An Ecological Perspective to Meaning Processing: The Dynamics of Abductive Systems

As reŸected in the opening quote, a general premise of this chapter is that a target in the design of any technology, such as the Web (or other complex databases), is to enhance the meaningfulness of the human experience. Thus, a fundamental question for this chapter is the nature of “meaning” and the implications that this has for our understanding of cognitive processes (Flach 2009; Flach, Dekker, and Stappers 2008). In addressing this question, we £rst introduce the concept of “ecology” in order to explore the source of meaning and the relation of meaning to human experience. A key implication of the ecological perspective is that perception and

action are coupled to create an abductive system for adaptive reasoning (Flach 2009). An abductive system is essentially a trial-and-error learning system, where validity is evaluated pragmatically (i.e., hypotheses that lead to successful actions are maintained). Second, we introduce Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) as a promising approach to abductive systems with an eye toward design. Third, we focus on the Web as a particular work domain to consider the special dimensions of this domain that might guide generalizations from previous research on human-machine systems. Fourth, we present two examples. The £rst example is the BookHouse interface (e.g., Pejtersen 1992). The second example is the Multidimensional Scaling Interface developed by Stappers. Last, we summarize an ecological approach to Web design and point to potentially interesting directions for research and design.