These, and more, are the metaphors and labels that we use to make sense of our digital experience. I am struck by the fact that were I to select a few of the terms (desktop, windows, pages, toolbox, maps, scrolling, gallery), I might be well on my way to describing an author's writing corner, or a mapmakers workshop, or a craftsman's tool space, or an artist's exhibition. As high tech and cutting edge as computers, smartphones, and the internet are, they still retain the images of life grounded in concrete practices and traditions that have been practiced for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
Is this a failure of our language to develop new terminology? Or, is it an intentional, though collective, move on our part to maintain a connection with the past? If it is the latter, do we or should we have a commitment to maintain and cultivate those concrete practices of writing, mapmaking, artistry, and craftsmanship that provide the dominant metaphors of our digital experience? If we fail to maintain these practices, what will become of our metaphors? And if our metaphors change, how will our digital experience change?
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