The spatial nature of thought: Understanding information systems design through diagrams

Jeffrey V. Nickerson, James E. Corter, Barbara Tversky, Doris Zahner, Yun Jin Rho

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Design entails the interaction of minds and the tools used to express the design, notably, diagrams. Systems designers use the affordances of the page when they generate structural diagrams of systems. Specifically, they use proximity to augment connectedness (path) information by grouping subsystems. They use horizontal position on the page to express sequence and vertical position to reflect actual spatial position. Finally, they use the permanence of diagrams to generate alternative designs. These conclusions were reached through the analysis of work by student designers, many of whom were practicing information technology professionals. The analysis of designs in topological and Euclidean space required the creation of computational tools that show promise as decision aids for designers, by separating the intertwined qualities of topological and Euclidean space, and by making visible the conceptual similarity of design alternatives.

Original languageEnglish
StatePublished - 2008
Event29th International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2008 - Paris, France
Duration: 14 Dec 200817 Dec 2008

Conference

Conference29th International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2008
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityParis
Period14/12/0817/12/08

Keywords

  • Affordance
  • Diagram understanding
  • Information systems design
  • Topology
  • Visualization

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