Human-Computer Interaction Books

Virtual Inequality is a must read for anyone studying the digital divide, e-government or technology policy. Mossberger and Tolbert provide empirical data on the divide conducting survey research with nearly 1,800 participants. While the authors provide regression analysis, it is written such that non-quantoids can easily understand their findings. The authors suggest that there are four divides: the access divide, skills divide, economic opportuity divide and the democratic divide. The book concludes with a set of policy recommendations for remedying these divides.

I found this simply because I wasn't too thrill with Dr. Bartle -- I bought this of comtempt for him.

Dr. Bartle's rhetoric's is now a toy. With this book you won't be buying anything beside the theoretical -- all sun-dried theorems and concepts, the whole thing! Its as if some of Barchlard's phenomenology have taken to Ontological levels -- looks like something smart enough for Bachlard could dreamed up if he is alive.

Fortunately bartle's physics (example: mechanics involving exocontainers and game world objects) looks like a toy when compare to this incredible interdisiplinary reseach spinoff. Every aspect of a handful of related soft sciences are supremely organized into this trilogies which can read like the white paper of virtual ontology -- the ontology of virtual existence.

Simply, put this must have been the most articulate work on ontology of virtual interactions, simply the greatest ever written.

If you would rather not read Dr. Bartle, you don't really have to. 0% temporial non-sense, 98% Timeless maters. Nothing but praises for such a book.

While hard to get now, this is the best book on virtual reality I have ever read. It contains a very complete overview of the research that has been done, and for its time was up to the moment on new developments in VR. As VR has remained somewhat dormant since this book was originally published, while a revised edition (SAMS, any plans?!) would be really nice you wont be disappointed if you can find this version.

Thank you very much for sending me the book. It has turned out to be very helpful. The develiery time was also quick and the qulaity of the book was very good.

(Disclosure: I, the review-poster, am the author of the book. I clipped this review from the HCI International News, because it seems fair and helpful. However, the author of the review [who is only identified as "AM", but who is probably Abbas Moallem, the editor of HCII] did not 'rate' the book, and Amazon won't allow one to post a review without a rating. So, the 5 stars are from me, not the author of the following review. I think it deserves that many, or I wouldn't have written it, but I am not impartial. Here's the review...)

This book is an excellent resource for anyone who is interested in voice interaction design. The author, in a very descriptive and practical way, provides not only background knowledge about voice interaction design but also extensive and valuable guidelines for creating and designing voice interaction. After providing an ample description of several concepts, such as speech (chapter 2), sound and meaning (chapter 3), and language usage ("Doing Things with Words," chapter 4), the author extensively covers the principles of voice interaction design and provides guidelines-from building dialogues to evaluating techniques of voice interaction. A variety of case studies along with multiple examples makes the book very attractive to interaction designers. Occasional long, philosophical discussions and difficult vocabulary might frustrate some readers who are in a hurry to get to the author's point, but with patience they will discover the usefulness of the lengthy discussions. The book provides an extensive related bibliography and an excellent glossary of terms, especially useful for the novice reader in this field.
AM

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS BOOK, and constantly recommend it to everybody I know...

Imagine that we had the ability to create a virtual reality universe in a computer, a universe populated by people who have thoughts, dreams, feelings, etc., and produce societies, religions, wars, and inventions. Now, take this a step further and imagine that the people in this virtual reality invent yet another computer universe. If our virtual model can create another virtual model, what's to say that we're the original?

This is one of the philosophical riddles that Ramsey Dukes investigates in Words Made Flesh, which is a mindbender of a book that has the potential to make your view of life infinitely more interesting. Instead of asking questions about what a virtual world would be like, it encounters how our experience of life would change if we realized that we ourselves are in a virtual world. This possibility has exciting similarities to religious perspectives of Buddhism, Hinduism, Gnosticism, Christianity and others, which identify our material world as an illusory place where our souls take temporary residence in physical bodies.

While the philosophical possibilities of virtual reality form the backbone of the book, the main emphasis of the book is Dukes examination of the way different world views affect our experience of the world... how deeply people can saturate themselves with a particular belief system, and how vividly they experience the world in this way. Some people vividly experience the world as a battle between God and the devil, and every thought and action is weighed against this background. Others cannot accept the existence of things which cannot be immediately experienced by the senses, and perhaps view the world as a byproduct of random physical interactions.

The book does not try to provide any concrete answers, Dukes clearly emphasizes that his hope is to encourage readers to expand their perceptions, and imagine new possibilities. The final chapters of the book give some extremely interesting exercises for readers, to make the books theory a vivid part of their life. Amazing!

The collaborative work of Joyce Magnotto Neff and Carl Whithuas, "Writing Across Distances & Disciplines: Research And Pedagogy In Distributed Learning" addresses questions that arise from the onsite, hybrid, and distributed learning environments, including places of higher education and the workplace; and between 'distance education' and 'composition pedagogy'. A slender (186-page) volume, "Writing Across Distances & Disciplines" informatively raises critical issues, clarifies key terms, reviews relevant history and theory, analyzes current research, reconsiders pedagogy, explores specific applications of WAC and WID in distributed environments, and considers what business and education might teach one another about writing and learning. "Writing Across Distances & Disciplines" is a seminal work that, while especially recommended to educators and administrators with respect to written communications, will prove of interest to non-specialist general readers, scholars, students, and professional writers with an interest in the technological future of writing and learning in higher education.

As a parent, technology teacher in an elementary school and as a college professor, I found this book to be an excellent resource for people wanting to use developmentally appropriate software with children. The authors make you think about what is important when choosing quality software to use with children. It is an easy to read book, with real-life examples of technology struggles and triumphs. The book includes a software evaluation system and many software reviews to help people choose quality software for children. It is filled with resources and ideas for those people interetsed in having technology play an integral part of children's learning experiences. My graduate students are required to read this book and they all agree- it is a wonderful book!

or you can buy it after your hurting - either way, you'll find the most comprehensive, most complete, well-planned, friendly book on this subject you will likely find.I work just about 8 hours a day in two workstations and then I go home at night and waste more time at the keyboard - just like the rest of you reading this. When my back and arms and hands and neck and shoulders hurt - now I know why and what to do about it - or not. It's amazing to me that these aren't bundled in with every computer sold. Illustrations are good, too - and the layout is very enjoyable. Why are you waiting?