Here is a completely different take on the virtues of attributing to an
author the spirit of what was siad rather than what was actually said.
If someone completely misunderstands me and, as a result, is inspired to do
some wonderfully creative and influential work, referencing me, I am quite
happy to take the credit.
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(Being misunderstood, and, as a result, influential, is a common occurrence
in science. One of my favorite quotations about this is in Burdek's
marvelous history of design book.
In a discussion of my work, he says: "Today his ideas about what he calls
human-centered development are widely accepted, even if designers and
engineers still come up with wildly different interpretations of what he
actually meant."
Bernhard E. Bürdek. Design: History, Theory and Practice of Product Design
(p. 35). Kindle Edition.
(Kindle says it is on page 35 (a new feature) or location 3259 (their old
method).)
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As a well-known scientist friend of mine once said: "I don't care how
people misquote my work as long as they spell my name correctly."
Don Norman
KAIST
www.jnd.org
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