Reading Journal: Knowing what to do

Due: 12:00 noon, Wednesday, September 9
Preparation: Read Norman (2013), The Design of Everyday Things, Chapter 3: "Knowledge in the Head and in the World" and Chapter 4, "Knowing What to Do: Constraints, Discoverability, and Feedback"
Submitting your work: Please post your response as your second blog entry on CLEo.
Collaboration: Each student should turn in their own answers to the questions below. You may discuss the assigned readings with anyone you wish, but you should clearly acknowledge the source of any insights that come from outside your own reading of the text(s).
Evaluation: I will evaluate this assignment on the scale presented in the syllabus.
Advice: This reading is long, about 90 pages, longer than I will typically assign. However, the reading also includes a lot of musing and repetitious examples. It's intruiguing and informative, but it's not necessary to understand every detail.; Read these chapters once through, fast, without taking notes. Challenge yourself to read as quickly as you can while still getting the gist of the text. Then answer the journal questions below, reviewing and taking notes on particular sections as needed.

Journal questions

What's the most surprising or intriguing thing you read in these two chapters? Find the most relevant sentence (or two) and quote it, indicating the page and approximate location. What about this passage surprised or intrigued you? [prioritization; metacognition]
Explain in your own words the distinction being made in the title of DOET 3: "Knowledge in the Head and in the World." [translation]
What is a key advantage of putting knowledge in the world? A key advantage of putting knowledge into your head? [prioritization]
In chapter 4, Norman explains several different kinds and uses of constraints. Where else have you seen constraints in action? Give an example and classify it according to Norman's terminology. [analogy]
How did your reading strategy for chapters 3 and 4 differ from your strategy for chapter 1? How well did it work for you? [metacogition]

Created September 7, 2015
Last revised September 7, 2015