Genre as interface metaphor: exploiting form and function in digital environments

Hypothesises that the attributes of a document's genre determine a document's ability to be identified uniquely. Consequently, recognizing the genre will facilitate effective user-document interaction. In this pilot study, we exposed 15 participants to a set of paper and digital documents, each converted into two surrogates: one based on form, in which the text was masked, leaving only the structure, and another on function, which reduced the document to its semantic content. Our findings indicate that the form attributes of a genre play a significant role in the identification of corresponding documents, and suggest that genre can potentially serve as an interface metaphor.

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