Interactional Traps: a Case Study on Digital Libraries
ANN E. BLANDFORD, Nick Bryan–Kinns, Hanna Stelmaszewska · 2001
We define an interactional trap as a situation in an interaction in which a user believes that their objective is not achievable even though it is or, conversely, believes that it is when it is not. Interactional traps are not solely a consequence of computer system design, or just a result of user actions, but arise through the interaction between the agents. We present an interaction framework that allows us to describe such features in terms of the communicative events that make up the interaction. This provides a way of thinking about the interplay between computer system design and user properties, such as what the user knows or how they perceive and interpret information. We illustrate the approach with examples of use of digital libraries.