Metaphors Gone Wild: the Illusive Machine Cycle
نویسندگان
چکیده
Information technology (IT) professionals use metaphors extensively to reduce complexity for the novice user. Some metaphors are good; others, not. Some are clear; others, confusing. This paper explores several metaphors, then examines in depth one particular metaphor that may be harmful in its present inaccurate portrayal, that of the “machine cycle.” The goal is to enhance understanding of that metaphor and to encourage discretion in its use.
منابع مشابه
User-Interface Metaphors in Theory and Practice
User-interface metaphors are a widely used, but poorly understood, technique employed in almost all graphical user-interfaces. Although considerable research has gone into the applications of the technique, little work has been performed on the analysis of the concept itself. In this thesis, user-interface metaphor is defined and classified in considerable detail so as to make it more understan...
متن کاملSurfing the money tides: understanding the foreign exchange market through metaphors.
This study describes metaphorical conceptualizations of the foreign exchange market held by market participants and examines how these metaphors socially construct the financial market. Findings are based on 55 semi-structured interviews with senior foreign exchange experts at banks and at financial news providers in Europe. We analysed interview transcripts by metaphor analysis, a method based...
متن کاملAn Investigation of Mindfulness-Based Metaphors in the Poems of Rumi
Aim: Mindfulness, as a new therapy method, has its roots in the culture of the East. The aim of this study is to identify the cultural and mindfulness-based metaphors in the Rumi's Masnavi (three chapters of first book). Methods: The current research analyzes the content of the above-mentioned section of Masnavi. The sampling was targeted and 1027 metaphors were identified. The metaphors attrib...
متن کاملA Formal Approach for Communication Between Logically Isolated Virtual Machines
A virtual machine (VM) is a well-defined hardware architecture that is presented to a terminal user in a somewhat illusive manner. For those users who understand the concept, it is like having an entire real computing system at their disposal. To most CMS (Conversational Monitor System) users, the system is a timesharing and program development ool, and they give little thought to the actual...
متن کاملLove-hate for man-machine metaphors in Soviet physiology: from Pavlov to "physiological cybernetics".
This article reinterprets the debate between orthodox followers of the Pavlovian reflex theory and Soviet "cybernetic physiologists" in the 1950s and 60s as a clash of opposing man-machine metaphors. While both sides accused each other of "mechanistic," reductionist methodology, they did not see anything "mechanistic" about their own central metaphors: the telephone switchboard metaphor for ner...
متن کامل