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Cognitive Dimensions

Delve into Thomas Green's Cognitive Dimensions framework to analyze usability problems beyond conventional techniques. Explore 14 cognitive dimensions such as viscosity, visibility, and error-proneness to enhance information artifacts.

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Cognitive Dimensions

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  1. Cognitive Dimensions • Developed by Thomas Green, Univ. of Leeds • Used to analyze the usability of information artifacts • Applied to discover useful things about usability problems that are not easily analyzed using conventional techniques • Framework (as opposed to model or theory)

  2. Cognitive Dimensions (2) • Focused on notations, such as • Music • Dance • Programming languages • And on information handling devices, such as • Spreadsheets • Database query systems • Word-processors • VCRs and DVD players • Cell phones

  3. Cognitive Dimensions (3) • Gives descriptions of aspects, attributes, or ways that a user thinks about a system, called dimensions • The 14 dimensions follow:

  4. Viscosity • Resistance to change • Fixed mental model • Hard-coded structure • Examples: • Technical literature, with cross-references and section headings (because introducing a new section requires many changes to cross-references)

  5. Visibility • Ability to view components easily • Non-encapsulation • Examples:

  6. Premature Commitment • Constraints on order of operations • Noun/verb • Verb/noun • Syntax of operations • Examples: • Declarations required before problem analysis

  7. Hidden Dependencies • Important links between entities are not visible • Examples: • class hierarchies • HTML links • spreadsheet cells

  8. Role-Expressiveness • Purpose of an entity is readily inferred (or obvious) • Uniform vs. distinguishing appearance of objects • Examples:

  9. Error-Proneness • Notations (or actions) invite mistakes and the system gives little protection • Examples:

  10. Abstraction • Types and availability of abstraction mechanisms • Examples:

  11. Secondary Notation • Extra information in means other than formal syntax • Examples: • Comments in programming languages • Pop-up boxes for icons • Well-designed icons

  12. Closeness of Mapping • Closeness of representation to domain • Examples:

  13. Consistency • Similar semantics are expressed in similar syntactic forms • Examples:

  14. Diffuseness • Verbosity of language • Examples:

  15. Hard Mental Operations • High demand on cognitive resources • Examples:

  16. Provisionality • Degree of commitment to actions or marks • Examples:

  17. Progressive Evaluation • Work to date can be checked at any time • Examples:

  18. Summary • Viscosity • Visibility • Premature commitment • Hidden dependencies • Role expressiveness • Error proneness • Abstraction • Secondary notation • Closeness of mapping • Consistency • Diffuseness • Hard mental operations • Provisionality • Progressive evaluation

  19. Supplementary Material • Cognitive Dimensions of Notations website www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~afb21/CognitiveDimensions • 10th Anniversary CD of Notations Workshop www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~afb21/CognitiveDimensions/workshop2005/index.html

  20. Supplementary Material (2) • Sally Fincher, Patterns in HCI • Marian Petre, Expert Design Reasoning

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