More on "The Design of Everyday Things"

This week my group focused on a chapter of "The Design of Everyday Things" which discussed knowledge, and made a point of delineating knowledge in the head (the sort of knowledge most people think of when they think of this concept) from knowledge in the world (stored in the systems around us.)

The chapter, in discussing knowledge in the head, talked about mnemonics while discussing workarounds for the design (good or bad) that forces us all to remember an endless string of numbers, passwords, codes, etc. Mnemonics (memory aids) are a source of great interest to me; I've been using mnemonics my whole life, before I even new they had names or categories. When I'm working in the IT realm and am teaching people about creating strong passwords, I always recommend mnemonics (for instance, I tell them to think of something they like... let's say they like pineapple. The word "pineapple" alone is a weak password, but they can make it into a stronger password by substituting numbers or symbols that are similar to the letters (another old-fashioned mnemonic technique.) So then it becomes something like "p1N3@ppL333", a quite strong password that the user can still easily remember because of its inherent mnemonic devices.

Another mnemonic device I like is called "The Method of Loci," also called the "Roman Room" method. In order to remember several concepts or facts, you visualize each concept or fact in a different place in a familiar room (this is particularly helpful if you have to give a presentation; you can visualize each thing you're trying to remember in a different spot in the actual room where you'll be presenting.) So when you glance at, say, the back row, you remember to make your final, closing point.

I'm a big proponent of working mnemonics into instructional design-- I think anything we can do to help our learners remember the concepts is all the better. I hadn't thought much about them lately, so I'm pleased that this chapter brought them back to the forefront of my mind.