Oh, for...
This will probably surprise a lot of you, but I don't actually care
what we take "prototype" to mean, vs. model vs. sketch vs....
whatever. I get my panties in a bunch when people claim a commonality
of understanding of a word, when that commonality clearly isn't
extant. Hence my dictionary definitions. They demonstrate that there
are recognized definitions for these words outside of our little
sphere. The ongoing discussion illustrates that there are not commonly
held definitions for those words *inside* our little sphere. My plea
is simply that we stop using words as though we were, individually,
the final arbiters of their meaning to the community.
There are perfectly good modifiers that can help us. For example,
while some of us may believe that to say "Paper prototype" is deeply
wrong, I think we do understand what is meant by it. Similarly,
"interactive model" may appear to be both redundant and oxymoronic,
but I suspect that we would have a good general idea of what it
referred to.
I don't mind having a professional vocabulary - I think it's a very
good idea - but the fact that we argue over its elements is ample
evidence that it doesn't exist as a commonly understood set of words.
The professional vocabulary is still shaking out.
In the meantime, can we try to communicate our questions, comments,
answers and discussion in such a fashion that we can understand one
another, rather than scoring points off one another for word usage?
Katie Albers
Founder & Principal Consultant
FirstThought
User Experience Strategy & Project Management
310 356 7550
ka...@firstthought.com
On Mar 7, 2009, at 11:54 AM, Todd Zaki Warfel wrote:
On Mar 7, 2009, at 2:48 PM, Will Evans wrote:
does it really matter what websters or the OED defines as a prototype
Not sure how much Webster's definition applies, since that appears
to focus primarily on physical object prototypes rather than
software system prototypes. Perhaps they should update their
definition.
Cheers!
Todd Zaki Warfel
Principal Design Researcher
Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully.
----------------------------------
Contact Info
Voice: (215) 825-7423
Email: t...@messagefirst.com
AIM: twar...@mac.com
Blog: http://toddwarfel.com
Twitter: zakiwarfel
----------------------------------
In theory, theory and practice are the same.
In practice, they are not.
________________________________________________________________
Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org
Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
________________________________________________________________
Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org
Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
