| Publication type: |
Article |
| Author: |
Hartwig H. Hochmair, Klaus Lüttich |
| Title: |
An Analysis of the Navigation Metaphor -- And Why It Works for the World Wide Web |
| Volume: |
6 |
| Page(s): |
235 – 278 |
| Journal: |
Spatial Cognition and Computation |
| Number: |
3 |
| Year published: |
2006 |
| 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. |
| Internet: |
http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15427633scc0603_3 |
| Keywords: |
Navigation Sense-Plan-Act Haskell CASL |
| Status: |
Reviewed |
| Last updated: |
09. 10. 2006 |
|
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