IAwiki: ShapeOfInformation

IAwiki: ShapeOfInformation

Spatial Semantics: How Users Derive Shape from Information Space

Work by AndrewDillon et al...

The concept of shape assumes that an information space of any size has both spatial and semantic characteristics. That is, as well as identifying placement and layout, users directly recognize and respond to content and meaning. Routinely in our lab, users describe what they remember from an interaction in digital space or draw their interpretation of the information space’s form and layout. These data clearly point to the intercoupling of spatial and semantic components of memory.

One extremely simple example, as I understand it, is the format of a recipe. Cooks know that recipes usually start with a list of ingredients and then a description of what to do with the ingredients. Given only a snippet of a recipe, a cook would know where in the recipe the snippet came from. Thus the snippet has meaning as to its location in the whole, and this has implications for navigation. -- VictorLombardi

...typical users are often directly interacting with the meaning of information, not consciously seeking to navigate through a space. Thus, we argued, to ensure better design for learning and communication, greater emphasis should be placed on the semantic issues that impact use. Such arguments have been extended in recent years to the notion of information possessing shape (those spatial-semantic properties that convey coherence) that users can exploit both semantically and physically to gather meaning (Dillon & Schaap, 1996).

I highly recommend [Spatial-Semantics: How Users Derive Shape from Information Space]