Iconic Communication - Softcover

Barker, Philip; Yazdani, Masoud

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184150016X ISBN 13: 9781841500164

Verlag: Intellect Books - IPSUK, 2000

Inhaltsangabe

Do pictures enhance the communicative power of text?

Our society is becoming a more visual culture day-by-day. This book offers detailed analyses of how to combine words with pictures to communicate clearly across cultural barriers.

While some information is better communicated by one kind of media than another, some information is communicated most effectively through a combination of media. This book presents a critical framework within which iconic communication systems can be developed to truly bridge linguistic and cultural gaps and to provide effective computer-based systems for conveying information on a global scale.

With valuable insights for the Information and Communication industries, this book draws on the work presented at several conferences on the subject and is designed primarily for graphic designers and human-computer interface developers as well as supplementary reading on degree courses in Information Technology.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

The late Philip Barker was a reader in British Archaeology, University of Birmingham.  Both authors directed a number of excavations and published several books; they are co-authors of Hen Domen, Montgomery: A Timber Castle on the English-Welsh Border: A Final Report.

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Iconic Communication

By Masoud Yazdani, Philip Barker

Intellect Ltd

Copyright © 2000 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-84150-016-4

Contents

Preface, 
Part 1: Foundations, 
1. Human Communication Processes Philip Barker, 
2. On the Possibility and Impossibility of a Universal Iconic Communication System Andrew J King, 
3. The Limits of Iconic Communication John Roscoe, 
Part 2: Background, 
4. Some Pictorial Symbol Systems for Public Places Ian McLaren, 
5. Double Vision Michelle Gausman and Clive Chizlett, 
6. Communication through Icons Masoud Yazdani, 
Part 3: Proposals, 
7. Do You See What I'm Saying? Stuart Mealing, 
8. IconText: An Exploration of the Limitations of Iconic Languages Colin Beardon, 
9. Visualisation of Textual Structures Graziella Tonfoni, 
Part 4: Development of Prototypes, 
10. The Augmentation of Textual Communication with User-created Icons Leon Cruickshank and Lon Barfield, 
11. VIL: A Visual Inter Lingua Lee Becker and Paul Leemans, 
Part 5: Research Outcomes, 
12. Icons in the Mind Philip Barker and Paul van Schaik, 
13. Designing and Evaluating Icons Philip Barker and Paul van Schaik, 
14. Evaluating Appropriate Interface Metaphors Paul Honeywill, 

CHAPTER 1

Human Communication Processes

Philip Barker

Introduction

The primary purpose of this initial 'foundation' chapter is to 'set the scene' for the material that is to be presented by the other authors in the subsequent chapters of this book. This initial scene-setting activity is undertaken in the four sections that follow this introduction. These make up the main body of this chapter. Each of these sections provides a different, but important, perspective on 'iconic communication'. Additional foundation material is also presented in the other two chapters which, together with this one, make up the first part of this book, which follows immediately after these opening remarks. The second section of this chapter is used to describe a number of simple but powerful 'foundation' models. Together these provide much of the context and framework for the subsequent discussions of iconic communication that are presented in this book. These models have been derived by applying (to human activity systems) some of the graphical techniques that are often used to teach general systems theory and its applications. In using these representational techniques, particular emphasis has been given to the various communication processes in which people become involved.

In order to understand why people communicate with each other, another simple model is needed. Quite naturally, any attempt to explain human communication processes cannot be based on an understanding of technology alone. Consideration must be given to the human participants that are involved. For this reason, the third section of this chapter attempts to explain human communication in terms of two important psychological perspectives. First, the motivational factors that underlie communication processes and, second, the cognitive processes that we believe form the underlying basis for conversational activity. The main topic discussed in this section is the role of mental models – and how they can be used as a basis for explaining human communication processes.

In the opening part of their book, Sassoon and Gaur (1997) suggest that 'the present connects the past with the future – knowing about the past provides a basis from which we can plan'. Because of the importance of earlier work on iconic communication techniques, the fourth section of this chapter reflects briefly on past activities that are relevant to the development of icons and iconic languages. Particular emphasis is given to the growing importance of icons within the graphical user interfaces that are now used in many software packages. Some consideration is also given to the underlying metaphors that are often embedded within these interfaces.

For most people, the future will be far more important than the past. Therefore, following on from the short 'historical perspective', the fifth part of this introductory chapter is given to speculation. Here, an attempt is made to predict some of the potential application areas for (and developments in) iconic communication that we might see in the immediate, short-term future – the next 10 to 20 years. These speculations are based both on our own research activities (see, for example, the descriptions that are given at our World Wide Web site – the address for which is http://www.isrg.co.uk) and on the developments that are taking place in other relevant areas of communication and information technologies.

Finally, in the conclusion to this chapter, an attempt is made to summarise and bring together the important concepts that have been discussed – with a view to providing an appropriate foundation and framework for the other contributions to this book.

Foundation Models

In order to understand the significance and importance of iconic communication within modern-day settings, two important models need to be introduced. The first of these attempts to describe (in a graphical way) the various relationships that exist between people and the technologies that they use to perform the various tasks that they need to undertake in order to realise the goals that they wish to achieve. This model is illustrated schematically in Figure 1.

The model presented in figure 1 places 'people' at the central focus of all the implicit and explicit relationships that exist between the different components of the diagram. Closely 'bonded' to the people component of Figure 1 are the 'interfaces' that people use when they interact with each other and with technology.

Human activity is one of the most fundamental aspects of many important natural and quasi-natural systems. As was stated above, purposeful human activity normally involves the execution of tasks. These can be executed in either an aided or an un-aided way (Banerji, 1995; Beacham, 1998). Aided execution of a task involves the use of some form of technology to facilitate the fulfilment of that task. As is suggested in figure 1, one of our basic premises is that all human interaction must be mediated by suitably designed 'interfaces'. These may be based on the use of hardware and/or software resources, they may involve people and they may be of a procedural or a linguistic nature. These interfaces facilitate any control and communication activities that are necessary for the successful execution of a task – in both aided and unaided contexts. These types of communication and control activity are probably most obvious in situations where some form of technology (such as a computer) is used to facilitate task execution.

The second model that we need to introduce is one which reflects the importance of technology as a framework for providing support for human communication processes. This model is illustrated in a diagrammatic way in Figure 2.

In this diagram there are four different types of communication represented. The directed arc on the left-hand side of the diagram represents human–human communication (HHC). This could involve either 'self-communication' (within the context of an individual) or 'group communication' when it involves two or more communicating partners. The two outermost arcs joining the 'people' and 'technology' nodes of the graph represent various forms of technology-mediated communication (TMC) as might take place through...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Intellect Books - IPSUK
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2000
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 184150016X
• ISBN 13: 9781841500164
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 208
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland