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An {A}nalysis of the {N}avigation {M}etaphor -- {A}nd {W}hy {It} {W}orks for the {W}orld {W}ide {W}eb
Type of publication: Article
Citation: HochmairEA06
Journal: Spatial Cognition and Computation
Volume: 6
Number: 3
Year: 2006
Pages: 235-278
URL: http://www.leaonline.com/doi/a...
Abstract: People use spatial metaphors when they talk about activities on the World Wide Web, such as navigating the Web, reaching one's goal, visiting a Web site, or moving back to a previous Web page. These expressions are mappings from the physical world to an application domain. We analyze why Web users conceptualize clicking on a sequence of Web links as navigation. The semantics of an object or an activity in its source domain can be defined over its behavior with a set of axioms. We propose that these axioms must also be satisfied in the target domain for an object or activity to yield a sound metaphor. We use a first-order algebraic specification language to define the semantics of navigation in the real world as a set of axioms, specify a Web navigating agent as algebra, and demonstrate that there exists a morphism between both specifications, which means that the Web agent behaves according to the set of wayfinding axioms. This suggested method is another step towards a formally grounded explanation of metaphorical mappings.
Userfields: bdsk-url-1={http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15427633scc0603_3}, project={I4-SPIN}, status={Reviewed},
Keywords: Navigation Sense-Plan-Act Haskell CASL
Authors Hochmair, Hartwig H.
Lüttich, Klaus
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