Interlude: Models and Their Contribution to Design
Interlude: Models and Their Contribution to Design
Models are used to guide the design of all artifacts, whether a chair, a bridge, an airplane, or an information system. The models can be presented in various forms, from pictures to blueprints and narrative descriptions. Aside from their form of presentation, models can be classified by other categories that can help identify models that are most beneficial for design. This chapter examines models that contribute to design, including descriptive models, normative models, and formative models. Descriptive models are very useful in research on information-seeking behavior (ISB), normative models are ideal for informing design because they prescribe the “right” behavior, and formative models represent the possible ways in which ISB could take place and thus offer the foresight necessary for future design. The chapter also considers constraints-based formative models.
Keywords: design, descriptive models, normative models, formative models, information-seeking behavior, constraints-based formative models
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