• Archives of design research
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• v.9
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• pp.101-114
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• 1994

This study deals with the issue of actual HCI design embodiment through the investigation on how to interpret and use visual expression means in HCI design in a semantic way. The purpose of this study is to provide the method by which designers can make the user-centered guidelines in HCI design. As a part of the user\ulcornercentered design approaches, this study is based on the understanding of user group types which are divided by his/her extent of exposure to computer especially and is focussed on applying the level of each group's apprehension of visual expression means to the embodiment of HCI design. Major findings of this study are: First, it proposes the 'Visual Tokens Models' as a basic source for the understanding and the embodiment of visual expression means in HCI design; Second, it has examined the correlations between the characteristics of Visual Tokens and user group types that is, naive users, casual users, and expert users; Third, it proposes guidelines for the user-centered embodiment of HCI design in accordance with the correlations.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.43
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• pp.265-288
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• 2016

This essay begins by discussing the issue of the definition of a catastrophe as a trauma by visual media and the problems that result. We assume a concrete approach towards these problems by examining the process through which 9/11 was defined as a "national trauma" in the exclusion of images of bodies falling from towers, which were some of the most shocking images in the media coverage of 9/11. The choice to exclude images of falling men from American visual media representations of 9/11 goes hand in hand with the tendencies of a contemporary trauma theory. This essay assumes that the representations in the U.S visual media depend on "antimimetic theory," one of the leading contemporary trauma theories, in order to validate its logic, and examines the limitations and problems of the theory. This work aims to examine the issue of the definition of a catastrophe as trauma by visual media on the basis on the "antimimetic theory" and the danger that results. Because the antimimetic theory, which the visual media in the United States uses to define 9/11 as trauma, emphasizes literal and unmediated representation of an external event, it lacks an understanding of the human aspects of the event. There is no way to intervene in the construction and interpretation of the trauma. As a result, the theory discourages active attempts to find a solution to the problems of the people directly connected with the event. Thus, it provides an opening for manipulative intervention of an external power. This essay attempts to provide a critical analysis of the "antimimetic theory" in order to help people who witness catastrophic events through various types of visual media, and to seek an alternative means of experiencing and responding to the trauma, that does not stem from the perspective of specific media outlets or external powers.