An Iconography of Interaction

Iconography as a method of content interpretation and analysis is traditionally related to works of the visual arts. With interactive systems and their graphic interfaces new fields await iconographic descriptions. The project of An Iconography of Interaction is implemented on a foundation which is inconsistent and in motion. Accordingly, the course of this book leads to different research topics: narratology, structure and form analysis, technologies of picture generation and deep into the art history of interactive pictures. Furthermore, numerous findings of usability research, software ergonomics as well as cognitive psychology have to be considered.



In this book all of these "tributaries"to An Iconography of Interaction are arranged into a causal network. The aim is a concept formation as well as the determination of application-oriented rules and principles. Recipients of this exposition are primarily students of computational visualistics, media computer science and interaction design. The book is a contribution to the theory of technical visualistics which was established in Dresden.