Two items reminded me of the power metaphor brings to our everyday experiences: A film dealing with Joseph Campbell’s thoughts on God as a Metaphor for anything beyond our comprehension, and Fast Company’s article on the Steve Jobs’ Design Philosophy (specifically #6).
Here’s the trick:
Part of the reason we model our computers on metaphors like the desktop is that we can leverage this experience that we already have.
– Steve Jobs
…and the trap:
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble
– Joseph Campbell
Our interaction with technology is almost entirely metaphorical. Even now, I am “typing” (lead type), on a “keyboard” (typewriter), in a “window”, on a “screen” (projector), connected to my laptop (lap-sized desktop computer <- top of a desk). The list goes on.
One challenges comes when we mix them, break them, or simply use the wrong ones. The more important challenge lies in differentiating metaphor from fact. Campbell offers us the lens that Science should present fact, and Religion should penetrate it to the point beyond our understanding. Slajov Zizek on the other hand suggests that ideology is built into everything we do, right down to the philosophy of a proper toilet.
In this time, where technology mediates or supports our every action(from walls to streams to mailboxes to calendars) we must decide whether to offer a metaphor or an entirely new behavior. With this, my burning question is:
What is the appropriate metaphor or the behaviour of collaborative consumption?
Tags: collaborative consumption, design, ideology, metaphor, thought
Enjoyed the post but couldn’t restrain myself from noting that “desktop” is not a metaphor. It is where the computer lives.
Thanks for the comment Thruflo, good point! I guess I was in the head space of digital files & folder. The “desktop” of “desktop computer” is a different than the “desktop in the finder”. I guess just another example of a mixed metaphor, I’m the worst culprit.