fails to address many aspects of how people interact with the world."
"how people interact with the world."
Above from Professor Fast.
1997: between Windows 95 and 98, home personal computer revolution
"show[s] that humans have several ways of interacting with their environments which resist accommodation in the decision cycle model."
"Understanding how these actions simplify the computational complexity of
our mental processes is the first step in designing..."
"...tractable learner controlled learning environments."
The work is broken into four sections.
"problems for designers of interactive learning environments" :
"inquire [about the] notion of an interactive interface"
"critique [...] theorizing about interactive interfaces"
"the senses must be considered a system operating under principles of organization"
Additions to the decision cycle. Including:
Laboratory observations: "ways humans have of interacting with their environments to minimize cognitive load and simplify their cognitive tasks."
"[His] conclusion is that if dynamic interfaces are to support complex learning activities they must not only offer the type of perceptual affordances and action effectivities that Gibson described, they must also facilitate a range of actions for reshaping the environment in cognitively congenial ways."
Beyond scripts
Scripting "creates an undesirable limitation on improvisation."
Good interfaces should help us decide what to do next
Only use as much scaffolding and directions as needed to indirectly point the users in a correct direction.
"...effective interfaces ought to provide us with the information we need to decide what we ought to do next."
What is interactivity?
Close coupling interactive recreations require:
Casual coupling, like the solar system, does not have those requirements.
Intermediate forms also exist and "they both determine what I can do and what happens as a result of my actions. The reciprocity here is not between agents, but between an agent and its environment of action."
Interactive interfaces
"As the environment is made more responsive to the cognitive needs of the user, it moves more toward the social sense of interaction."
The decision cycle model
Norman action cycle - stages of user activity
Limitations of the decision cycle model
"...goals are often not fully formed in an agent’s mind."
"just-in-time" goal formulation
The case where "My goal was never fully articulated before I understood how I might achieve it."
"any model of interaction which treats an agent’s coupling with the world as a sequence of distinct goal-intention-action-reactions misses the dynamics that emerge due to long term contact."
Preparation
"Preparation is a natural response to the limits of memory and the computational difficulties associated with planning."
"...one can mark or organize the environment to reflect one’s ideas of what might be useful, and then sharpen things up when the details of the future situation become evident."
Maintenance
"A certain state of the environment must be maintained or enforced [...] (see Hammond, Converse, and Grass, 1995; Kirsh, 1996)."
Complementary actions
"...the mechanics of how agents perceive, recall, and solve problems."
"Close observation of everyday activity reveals that [...] a broad range of actions that are associated with managing thought, planning, conceptualizing and perceiving, which [...] are integral to our maintaining a close cognitive coupling with our environments."
"...the proper first step in discovering new design principles is to know the phenomena they are to support."
This paper is delving further into the ideas of interavtivity than, what the author believes are, simply cycles presented in early research, like the Norman cognition papers. It explores the processes involoved by making claims with lots of real world examples while presenting a modified decision cycle model based on preparation, maintenance, and complementary actions.
"Few craftsman do much in the way of detailed planning when they set out to assemble a cabinet." Say what? I get the encoding ideas claim, but I do not believe this is a good example.