John M. Carroll and Mary B. Rosson point out in “The Paradox of the Active User” that we live in a “transitional point dividing a period when machines merely helped us do things from a period when machines will seriously help us think about things” (1). They discuss the “cognitive paradox” of “assimilation bias.” The assimilation bias occurs when “people apply what they already know to new situations.” They explain that this can be helpful, “as when a person learns to use a word processor taking it to be a super typewriter or an electronic desktop” (1). The authors’ point is certainly illustrated in many training texts for VRT, where the program is described as or compared to a human assistant, and the process is considered as traditional human-to-human dictation.
