Negotiating Experience and Communicating Information Through Abstract Metaphor

Document Title

Negotiating Experience and Communicating Information Through Abstract Metaphor

Document Information

• Subject Area: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Application of Metaphors in Information Communication and Design
• Keywords: Metaphor, Data Representation, Human Communication, Sensory Experience, Design

Research Background and Issues

• Problems and Challenges:
  • In the field of HCI, traditional metaphorical designs (e.g., "desktop metaphor") often rely on familiar concepts from daily life. However, their effectiveness is limited when dealing with abstract information or subjective experiences.
  • There is a lack of tools or theoretical frameworks to comprehensively understand how abstract metaphors succeed in describing complex sensory experiences.
• Significance:
  • Abstract metaphors are a critical medium in human communication, capable of transforming particularly subjective and sensory experiences into shareable information.
  • This issue is especially important for designing HCI systems that involve human sensations, sensory interactions, and subjective perceptions.
• Research Motivation and Related Work:
  • While traditional HCI heavily relies on physical metaphors (e.g., folders representing data storage), the transmission of information related to complex or subjective experiences requires more flexible abstract metaphors.
  • Recent HCI research has begun to focus on improving experience sharing through multimodal approaches such as bodily mapping and haptic feedback. However, it remains unclear how to abstract design principles from vivid human interactions.

Proposed Solution

• Proposed Approach:
  • Using vocal pedagogy as a case study, the research analyzes how metaphors facilitate shared understanding of sensory experiences between teachers and students.
  • Through interviews with 12 vocal instructors, the study explores how they use abstract metaphors to teach subjective techniques such as breath support, vocal resonance, and posture adjustment.
• Innovations:
  • Proposes a metaphor-based communication model that emphasizes the shared meaning of sensory experiences rather than a direct mapping to physical reality.
  • Highlights the flexibility, ambiguity, and role of metaphors in fostering personal meaning-making.
• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:
  1. Conduct in-depth interviews with 12 experienced vocal instructors to collect real-world examples of metaphor use in teaching.
  2. Apply reflexive thematic analysis to extract patterns and themes, including how metaphors directly reference bodily experiences.
  3. Use psychological assessment tools (e.g., BAIS and MIQ-3) to evaluate instructors' sensory imagination abilities and their influence on metaphor selection.
  4. Propose a metaphor-based communication model and validate its applicability through existing systems and design examples.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Findings:
  • Identified four key characteristics of metaphors in conveying sensory experiences:
    1. Based on bodily experience rather than domain-specific knowledge: Metaphors rely on people's bodily perceptions, requiring no prior task-specific knowledge.
    2. Independent of language: The understanding of metaphors is rooted in bodily experience rather than specific language, making them cross-culturally applicable.
    3. Focus on core information, avoiding excessive detail: Metaphors simplify the expression of experiences, preventing information overload.
    4. Leverage ambiguity to support individual meaning-making: Ambiguous metaphors allow learners to reinterpret new information based on their own experiences.
  • Developed a metaphor communication model that describes how information is negotiated and shared between individuals' lived experiences through metaphors.
  • Reassessed traditional HCI metaphors (e.g., desktop metaphor) and their limitations, offering insights for future design tools.
• Comparison with Existing Solutions:
  • Compared to traditional "physical metaphors," the proposed model emphasizes that metaphors do not need to directly represent reality but only need to create a bridge for shared understanding.
  • The research addresses the underexplored question in existing HCI metaphor systems of "why metaphors are effective."
• Experimental Results and Future Directions:
  • Experimental results show that while participants used multimodal metaphors such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic cues, there was no significant correlation between metaphor selection and sensory imagination ability.
  • The authors propose further exploration of the model's application in complex human-technology interactions, particularly in abstract interface design and data storytelling, through more sophisticated and multimodal interaction designs.

Future Work and Limitations

• Limitations:
  • The sample is primarily focused on vocal pedagogy, which may not fully reflect metaphor usage patterns in other fields.
  • The study does not deeply investigate the specific implementation of metaphors in technological systems.
• Future Directions:
  • Extend the proposed metaphor model to practical HCI design, exploring its applications in interactive interfaces, data physicalization, and other domains.
  • Investigate how metaphors can be dynamically adjusted in complex human-technology interactions to achieve more effective experience sharing and knowledge dissemination.