It's Not Interaction, It's Make Believe

Abstract

A principal, but largely unexplored, use of our cognition when using interacting technology involves pretending. To pretend is to believe that which is not the case, for example, when we use the desktop on our personal computer we are pretending, that is, we are pretending that the screen is a desktop upon which windows reside. But, of course, the screen really isn't a desktop.Similarly when we engage in scenario-or persona-based design we are pretending about the settings, narrative, contexts and agents involved. Although there are exceptions, the overwhelming majority of the contents of these different kinds of stories are not the case. We also often pretend when we engage in the evaluation of these technologies (e.g. in the Wizard of Oz technique we "ignore the man behind the curtain"). We are pretending when we ascribe human-like qualities to digital technology. In each we temporarily believe something to be the case which is not.If we add the experience of tele-and social-presence to this, and the diverse experiences which can arise from using digital technology which too are predicted on pretending, then we are prompted to propose that human computer interaction and cognitive ergonomics are largely built on pretending and make believe.If this premise is accepted (and if not, please pretend for a moment), there are a number of interesting consequences.

Integrating the world of presence theory: Illusion, pretence, attending, and pretending

“…"Varying feelings of presence reflect the extent to which attention is focused on the external environment". Turner (2014) Mediated presence as pretending. "We propose that make-believe is a plausible psychological mechanism which underpins the experience of mediated presence".…”

“…2016a) makes the same point, although he equates mediated presence with makebelieving, with pretending to believe, rather than actually believing -which reduces the coherence of his position, unless we are pretending to experience an illusion. Turner and colleagues state that make-believe "is a form of cognition which is decoupled from the real world and which enables us to explore and engage with fictional or imaginary worlds" (Turner et al, 2014). Voss et al (2011) posit the notion of the spectator as surrogate body.…”

“…We differ from Turner also about the relationship between imagination and metaphor, and how this relates to presence. In several publications Turner and associates (Turner et al, 2014;Turner, 2016b) have put forward the idea that often interfaces are metaphorical but that we pretend that they are real. They suggest that, since metaphor clearly involves imagination, imagination is needed to make sense of interactions and of presence.…”

Feeling Present in Virtual Environments

“…But, of course, the screen really isn't a desktop". Turner et al (2014) states that when we play a computer game "we temporarily believe that we are killing aliens ". He suggests that at some reflective level we know we are not killing aliens, but we have the vivid experience that we are, thanks to the game technology and media content.…”

Do You Understand Our Understanding? Personas as Hermeneutic Tools in Social Technology Projects

“…This does not necessarily indicate anything specific about the personas, the technology in question, or the intended end users, but instead brings to the fore issues concerning the relationship and the differences between personas and real people. In such examples, Turner et. al (2014) implies that the mere presence of personas might simply serve as scenario-planning instigators -allowing designers to pretend or imagine the "what ifs" of the system they are trying to design for "real world" application.…”