Chapter Introduction | Web Resources | Assignment Comments | Teaching Materials

Conceptual models

David Liddle's chapter called "Design of the Conceptual Model" in T. Winograd (ed) Bringing Design to Software (1996) (pp17-31)
- provides a good overview.

Jeff Johnson and Austin Henderson (2002), "Conceptual Models: Begin by Designing What to Design." Interactions, volume IX.1. ACM
- This is a very good article, describing in detail how to design a conceptual model, once you have collected all your requirements, done your task analysis and created user profiles. Summed up by their position, which we wholeheartedly support: "get the bone structure right, then flesh it out" (p. 26)

An example of a novel conceptual model based on gesturing movements in a 3D information space is discussed in a short paper by David Allport, Earl Rennison, and Lisa Strausfeld entitled "Issues of gestural navigation in abstract information spaces", CHI '95 proceedings.

Interface metaphors

A discussion of how well-designed interface metaphors can make interfaces 'intuitable' can be read on Togs website.

There are also several sites that provide examples of bad (and occasionally good) interface metaphors. One of the most well known is the �Interface Hall of Shame: Misplaced Metaphors�

Interaction paradigms

A good overview of the emergence of the ubiquitous computing paradigm was compiled by the late Mark Weiser. It has lots of links to other resources (e.g, cartoons, papers, slides).

The latest on other emerging paradigms can be found by looking at what research groups are doing at universities like MIT and Georgia Tech and also some of the research collaborations that are working on innovative, blue-sky projects, like Equator and Cooltown.