From an interview with Edward Tufte:

Probably the only generalization about the Internet is that there is none, which is to say that users can have nearly any experience they desire. Internet users are not prisoners - they are responsible for their experience since they can generate nearly any experience they wish (other than an in-depth historical analysis). [An interview with Edward R.Tufte, Technical Communications Quarterly, 13(4), 447-462. 2004. PDF]

I wonder do users sometimes feel like prisoners inside our information systems and catalogs. They bump into walls all the time, and can do little to manage their experience.

Reference to article spotted on xBlog: the visual thinking weblog.