| Gaver, W. W. (1989). The SonicFinder, a prototype interface that uses auditory icons. Human Computer Interaction, 4(1), 67–94. |
 
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| Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 26/04/2013, 16:41 |
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| Describing the choice of sound in SonicFinder: "First, the user selects the file (Figure 1 A). This is indicated both visually, by the file becoming highlighted, and aurally by the sound of an object being tapped. The type of object is conveyed by the material being tapped. In this example, the object is a file, so it makes a wooden "thunk." If it had been an application, it would have made a metal sound; a folder would have made a sharper paper-like sound; disks a hollow metal sound (like a large metal container being tapped); and the trashcan a different hollow metal sound. In the Finder, there are standard icons for folders, disks, and the trashcan, but applications and files are not distinguished by icon type. These are easily differentiated in the SonicFinder by the use of different sounding materials for their selection sounds." |
| Hard disks use a lower frequency sound than floppies because they are larger. |
| Discusses conceptual mappings (events in computer world are mapped to tasks in a model world -- binary flow, gates, etc. mapped to file operations, for example, computer desktop is a conceptual mapping) and perceptual mappings (the mapping between the model world and the perceptual world -- how we interface). |
| "Note that sound effects are not arbitrarily related to their associated events. Instead, they seem to rely on the abilities of listeners to generalize their knowledge about everyday sound-producing events to new ones, even imaginary ones involving things such as light-sabers or transporters. Windows in the everyday world don't open as the ones in the SonicFinder do, but this event does resemble others in the everyday world, such as the rapid approach or sudden expansion of an object. |
