The computer-computer metaphor for multimedia systems

Many approaches to the problem of making interactive computer systems simple to use exist. One method of attempting to simplify user interfaces is to employ users´ existing knowledge about a task or some aspect of the real world and to use interface metaphors. To reduce the time needed to learn how to use a system many direct manipulation interfaces employ metaphors, comparisons with familiar aspects of the real world. The most common use of a metaphor is the desktop interface found on the Apple Macintosh. Sound and video fragments, along with other data structures found in multimedia computer systems have no analogue in an office setting and have few, if any, analogues in the real world. It is therefore suggested that multimedia cannot consistently be represented on systems based on the desktop metaphor. The author therefore proposes a user interface design which seeks to provide novice users with useful information about the computer system which they are using and is one in which multimedia can be represented and manipulated without contradicting the system metaphor