ISSUE-55

realism is not universal, nor does ordinariness befit exceptional communications (public comment)

State:
CLOSED
Product:
wsc-usecases
Raised by:
Bill Doyle
Opened on:
2007-04-17
Description:
From public comments
raised by: Al Gilman Alfred.S.Gilman@ieee.org

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-usable-
authentication/2007Apr/0000.html



realism is not universal, nor does ordinariness befit exceptional
communications
where it says, in 10.1.3 Match between system and the real world
The system should speak the users\' language, with words, phrases and
concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms.
Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a
natural and logical order
please consider
It is easy for those locked in bitmapped-display or video presentation
modalities to get carried away with this. To the detriment of access by
people with disabilities.

For machine personality, cartoon presentation is more suitable and less
disquieting to users than trompe-l\'oeil verisimilitude.

Verisimilitude is a tool that can always be spoofed. The more you rely on
real-world-liness, the harder it is to draw a sandbox around your presentation
cues and keep others from re-using them to malign intent.

Poison warnings and European road signs use heavily symbolized presentation.
Now I, as a U.S. habitue, find this in Germany to be overdone. But
verisimilitude is an easy way to optimize the behavior at the center of the
demographic hill and drive it down at the edges.


Why?

People with disabilities will always have to use the content in transcodes of
the author\'s putative presentation. So be sure to afford both a rigorous
model, no matter how code-geeky, as the foundation for what you think (based
on testing with too-central-tendency a sample) is a usable design for a
dialog.
please consider
the users bring diverse levels of understanding as well as different
modalities of access, so the system can\'t rely entirely on familiarity of
presentation. Thus the system should support mixed-initiative adjustment of
the level of \'partial understanding\' that is exposed. You have two
performance goals that are in conflict, here: a) does the user understand
what you are trying to tell her? b) does she trust that you have told her the
whole truth and nothing but the truth?
please consider
the history of \'friendly messages\' is littered with the wrecks of things that
only hide what the user needs to know. In one place you inveigh against codes
such as \"403: forbidden\". On the other hand, this is the only touchstone
of \"ground truth\" that is available cross-browser and cross-platform today.
Don\'t let it go. Just as the UAAG supports \"source view\" as one option the
user should have; likewise in the \"access to all conditional content\" the
verbatim evidence from e.g. protocol messages should be an available option
Related Actions Items:
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Related emails:
  1. Re: ISSUE-55: realism is not universal, nor does ordinariness befit exceptional communications (public comment) (from Mary_Ellen_Zurko@notesdev.ibm.com on 2007-04-19)
  2. ISSUE-55: realism is not universal, nor does ordinariness befit exceptional communications (public comment) (from dean+cgi@w3.org on 2007-04-17)

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Mary Ellen Zurko <mzurko@us.ibm.com>, Chair, Thomas Roessler <tlr@w3.org>, Staff Contact
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