Hey Luiz, you really made me think about this issue. Thanks a lot for this
linguistic twist!
After reading Luiz's message, I wonder what alternative computer metaphors
might have been if computer designers prioritized different practices?!
Below is my brainstorming examples:
1. Culinary practice.
In the bureaucratic metaphor "Save the file in a folder"
In a culinary metaphor "Put the ingredient on a shelf"
2. Game practice.
In the bureaucratic metaphor "Save the file in a folder"
In a game metaphor "Keep the game in a room"
I'm afraid even to think about academic practice because how much it is
different from office clerk work?! :-(
It is interesting that I still can think of only special and even more
specific container metaphors. However, a strictly computer perspectives each
"file" is distributed on the hard drive to the point of being fragmented.
So, bureaucratic metaphor does not reflect the inner computer reality.
If somebody is willing to play with alternative metaphors for computer
language let me know please.
Take care,
Eugene
PS What do you think?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Luiz Carlos Baptista [mailto:lucabaptista@sapo.pt]
> Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 7:52 AM
> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: user-friendly computers or computer-friendly users?
>
> This on-going discussion about the "digital divide" has to do, in part,
with
> the institutionalized and taken-for-granted aspects of the computer
> interface. We are all used to the "office" metaphor, with its "desktop",
> "files", "folders", "documents", "word processors", "spread sheets",
> "recycle bins", etc. But this is just one way to design the interface, and
> its institutionalization is part of a larger process.
>
> When we use computers as if we were "digital office clercs", we are
actually
> (re)producing a socio-historical form. And everyone in the process of
> learning how to use a computer has to "interiorize" the office metaphor
and
> everything that goes with it. This could help explaining the differences
in
> terms of performance.
>
> Of course there are other uses of computers beyond "productive" work, such
> as playing games, drawing, listening to music, participating in online
> communication, etc. But notice how pervasive the office metaphor is: even
in
> this examples, we have "files" which can be "saved" in "folders".
>
> I hope this contribution deserves to be "saved" for future discussion.
> Rgrds,
>
> Luiz Carlos Baptista
> lucabaptista@sapo.pt
> lucabaptista@hotmail.com
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