Discussion Question Set #2

As you study this week's material, please ponder the following discussion questions. Post your responses in the appropriate threads in WebCT.

1. The book identifies the advent of wireless services for mobile phones as an example of techno-centric design. Do any other technological innovations you've come across fall into this category? If so, what flawed assumptions did they make?

2. Does the money collection device located in the Student Rec Center parking lot give folks who park there reason to be concerned? Investigate the money collection device, and write up an analysis of its problems, using Norman's concepts as appropriate.

3. Consider the desktop metaphor used as the front-end to the Apple and Microsoft Windows operating systems, among others. In your opinion, in what cases does the metaphor succeed, and in what cases does it fail?

4. Which conceptual model or combination of models do you think is best suited to supporting the activity of listening to music on your computer?

5. Consider the computer applications that you use most often. What kinds of conceptual models are they based on? Discuss.

6. Use Norman's concepts of gulf of evaluation and gulf of execution to analyze one's interaction with a web browser as one searches for information on what trains are available from London to Edinburgh on April 1, 2007.