Abstract
A method for 'metaphor engineering'
is introduced in the context of participatory multimedia
design. Our hypothesis, that adults talk to
children more with a metaphorical language than to
other adults, was empirically verified. Six male
adults (students of physics) explained 12 children
(6 girls, 6 boys) and 12 adults (5 female, 7 male)
two different domain problems: (1) "Why does the
sound of a car change, if the car passes by?"
(Doppler effect) and (2) "What happens in a bulb, if
someone closes the circuit?" (Light generation.)
The results of this validation procedure show, that
male domain experts generate significantly more
metaphorical descriptions explaining a domain problem
to children or female adults than to male
adults.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Book of short papers of the 4th international conference on work with display units - WWDU '94. Vol. 3 |
| Editors | A. Grieco, G. Molteni, E. Occhipinti |
| Place of Publication | Milan |
| Publisher | University of Milan, Institute of Occupational Health |
| Pages | D15-D17 |
| Publication status | Published - 1994 |