James J Gibson, a psychologist who wrote prolifically about his theories of visual perception argued there is a difference between direct information, that is the perception of the affordances in an environment, and indirect information, that is the information contained in signals and signs in a defined channel of communication. What are affordances? Affordances are what the various surfaces and substances that compose the enviroment offers to the animal, for example standing on, hanging from, nibbling on. And the potential of these actions are directly perceived in that which is seen. Classifying, categorizing, and attributing meaning to that which is seen only hinders our ability to perceive affordances.
This thesis develops a framework based on this distinction proposed by Gibson to show how networked electronic devices are currently used both to communicate and to enable new modes of perceiving the affordances provided by the environment. Based on my analysis I will argue that the framers of what is called “The Semantic Web” are primarily concerned with enabling communication of indirect information and this is preventing the development of more innovative interfaces that enable networked humans to directly perceive and interact with their environment in novel ways.
I will then explain an alternative framework for describing what might be called the “The Semantic Web” by relating Gibson’s theories to the more formal theory of Shape Grammars developed by Professor of Design and Computation George Stiny. Stiny’s work illustrates how the semantics of direct information, which I will define as interacting with shapes as shapes, are very different from the semantics of indirect information, that is interacting with shapes as symbols. I will then describe a software demo I developed based on these arguments and explain how it is different from the Semantic Web as currently understood.
How do humans in a globally networked society perceive the affordances of the envionment? Is there more to see or less to see?
ongoing....