Designing Displays Under Ecological Interface Design: Towards Operationalizing Semantic Mapping

Abstract

In recent years, there has been growing interest in Ecological Interface Design (EID), which is the end product of cognitive work analysis (CWA). Even though the process of CWA has been thoroughly explained in Rasmussen, Pejtersen, and Goodstein (1994), there are few detailed examples on how one performs the individual steps involved. This paper deals specifically with the final semantic mapping stage. To date, moving from the system equations given by the work domain to particular display geometries has required some open-ended artistry. We provide several examples of how semantic mapping can be systematically achieved, either by i) borrowing from well-established theoretical depictions of a phenomenon, ii) adapting preexisting displays to fit a particular need, or iii) inventing visual forms by finding a spatial representation for the underlying state equations.

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