Authors:
Delanie Ricketts, Dan Lockton
In HCI, we usually encounter metaphors through interface design—the desktops, windows, tablets, clouds, folders, and feeds of everyday interaction. Designers use metaphors strategically to help users understand new ways of interacting, but they can also be used to generate new ideas for products or services [1,2,3]; considering different metaphors can help expand our conceptual vocabulary as we work with the social and political effects of technologies. Insights We argue that there is also value in paying attention to the metaphors people use to explain their understanding, as a component of user research. Eliciting metaphors, tacit or explicit, can…
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