People: the way I see it

XIII.6 November + December 2006
Page: 45
Digital Citation

Logic versus usage


Authors:
Donald Norman

In my consulting activities, I often have to explain to companies that they are too logical, too rational. Human behavior seldom follows mathematical reasoning. By the standards of engineers, human behavior can be illogical and irrational. From the standpoint of people, however, their behavior is quite sensible, dictated by the activity being performed, the environment and context, and their higher-level goals. To support real behavior we need activity-centered design. Years ago anthropologists Janet Dougherty and Charles Keller studied how blacksmiths organize their tools. Blacksmiths, they discovered, don't put all the hammers neatly away on the shelves, all together. No,…




You must be a member of SIGCHI, a subscriber to ACM's Digital Library, or an interactions subscriber to read the full text of this article.

GET ACCESS

Join ACM SIGCHI

In addition to all of the professional benefits of being a SIGCHI member, members get full access to interactions online content and receive the print version of the magazine bimonthly.


Subscribe to the ACM Digital Library

Get access to all interactions content online and the entire archive of ACM publications dating back to 1954. (Please check with your institution to see if it already has a subscription.)


Subscribe to interactions

Get full access to interactions online content and receive the print version of the magazine bimonthly.


Post Comment


No Comments Found