Human-Computer Interaction Books

Although a bit dated, containing strips related to the Y2K craze here and there, this little book is still otherwise as funny and timely as any commentary on the computer industry could be. The X-Men and Borg references are absolutely hysterical. If you work in a tech job, you should be reading User Friendly.

It's a good book, but I think previous books have been funnier.

"Am thinkink. Erwin, to fight such big powerful company as AOL, am to be fightink fire with fire. Da?"
"Umm...what did you have in mind?"
"Am to becomink half computer, half human, like Borg. Then to become super administrator of all Borg functions."
"That means...you'll become..."
"Da. I will becomink root of all evil."
"Don't do it, Pitr! Don't go to the bad place!"
- Pitr the techie and Erwin the AI, in conversation

After opening with a few post-Y2K-bust strips, the Columbia Internet crew having stockpiled lots of soda and pork rinds for the occasion, the book settles into its more usual long-running plot threads.

Stef's been given the title "Manager: S&M." ("It stands for SALES AND MARKETING you depraved monkeys.") In his efforts to sell a line of products the same way that the Pokemon empire does their stuff, he persuades Pitr to make collectible Unix text editors. Pitr, in fact, goes through several evil little anti-Unix projects in the book to keep his hand in as a budding Evil Genius.

Other developments in the continuing story:
- AJ struggles to figure out how to court Miranda properly (badly timed in light of the "I love you" virus).
- Stef (who as a Windows user sees Unix holy wars as an added bonus of his job) makes the mistake of interfering in Miranda's life, which leads to a lot of Matrix crossover references.
- Mike becomes a Sims addict. ("Hey! Are you *allowed* to have four wives?")
- Greg's tech support calls turn into a game-help hotline.
- Pitr has an evil twin brother in Sales who affects the same fake accent.
- Introducing Sid Dabster, the aging ex-HP tech who becomes something of a blood enemy of Pitr's.

And, of course, the fantasy elements, such as:
- Parallels between Steve Case of AOL and Anakin Skywalker.
- Greg's Linux daemons (think "shoulder angel" here).

You have to be a computer geek to understand the humor. If you are, and especially if you have a unix/linux background and/or have worked with internet or other computer support you will find this one of the most hysterical comics around.

If you don't find at least some of the strips very funny, you should have your geek status removed. :)

One of the common diseases of the 21st century is computer-induced stress. We've all suffered from it, but now there is medicine for this malady in the form of "The Best of The Joy of Tech," a book collection of comic strips from the intelligent and very funny online comic strip, "The Joy of Tech".

The comics in this book touch on all aspects of life with computers, and range from laugh out loud funny to thoughtful, and the situations flow from absurd to so spot-on real that you might think that the authors were secretly watching you.

Buy this book if you'd like to keep a dose of laughter at hand.

Snaggy and Nitrozac show their teeth in this wonderful display of Geek Comedy. Whether you're a geek, or not, you can't help but laugh at the comic misfortunes of Windows users, Linux users and Mac users alike as they try to live in a world full of people who have normal sleep patterns, and have no idea what it's like to have a 3:00 AM call from your boss screaming at you begging to know why the third line of the second paragraph on page 5 of the online catalog isn't bold, or why the server is returning an error. Prepare to stretch your laughing muscles when you buy this book. A must have for all geeks. Makes a great gift, and will never let you down when you need a pick me up. Buy two, because surely you'll want to give on to someone you love.

Nitrozac and Snaggy have been delighting me on the web for awhile now. So I couldn't wait to get the book. They know just how to poke fun at our operating system obsessions and loathings. The foibles of geekdom exposed.

Keep an eye on your copy though. Mine has almost walked away with friends several times. Since not all the friends were geeks, even technophobes should give it a this book a try.

The dead-tree debut of the popular online comic "The Joy of Tech," by Canadian artists Nitrozac and Snaggy, is a terrific introduction to the comic for the uninitiated and a must-have for Superfans and just plain ordinary fans. Featuring a foreword by Steve "The Woz" Wozniak and an introduction by David "Missing Manual" Pogue, this collection of cartoons features geeks, aliens, cats, Macintosh, Apple, Steve Jobs, Tux the Linux Penguin, Klingons, cartoon babes that'll leave geeks everywhere saying, "I'd hit it!", and much more! I also appreciated the reproduction of the original JoyPolls at the back of the book, together with the "liner notes" for the featured comics. An all-around winner!

I must be crazy; I was flamed so badly after my last review of a cartoon book (published on a much less friendly site) that I had to replace my asbestos review suit. 'The Best of Joy of Tech' may be worth the risk.

Of course it's easy to enjoy a cartoon book by a pair of cartoonists that share your prejudices. It is obvious from the cartoons that Nitrozac and Snaggy are Macintosh loving, Linux leaning, Microsoft loathing geeks. Hmmm, sounds like me.

Not that Nitrozac and Snaggy are totally one-eyed. They still have a dig at Apple and Macintosh owners along the way. Unlike quite a lot of cartoons about tech these two also see the more human side, just as likely to make a joke about your cat's relationship to you and the computer as poke fun at LARTing end-users or pointy-headed bosses. Their cartoons are more about living with technology than working with it.

The book reproduces a couple of hundred of 'The Joy of Tech' cartoons from their website, in improved color and resolution. The website features a new cartoon every couple of days. There are also a small number that are original for the book and some funny marginalia in a couple of spots. It also has the matching JoyPoll and a short comment about the cartoon in a 'JoyWorld' section at the back of the book.

I find a fairly large number of the cartoons repeatedly funny and most of the rest worth a chuckle. These two have a good eye for the whimsical, ironic and downright funny side to a wired in, geek life. They even manage to get in a sly reference to geek site Slashdot with a fake O'Reilly book, "Trolling In a Nutshell" with a troll wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with "FIRST POST" on the cover and an Introduction by 'Anonymous Coward'.

Oh, that reminds me. The book has a very Wozniak foreword by Steve himself and an introduction by David Pogue that is nowhere near as good as the book (I'm sorry David, but any self-respecting geek [male or female] would rather do almost anything than edit the Windows registry, starting with install a decent operating system and working all the way through to changing jobs, heck, I'd rather sleep with Jobs.)

The book is broken up into various sections, each with a theme. It starts with "Boot-Up" and continues with "4nim4l cr4ck3rs" (most about cats), the whimsical "Geek Love", "Hacks and Cracks" (I loved the couple who want to get housing within 50 meters of a war-chalked wall), "Techie-daze", "How about them *nix" (featuring the luscious 'Linux Lass'), "The Joy of Mac", "Who do you want to poke fun at today?" (You'll enjoy the 'Stress Relief Dartboard'), "Sci-Fi The Comic Frontier" and "Do You think I'm Xexy" before finishing with "The World According to Geek" (with 'The Lord of The Root - One Geek To Rule Them All', the two good looking woman who don't shy away from maths and the Barbie 'DotCom Rescue' CD-ROM game)

If you go to Joy Of Tech you can grab a copy from the authors that has been signed (you even get a chance to ask for a custom inscription) and for an extra fee Nitrozac will even bless your book and attach a lucky sticker. You could go to the O'Reilly page, but since they don't have example cartoons and I don't imagine a cartoon book will ever have errata there isn't much point.

It's not easy to review a cartoon book. Suffice to say that I found the 'toons in this book to be a good variety from amusing through to funny with some that are just a little too true to make me do more than groan. If you've never come across this pair then check out the site and if you like the last few examples then the book will not disappoint(...)

email me, I'll let you know...

It's okay, I had to read it for a class. He raises some good questions but he's long winded. A lot of us have already thought about these questions. Talbott feeds you some good food for thought though.

Once being an engineer, a scientist, a professor of Electrical Engineering, etc., etc, now I'm watching this world amazed by its reality and its beauty. My soul is awaken. The wonderful book by Stephen Talbott tells us who we are and to where we do belong

This book is well written, provocative and covers a lot of ground in a very short space of time. The author presents a well-reasoned argument for reversing the usual cause and effect critique of the evil computer, and his suggestion that the problem is in the way we think about technology is right on.

This book should be read by all those who live with the Internet and technology. While not exactly a Luddite (Talbott uses computers and the Internet a great deal), the author presents many reasons why we should not just accept the promises of a technological paradise without reflecting on its consequences.

It's been a while since there's been a new book published on usability testing. It isn't a topic that gets dated, so the books that have been out there a while are still great ones. But it's good to have a new one too. This one by Carol Barnum is a thorough, practical, highly usable book on Usability Testing. Carol starts the book with chapters on user centered design. These chapters are pretty good, but the real value, I think is the detailed chapters on how to plan, carry out, analyze and report on usability tests that are really excellent.

Besides a lot of detail on usability testing protocol (well written and highly readable) there are lots of examples of facilitator scripts, recruiting and screener forms, Think Aloud instructions, etc.

I wish the book itself were of a higher quality. The binding, paper, and printing seem low budget, yet the price is not low! No matter, buy it anyway. Whether you are new to usability testing or an experienced tester, it's a useful book.

As a Usability professional, I have the opportunity and obligation to keep current on the literature surrounding usability research. Usability Testing and Research not only meets those criteria, but also gives readers the opportunity to delve into and understand the usability testing process.

Carol Barnum's book is at first a typical academic textbook that explains not only the principles of usability, but also the argument for usability and user-centered design. However, it is the presence of appendices at the end of most chapters that will help readers perform usability testing.

The appendices are detailed copies of documents and protocols used in previous usability tests. The aforementioned principles and arguments would stand on their own merits, but the added appendices give context to the principles and arguments, thus giving the reader the opportunity to see the principles and prototypes in action.

From my standpoint as a professional in the field, valid usability testing starts with careful, in-depth preparation. Usability Testing and Research handholds readers through this process, starting with objectives and ending with participant recruitment. This is a very important aspect of testing, as poor planning always equals poor results.

Barnum devotes several pages of the book to a very overlooked aspect of usability testing: reporting the results. Besides the detailed attention given to writing the results in a formal report or a quick report (or roadrunner as the book explains), the book also explains how to present and prepare for an oral report. No matter how valid the test may be, without an accurate, to-the-point report that gives the audience what it needs, the test results and associated costs are wasted. Barnum even discusses visual aids and the importance of the highlight tape. This, of course, is paramount to the report's success, since seeing is believing.

The book even contains a chapter devoted solely to Web usability that details common Web problems as well as insight into the Web's goal-driven users. Although research on the Web is constantly changing due to the experience level of the user base and innovative technology, the Web chapter offers an easy to understand benchmark for all usability professionals who evaluate the Web.

All in all, Usability Testing and Research covers everything that an individual new to the field needs to know. It also contains practical advice and how-to that even seasoned usability professionals need to review from time to time.

Ken Kellogg
Manager - Usability Research

It's been a long time since we've had a new textbook on usability testing. Dumas and Redish came out in 1993, Rubin in 1994 and although I still use both of them constantly, I've been looking out for a solid textbook that has more awareness of the web in it. Carol Barnum's new book meets that need.

The book opens with chapters on `What is Usability and What is Usability Testing', `Other Methods for Getting Feedback About Product Usability', `User and Task Analysis', and `Iterative Testing for User-Centred Design'. I can see that Carol wants to set user testing in context, but I was concerned that if you're really new to usability testing then you might be put off by Chapter 2 `Other methods', as it is a very densely written chapter that describes many techniques very briefly.

The meat of the book starts at Chapter 5 with `Planning for Usability Testing' and continues through `Preparing for Usability Testing', `Conducting the Usability Test', and `Analysing and Reporting Results'. The book then changes course slightly with a chapter on 'Web Usability', giving some design principles as well as details of applying the methods to the web.

Our Open University students love the plentiful examples in our course on User Interface Design and Evaluation. Carol Barnum's book should also appeal because of its extensive use of examples. She gives lots of detail from a student team's test of Hotmail (Microsoft's web-based e-mail service) so you can see the process as they tackled it. I found it a little frustrating that there weren't any screen shots of Hotmail as it stood at the time of the test. As well as the Hotmail example she uses excerpts from a test of a University web site, and has lots of anecdotes and smaller examples as well, many of them aimed at testing documentation - a neglected area. Perhaps the amount of space taken up the examples means that there is less meat in the core of the book, but if I were a beginner I'd find it very reassuring. Conversely, though, experienced practitioners might find Chapter 5 onwards a bit basic.

Academics and practitioners who like to follow up interesting ideas will be glad to know that there is extensive referencing. The appendices placed in context with the chapters broke the flow for me somewhat when I was reading the book at a sitting, but I think they would be more convenient placed where they are when using the book to actually plan and conduct a test. Each chapter closes with questions/topics for discussion and exercises which looked helpful to me if you were planning to use this as a textbook, or if you are a new practitioner who is using the book as a guide through your first usability tests.

Carol Barnum's style is clear and easy to read as you would expect from a Professor in Technical Communication. She often uses comments from Chauncey Wilson, a very experienced practitioner to give some practical tips and insights, but I sometimes found myself wishing that she had put more a more personal touch, more of her own practical experience, explicitly into the book. Apart from a couple of anecdotes, the word `I' hardly appears until we get some of her own opinions on web usability at the end of Chapter 9. We can guess at one of her concerns because she includes an interesting appendix on `Making it work as a team', which I though was a good, concise introduction.

I would recommend this book as an introductory text for undergraduates because of the extensive examples, fairly reasonable price and referencing. I think it would also be good for practitioners - for people who are getting started with user testing - to help them through their first test. I think that I'll find myself recommending that readers should start with Chapter 5, and then come back to Chapters 1 to 4 later.

(This review was written for 'Interfaces', the magazine of the British HCI Group)

Most of the existing books about usability testing are ten years old. While these books have a lot to offer a current student of user-centred design and usability testing, some students find them too out-of-date to be taken seriously. This book addresses that issue. The audience for the book is clearly for those who are new to usability and usability testing. However, experienced professionals will find a fair amount of information that is useful to them as well.

The first four chapters form an introduction to user-centred design: definitions, testing models, other methods for gathering usability data, user analysis, task analysis, and prototyping. The remaining chapters discuss the process of usability testing itself: planning the test, preparing for the test, and conducting the test. One interesting chapter discusses a topic that is usually overlooked in the other usability literature: analysing the data and writing the report. This chapter also discusses the Common Industry Format for reporting usability results. The inclusion of this discussion increases the usefulness of this book for usability professionals.

Dr Barnum devotes a chapter to the sometimes nebulous topic of usability testing for the web. Although there are other books that discuss this topic alone, the inclusion of this material in this book is excellent. Students who are new to usability testing will find this book more useful than a book devoted solely to web usability testing. After completing this, a student can then go on to read web-specific books such as Nielsen's recent "Designing Web Usability".

Students and others learning about the field will find the extensive examples used throughout the book to be extremely helpful. Together, these examples provide sufficient material for a student to model their complete usability test, from planning to reporting the results. Additional examples are available on a website maintained by the publisher. These examples are less useful for current practicioners, but do not detract from the overall text for this audience.

For those who are interested in this field, this book an excellent introduction. It is well-written, and the examples provide a cookbook for students to emulate. Experienced professionals will probably not find this book to be as useful as a new student, although it is a very useful refresher.

Disclaimer: I am a past student of Dr Barnum's, and the work that my student team produced for her class is used in this book. I am now a human factors engineer for a large corporation. I keep this book on my shelf in my office, and often lend it out to our interns who are learning about this field.

I am the Usability SIG Manager for the Washington, DC chapter of the STC (Society for Technical Communication). I wrote this review which was published in the October 2002 edition of the Usability Interface, the quarterly newsletter of the Usability SIG of the STC.

Donýt be fooled by the somewhat unmemorable cover of Usability Testing and Research. Carol Barnum combines research findings with practitioner experience to produce probably the most comprehensive but concise resources on usability testing now available.

This book is part of the Allyn & Bacon series in technical communication. Designed in part to fulfill the needs of students in a graduate-level class in usability, it is also a great resource for usability practitioners as a tool to update and upgrade their skills. The structure of this book should suit both neophytes and the experienced. Each chapter and its subsections are well structured with a logical progression from one section to the next. The table of contents is well organized and very readable so that a knowledgeable individual can scan to find those sections that are of most immediate interest. The index is likely to be a great reference tool as it was created by a professional usability tester, someone who should know what a reader is likely to need.

Dr. Barnum, a usability consultant and professor to graduate usability students, draws upon nearly every prominent usability authority to build a comprehensive bible of usability testing. The authorýs academic background is evident in the careful footnoting of every page and the detailed listing of scores of references at the end of each chapter. If there is an issue the reader wishes to further explore, the source is cited for ready access. The findings from top usability professionals are distilled to their essence and woven into comprehensive work on usability. The reader gains the primary benefit of hundreds of books, papers, and articles without having to filter though this sea of information. There is little if anything of importance that is left out of this 448-page book of concentrated wisdom and knowledge.

The reader, whether a student or an experienced practitioner, gets the benefit of both analytic research and its practical application. Many examples of actual real-world, usability test plans, data, analysis, or summary reports are reprinted. These examples are great models for the practice of usability. This book has not just general how you might do something but also how it was actually done ý not just theory but actual practice.

Anyone interested in the usability of hardware, software, computer games, Web sites ý any product that has a user interface ý will find a great wealth of information. The first chapter starts off defining usability and explaining usability testing models and theory. It also provides a methodology for cost justification and the basis to proselytiz for usability.

In Chapter 2, the author should be commended for taking a holistic view of usability and discussing how heuristics, surveys, and focus groups play a role in the design of a usable product. Chapters 3 through 7 explain user and task analysis as a precursor to designing, planning, preparing, and conducting the test. Chapter 8 details not just the analyses of the collected data but also different methods of reporting the findings to obtain the best result. The final chapter builds on everything before and discusses those issues specific to Web usability. Nearly every chapter has an appendix with real-world examples specific to that chapter. The end-of-the-book appendix discusses how to make usability testers work as a well-functioning team.

Some books are chock full of scholarly research and empirical data and great for academia. This book has a solid base in research but was written for the real-world practitioners of usability. Itýs this steady focus on practical real-world application that most impresses me about this book.

Still not convinced this book is for you? Check out the companion Web site, ..... Download material from the bookýs appendices and sidebars. Peruse the many usability tools and link to other usability resources on the Web.

Usability Testing and Research is not only of great value as a resource of practical information to usability professionals but also as a tool to explain the benefits of usability design and testing to skeptical management. Carol Barnum should be congratulated for a great job in bringing together in one book such a complete, well-organized compilation of usability theory and practicality.

If you will entering the world of virtual environments, 3D graphics and worlds, virtual reality and even augmented reality, this book will give you ALL the background information you need. It summarizes everything from software, hardware devices, interaction and everything that deals with the Third dimension.

The book present a very good perspective that how is walking the tecnology of 3DUI, and limits that are growing down versus time.

A fortnight ago, at the Siggraph 2004 convention in Los Angeles, Addison-Wesley had a booth with many of their graphics books. This book was garnering a fair amount of interest. Now that I've had a chance to read it, I can see why.

It is a lucid explanation of how to design three dimensional user interfaces. The authors summarise a vast body of work done in past decades. Plus, unlike perhaps some books that might focus on only US research, they show the global scope of the effort.

Being a text on 3D graphics, you might expect considerable maths. There is indeed some, including a brief description of quarternions. But the amount of maths is deliberately downplayed. Enough is used to impart a basic flavour in certain sections. However, the general tenor of the book is at a higher level of design.

Many serious issues remain unresolved. The book shows you what these are. Very helpful if you are in this field. Especially for newcomers.

If you are interested in knowing 3D UI, you should buy this book. It covers almost every technologies designed or developed in recent years. This book consists of about 13 chapters. In each chapter, it explained the different aspect of 3D UI interfaces following chronological patterns. So, if you want to follow or know technological paradigms, it can be one of useful books you should reference.

I hope nobody takes academic in the negative sense. This is fascinating book that provides an overview of all of the different hardware and software techniques in the 3D user interface world. And it does a very capable job of using a combination of images and text to describe the technologies. It's academic in two regards; first, it's written like a paper, and second that it has little in terms of practical implementation.

Frankly I doubt you could go far beyond the academic in an overview of a field that is this broad and this early in it's development. What this book does do is provide some real incentive to enthusiasts and developers to evaluate and combine these technologies. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who is in the field or has an interest in it.

Very practical, helpfull and easy to follow book. What is more important it gives you possibility to easily make your own templates for analysis and design.

Easy to read and understand. Good and practical methodology. Cover most essential parts of Software Analysis and Design.

I agree with every words that printed on the back cover i.e. the analysis and design techniques that really work.

An excellent book and well worth the price! Basic concepts that are often overlooked in real world projects are impressively presented.

I have read this book three times, and each I learn something new. It is nice to have a book that is independent of any development platform, and in PLAIN ENGLISH to boot. This book is more valuable than the course I had taken in college.

This book is for people who want to be productive. It is not for people who like sitting in all day meetings trying to come up with the CUTEST idea.

To get a straight forward answer on associative entities/relationships was like a breath of fresh air. I was told once that you should never have to use association tables. You should maintain the integrity of the database via code - yeah right.

I have recommended this book to every developer I know. This book should purge your mind of every piece of useless information that anyone has ever told you on how to approach building and designing applications.

This book is exactly what the title says. It's the best book I've ever read about analysis and design techniques for building systems quickly and effectively. The techniques Dave teaches in this book include how to scope the project, define context, event, information, database design and architecture models, prototype, and design interfaces and internal components. What is just as important, Dave tells us how these techniques relate to and impact one another, and how they each fit into the emerging picture of the complete system. Dave also puts today's methods into historical perspective to provide some "Ah ha's" as to how we got to where we are today in systems design.

Dave writes in a terse, easy-to-read, plain English style. All jargon, theories and concepts are explained in a simple, straightforward words, emphasizing their practical use. I've been studying this stuff for years, and Dave has written the clearest explanation of event modeling I've ever read. Humorous examples and analogies are used to lighten up abstract concepts. The "Chicken Crossing the Road" example used to explain associative entities is unforgettable. Lots of delightful cartoons, diagrams, screens and models drawn by the author also underscore important points and keep the pace moving from cover to cover.

As an instructor, I would highly recommend using this as a text in systems analysis and design courses. Each chapter concludes with a quiz and there is case study that brings all the tools and techniques together in a system design for a veterinary practice.

If you're reviewing system design techniques or learning them for the first time, Dave's concise descriptions and humor will keep you engaged and moving along at a rapid pace.

I'm a fan of Turkle, so I just loved it. It's just one of the first deep books written about human-computer interaction.

A classic in the field of human/computer interaction, it suffers a bit from its age (although I was delighted to read about the way children interacted with Merlin and Simon, given that I was a child who had interacted with both of the above). Children are so much more saturated with computers and computer technology than when the book was written, that I wonder how the observations will have changed.

_The Second Self_ is divided into three parts:

Part I: Growing Up with Computers: The Animation of the Machine
Part II: The New Computer Cultures: The Mechanization of the Mind
Part III: Into a New Age

This is "the" book that described the true origin of "hacking" as in "pushing the edge of the envelope" by writing a complex program in six lines of code instead of ten. This is a really superior piece of work about computer cultures and the people that belong to them. It is a wonderfully readable book with magnificent insights into the psychology of the young people at the bleeding edge of the computer frontier.

Update of 31 May 08 to add links:
THE HACKER CRACKDOWN: LAW AND DISORDER ON THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Information Payoff: The Transformation of Work in the Electronic Age
Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace (Helix Books)
The Unfinished Revolution: Human-Centered Computers and What They Can Do For Us
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

Has it already been twenty years since the first edition of this book came out?! When it did so, it was soon regarded as a classic. The intervening years have done nothing to diminish that assessment. Turkle has updated it to form this second edition.

By and large, her analysis in 1984 proved on the mark. As computers have improved in power, and become smaller and more portable, their users tend to identify with them. And here it should be said that the cellphones of today are considered, and are indeed, computers in the context of this text. Certainly, a typical cellphone has a raw computational capacity exceeding the personal computers of 1984.

To some readers, the most puzzling thing may be why some users so identify with their computers, or half-jokingly, attribute personalities to them. There seems to be some innate urge in many people for this.

Needless to say, suppose we project out another 20 years. The trend is for more such behaviour. The sophistication and personalisation possible in those future mobile machines makes this inevitable. And this is even NOT assuming any breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, which might endow the devices with true personalities.

Turkle's seminal text examines the social implications of our increasingly computer-suffused lives. With a strong emphasis on individual interactions with computers, this ethnography describes an emerging post-modern computer culture, and goes on to interpret it in philosophical terms. A bit utopian, very smart, acts as a bit of a pre-quel to her recent work, Life on the Screen

What use is a Web site if no one uses it? Too many Web design books and development tools provide cut-and-paste solutions to design problems without providing the developer with an understanding of fundamental principles.

This is where Dr. Badre's book enters the scene - in a big way. "Shaping Web Usability" does just what it promises, providing clear, cogent instruction in designing sites for people in all their needs and diversity. It promotes a robust methodology for Web design that can adapt to user requirements without sacrificing logic or cohesion. Badre's process also helps one communicate methodology and design issues to others. This book gave me the grounding I needed to explain to clients exactly why I had made a particular design decision and how it would benefit the site users.

If you are concerned about your site being used once it is published (and who isn't?), take a look at this book. It can't make your Web site for you, but it can help you identify and satisfy an online audience better than any other book on the shelves.

Dr. Badre has written an interesting work which thoughtfully examines two important concepts: genre and cultural context. In addition to plenty of solid HCI theory and empirical data, Dr. Badre provides clear examples of how close attention to the genre of one's site and the cultural context in which it is most likely to be viewed will provide a more useful and pleasurable experience for the user. With these simple and powerful concepts, Dr. Badre provides some excellent guidance to new and experienced website designers.

This book is unlike many other web usability books. It goes well beyond the cookie-cutter guidelines for fast web usability, and gets the reader thinking deeply about contexts of web usability. It focuses on the real important issues and concepts. However, it is not an abstract or theoretical book. The author illustrates the concepts and explanations with numerous real examples from the web. This book is a must read for web designers, information architects, and web usability engineers.

This is a serious work on Web Usability that attempts to define in detail the user context and to construct a user-centred methodology based on that context.

There are so many books on web usability these days and most of them are about web pages first and people second. Doctor Badre's approach, though, is firmly grounded on the human side of HCI and some of the material in this book is outstanding.

The chapter on "Older Adults" is a great example. Badre is fastidious enough to consider the different cognitive needs of people in this group and to consider the implications of those needs for the designer. Elsewhere he considers personality variations, the role of affect (or emotion), and many other individual differences.

In contrast, however, Badre has a strong leaning toward standards and predictability, which seems to contradict his comments elsewhere. Having identified the myriad reasons the web audience is uniquely diverse he nevertheless finds traditional HCI evaluation techniques attractive, and sometimes fails to bite the bullet.

For example, Badre insists that "Testing conditions ... should approximate the actual situation in which ...visitors are likely to find themselves." Yet he does not display any distrust of laboratory testing, questionnaires and all the artificialities of user testing that would suggest a more ethnographic approach.

The material on the test methodology is therefore somewhat weaker, but does not detract in any way from the main part of the book, where Dr Badre's experience in Human Factors allows him to illustrate with considerable skill the way design features can be adjusted to meet the cognitive abilities of real human users. In this arena, Dr. Badre is a leading authority, and it is for this, the main body of the work, that I would strongly recommend this book to web and usability professionals alike.

Clear and rigorous, Dr. Badre's book is an essential resource for the serious Web practitioner. Going beyond the usual lists of do's and don'ts, he gives the reader a strong grounding in the field of usability and how its principles apply to the Web. Web designers and implementors who read Shaping Web Usability will not only know what to do, but why -- so they can respond successfully to new and complex design challenges.

I have been an information assurance professional for over 40-years. This is the only book that ties it all together and provides so many additonal bonuses that you cannot go wrong for the price.

What I found best about the book:
1. Great price for all the pertinent and up-to-date information, including references and URL's,
2. Complete, concise, focused; no wandering down memory lane,
3. A great study reference guide in preparation for the CISSP examination (I used it, I took the exam, I am now certified as an Information System Security Professional),
4. The book will be a solid reference for years to come,
5. The author knows her subject and presents it in such a logical manner that it is impossible not to grasp the concepts presented.
6. Can use the author's web site for this book so that you maintain your currency (who else offers this?),
7. If your on the security profession career path this book is mandatory, and
8. Where in the hell (heck) was this book 10-15 years ago.

I am the network manager at a mid-size Chicago company and have been tasked with the job of developing a formal security infrastructure for our organization. I have read many of Mandy's InfoWorld articles and eagerly awaited the release of this book. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. Surviving Security is a great resource for understanding the components of a security infrastructure, how they fit together, and how to analyze and select the best approach for your environment. She covers all the basics (security policies, firewalls, IDS, remote access, OS hardening, network architecture, etc.)

In addition, there's a great chapter on authentication techniques. She also discusses the issues most people forget or do not really think about until it is too late: keeping up-to-date with patches, monitoring systems and logs, creating incident response teams, developing secure applications, etc. Most sections have "For More Information" boxes that give resources (books, websites, etc.) where you can go for more detailed information. I thought these were a great feature. She provides insightful information and commentary based on her experiences and then refers you to places where you can find more information. This book does not try to be all things for all people.

The companion website is a great way to keep the content up-to-date. As long as the author keeps the information and links current, this will be a good resource for security information. The product reviews give an independent, third-party opinion that is sometimes hard to find.

For those looking to develop a complete security infrastructure, this is the book to read. Surviving Security gives you an excellent "big picture" look at security that I have found lacking in other security books I have looked at.

Surviving Security is a really good book for someone needing a thorough introduction to information security.

The book covers all of the most important security technologies and processes. After completing the book, the reader will come out with a good understanding the components of an information systems security infrastructure.

All of the chapters contain loads of valuable information. Two extremely valuable sections are (Page 358) ýSample Audit Checklistý and (Page 399) ýAssessing Your Needsý.

The Sample Audit Checklist contains over 30 pages of technology items that require security. Assessing Your Needs details all of the items required for an effective incident response team....

For those people needing an effective and easily readable reference about computer security, Surviving Security is an excellent resource.

Thousands of years ago, a geometry teacher informed his royal subject and student that there was no royal road or shortcut to the understanding of geometry. That statement also holds true for computer system security. Like the steps in a geometric proof, any shortcut taken in security has the potential for invalidating the entire structure. Furthermore, developing a sound security policy requires that many of our deeply held social and legal attitudes be set aside.
In the American legal structure, any person is entitled to the presumption of innocence until their guilt is proven. However, to create and maintain an adequate computer security policy, everyone must be assumed untrustworthy until it has been proven otherwise. This creates an enormous potential for hard feelings, leading some to bypass the controls as a form of protest. Sound security policies also erects barriers that often reduce the efficiency of everyone accessing the system, creating an ongoing dent in the company bottom line. With all of this social, technical and economic baggage, it would appear that constructing an effective security system would be impossible. While constructing an impenetrable system is impossible, one can always reach a best possible level, and you see how to do it in this book.
All of the problems in computer security, from the initial meeting to regular audits are covered in this book. As the title implies, the emphasis is on the integration of the many parts that interact to build a secure system. Knowledge of human psychology is important, as the users must be treated with an iron fist wrapped inside a fuzzy velvet glove. The coverage is thorough in the broad sense, but shallow in the depth sense. This is not a criticism, just a statement of fact. Each section has links to resources that provide the depth of explanation that may be needed.
Security puts another level of complexity on top of the very difficult task of writing software that works. In the past, getting software to work took priority over getting it to work in a secure manner. Those days are gone and it is very difficult to conceive of any scenario where that will change. No one knows when it occurred, but several years ago, the cost of paying for security fell below the cost of repairing the damage caused by lax security practices. To get on the right side of this critical curve, read this book and follow the advice.

One of the few technology books that is actually under-priced based on the value you'll get from it. Content is very good and it's an easy read. You don't have to already be a security wiz to understand. There is also some unique treatment to process issues that I haven't seen elsewhere... Highly recommended.

Though a book of the 90's I have just used this book as a text in my course on virtual architecture in our computer graphics program. It worked superbly. The text stimulated long fruitful discussions (some for three unbroken hours) and put students in the state of mind to produce 3D based sites of significant meaning. Students took to heart Anders cautionary assessments on designing cyberspace and produced work that leapt well ahead of the work they were producing prior to the discussions. Anders chooses all of the best sources for his analysis of the similarities and contrasts between actual space and cyberspace, especially his use of Jean Piaget's interactional psychology as a base.

This is an extremely thorough introduction to cyberspaces and has many beautiful illustrations. This is an intellectually sophisticated book for non-computer scientists. It begins with a rigorous intellectual picture and then continues to survey existing cyberspaces with many insights along the way, that will please even techno-nerds.

The book fills in many details in the history of building cyberspaces.

Next year in cyberspace!

The accelerating growth of personal computing over the past two decades and the unprecedented rise of the Internet in the 1990s has led to a countless number of books. Many deal with particular aspects of this revolution - linear historical accounts, analysis of emergent psycho-social phenomena, how-to manuals on the latest program or technology, etc.. Very few however, manage to capture a broad overview and comprehensive analysis of this explosion. Fewer still have documented the wide array of less common technologies and research efforts that have accompanied and in many cases, presaged, the more familiar aspects of today's cyberspace.

It's not surprising then, that a uniquely comprehensive view should come from a member of the original generalist profession - architecture. In "ENVISIONING CYBERSPACE: Designing 3D Electronic Spaces," architect and media theorist, Peter Anders has succeeded in delivering one of the best and rarest overviews of the beginnings of the Information Age.

Integrity demands that I disclose that some of my own work is featured in this book, but what I discovered to my great surprise and delight, is that it's also filled with many incredible technologies and ideas that I was unaware of. Such is the difficulty in being aware of everything that's going on in our rapidly evolving era.

Anyone interested or involved in the design and development of information technologies would do well to read this book. The future is not limited to just a simple extrapolation of what's most commonly known today. The real Information Age is a vast, barely explored region of possibility around us and ahead. We're lucky to have Peter Anders serving as both Lewis and Clark.

Something that makes Peter Anders' _Envisioning Cyberspace_ especially interesting is that it's the work of an architect and designer, for whom the issues of designing workable, user-centered cyberenvironments are comprehensible. He's gathered and comments upon a wide-ranging collection of work that he finds interesting, efforts that approach and address the big issues if not always fully realizing them. It often reminds me of the 1991 anthology _Cyberspace: First Steps_ edited by Michael Benedikt (another architect), or some of the hot early-'90s books on Virtual Reality, in that it's full of enthusiasm and enjoyment at the elegance of possible solutions. In this hard-nosed commercially-driven era that's a breath of fresh air; the real kind, not the virtual.