Human-Computer Interaction Books

This book finds Beauty in a place where it is not ordinarily thought of as being- in the design of machines. It attempts to show how beauty 'drives the computer revolution' "how lust for beauty and elegance underpinned the most important discoveries in computational history and continues to push research onward today." As Gelertner defines it beauty comes of the combination of 'simplicity and power'. And the experience of it can be found even if one is not an engineer . He gives examples like hitting 'with one graceful hammer stroke ' a nail into a board, or making a beautiful catch in baseball, with ease and grace. He says that in such beautiful actions there is no 'superflous motion'. He gives examples from a wide variety of fields to illustrate this principle. "Vigorous writing is concise" he says quoting William Strunk".
If I understand him 'beauty' is a kind of rightness in the way a thing is done or designed .
This seems to me an interesting definition though of course far from an all- encompassing one of 'beauty'.
However when Gelertner began actually comparing computer programs and designs, Apple vs. Microsoft for instance. I did not really get what was going on. I did not have the knowledge and experience to really understand or evaluate this.

As David Gelertner points out, most of us implicitly hold that scientists and artists are radically different by craft and by the very nature of their work. In fact, the scientific and artistic personalities seem to overlap more than they differ. Beauty and simplicity are the ultimate defense against complexity, and all the greatest discoveries are usually both simple and powerful - they are beautiful. Whether it is software, or product design, or even theoretical physics, best solutions have an aura of elegance and beauty that is often overlooked by our schools and colleges; as David Gelernter points out, our sole focus on analytical reasoning is leading us down the wrong path, and we need to address this issue on an emergency basis.

I am reading Gelernter in backwards order, also recommend Muse in the Machine

The author seems to have started out with a premise I have held to since I read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" when I was in college. My first computer teacher, Ted Nelson, turned me on to the intrinsic beauty in things computerish with his enormously quirky "Computer Revolution/Dream Machines". My wife is a designer and I am in computers. We have had many long conversations about the false division drawn between art and science. So I thought I might have found a new soulmate when I picked up this little (176 pages) book. Too bad it wasn't so. Oh, Gelernter seems to be going the same way initially, even if I found the prose, and especially the examples, a little rough. But he just couldn't hold me. I found him spending too much time defending from his soapbox rather than illuminating. He seemed to be trying to write the textbook for a college course he wants to teach instead of reaching out to the reader. I don't think I could wholeheartedly recommend this book to my personal friends, so I can't recommend it to you either. Maybe next time.

What is beauty? Gelernter, in a work that is more an
essay than full-blown book, does a wonderful job of
drawing the reader into exploring that question. He
asks, "...could a mathematical proof, scientific theory,
or piece of software be 'beautiful' in the real, literal
way that a painting or symphony or rose can be beautiful?"
The answer, according to Gelernter, is a resounding "Yes".

Machine beauty, a simple elegance that resonates in its
observer, is the subject of the work. But, how might one
sense this? Gelernter offers this: "You might experience
something resembling machine beauty, even if you are no
scientist or engineer, when you drive a nail into a
board with one clean, graceful hammer stroke." Precisely!

"Deep beauty, 'resonant beauty' in which many types of
loveliness reinforce one another, is a principal topic
of this book" according to the author. He then explores
the following two claims: (1) "...machine beauty is
the driving force behind technology and science", and
(2) "... machine beauty bothers us. We act as a society
as if our goal were not to nurture or celebrate it but
to stamp it out."

Gelernter, a computer scientist and sometimes artist,
applies his many observations to the sad state of today's
computer software. "The hell with mathematics; let's
teach of our programmers about beauty" he exclaims!

There are long running comparisons between the WinTel
PC and Apple Macintosh in the work. It isn't a "sales
pitch" for one or the other; just a set of observations
on how the emphasis (or deemphasis) of beauty and
elegance drove both efforts.

The work is easy to read yet fully researched. A "Notes"
section appears at the end of the 144 pages of prose to
provide all of the references to the other works Gelernter
drew upon. I thought the effort made to keep the meat of
the book uncluttered was well worthwhile.

This book is an excellent companion to Gelernter other
work "Mirror Worlds". Read Mirror Worlds first and then
eat this for dessert--you won't be disappointed.

The book's central thesis seems to be that something called "new computing" is eclipsing "old computing" ("new computing" is typified by the world of user-driven applications that are also rather nebulously referred to as Web 2.0, 3.0, etc.), and that new computing, being closer to the user, requires a more user-centric design methodology (such as Leonardo would employ).

There has definitely been growth in user-centric computing and a corresponding growth in interest in user-centric design in computing (which I agree is a good thing), but the trend started in the 80's with introduction of the PC and accelerated with the introduction of the Web in the 90's, so it's not really all that "new". And the "old computing", i.e., the more technical world of hardware-oriented system infrastructure development isn't going away just because user-driven computing is growing in popularity. Quite the contrary. Old computing provides a necessary platform for new computing and the latter makes the former even more important. It takes a lot of software and network engineering to make the "new computing" experience possible.

The author also jumps on the bandwagon of AI-bashing, claiming that the quest for machine intelligence is dead and is being replaced by human intelligence extension. The Turing Test notwithstanding, extending human capability has been the quest of most of AI research all along, and it's been quite successful (neural nets, fuzzy logic, expert systems, natural language understanding, computer games, search techniques, robotics, etc.). A few AI researchers are trying unsuccessfully to create HAL (and learning from the experience), but most are trying to create useful tools to empower humans and they're generally succeeding.

The book contains some interesting reflections on changes taking place in computing, but doesn't provide anything substantially new in terms of perspective.

Schneiderman's "Leonardo's Laptop" is singularly disappointing. Promising to raise our expectation of what we should get from technology, he instead uses a forced extended metaphor in the form of Leonardo da Vinci. What would Leonardo do?, we are repeatedly asked. Schneiderman attempts to answer the question. Sadly, his answers are neither new nor groundbreaking. I cannot believe that Leonardo would simply recount solutions that are already available and attempt to make such solutions sound visionary and forward-thinking.

The chapters in the book discuss the issues with usability today, activites and relationships, and attempt to discuss future directions in several fields: government, healthcare, business, and education. In these chapters, Schneiderman uses feel-good buzzwords like 'empowering' and 'enabling', but never moves beyond the feel-good buzzwords to suggest real solutions. In most cases, he suggests solutions that are already implemented; in others, he simply waves his hands at the problem and says that there has to be a solution.

Each chapter concludes with a skeptic's corner. This section could easily be re-labelled the strawman's corner. In that section, he constructs arguments that skeptics might use, but he must assume that skeptics are uniformly moronic. The so-called skeptical arguments are drawn with exceptionally rough strokes, which he dispenses of with little regard to very real concerns that can and should be discussed.

I had high hopes for this book. I wanted something that pushed the boundaries. I wanted something visionary. Instead, I got a repetitive book that somehow didn't say anything. I can only hope that future works give us something better than this.

This book is an excellent resource for practitioners to remind of what is important in today's product computer world - customer satisfaction. The book reminds us through the use of Leonardo DaVinci's laptop applications that we need to ensure mankind is the master of computer systems and computers serve our customer needs for new applications and do not become an end in themselves. He is not convinced machine will think for themselves or have personalities as hollywood has suggested in several movies. He shows a healthy skepticism about where we are headed and defines some of the existing top notch research projects. His position at University of Maryland Human Computer Interaction lab gives him a unique look into government use of computing which he discusses in the book. A most useful book to career government computer people.

Leonardo's Laptop Response:

I really dislike this book. At first, I was looking forward to reading it. I am very interested in technology's future, human computer interface design, and enabling better software through simplicity. The combination of technology and artistry suggested by the title led me to believe that it would be an insightful volume pointing the way to a better computing. Instead, this diatribe leads me only left with a feeling that the author is so full of himself as to be blind to the world around him.

This book does address real issues. As computing moves from the back server closet into the home, real changes have to be made. Software today is complicated, and is frequently frustrating to use and learn.

However, this author acts as if the computing world is ignorant of the cost of complexity. His book falls short of actual ways to achieve these goals, has no recognition of the technological, economical, or social challenges involved, and totally fails to recognize the work of the past pioneers in achieving these goals. He views computing solely from a consumer point of view, ignoring the vast gains in efficiency and choice made possible through the vast computing infrastructure supporting modern day life.

As Schneiderman puts it, "old" computing is concerned with technology. These researchers and practitioners are concerned with increasing speed, decreasing cost, and improving reliability. In contrast, he views "new" computing as a focus on improving people's experience with technology.

This is a perfect example of the author's lack of technical competence. The only way that reliability is increased, user interfaces improved, and the experience of using a computer made more artistic and enjoyable is through improved computer speed and reliability. As an example, the aesthetically pleasing effect (in the new iTunes version) of flipping through album covers relies upon powerful computing technology. Schneiderman's dichotomy between "old" and "new," and downright distain for people interested in the former, is counter-productive. In every field, there are different groups working on different problems. While it is reasonable to argue for one's particular area of interest, it is incredibly narrow-minded to argue that it is the only field of interest.

Lastly, I found the author's presentation of historical Leonardo anecdotes incidental to his arguments. Rather than being the basis for the book, Schneiderman descends into the meaninglessness of arguing that Leonardo would "put man at the center" of the design process, or would like portable devices of different size screens.

Approximately 250 pages of hybridised vacuity build from snippets of information coralled together. I can best describe this work as almost entirely cliche ridden. It is further evidence that human computer interaction studies are largely 'solutions' in search of problems. The chapter on 'mega-creativity' is replete with casual opinion and banal anecdotes. Likewise chapters on the 'new education' and 'new medicine' are pitched several degrees below what the average Time or News Week reader would expect in content. Overall this is a poor piece of work in terms of content and I regret having wasted money on it. At some point in time, I hope that a Shokal equivalent emerges to debunk the self-aggrandising twaddle that typifies most HCI work.

If you are looking for new SAN technology, this is not your book, because the technology that this book is talking is about 2002.
Technology is changing every day, so this is a very old book.

If you are looking for product information (older since this book was published a while ago), OK this will do but you've got to pull the info you need out of this book.

easy read; range of coverage is wide and details are also good.
somewhat boring at times , but that's how the whole topic is.

This book is a primer for passing BCFP and BCSD. It contains very useful information and very readable. With this book and the references below, I was 80% ready for the BCSD exam, the other 20% being work experience.

The other references are from www.BrocadeConnect.com (free access with a sign-in account) :
Home > Technical Resource Center > Documentation Library > Technical "How To" Guides >
The main reference:
* Brocade SilkWorm Design, Deployment, and Management Guide Version 3.0 (PDF, 7.26 MB)

And for those short on experience, it will be useful to comb thru:
# Brocade Guide to Understanding Zoning (PDF, 301.81 KB)
# Brocade PortlogDump Reference Guide Version 1.0 (PDF, 1.71 MB)
# Brocade SilkWorm Multiprotocol Router SAN Design Guide Version 1.0 (PDF, 9.83 MB)
# Cable Management Guidelines Version 1.0 (PDF, 1.49 MB)
# Fabric Watch Guidelines Version 1.0 (PDF, 925.01 KB)
# LAN Guidelines For Brocade SilkWorm Switches (PDF, 920.8 KB)
# Long-distance Technologies for Storage Area Networks Version 2.0 (PDF, 130.1 KB)
# SAN Migration Guide Version 1.1 (PDF, 2.63 MB)
# SAN Security Best Practices Guide (PDF, 6.84 MB)

Having gone thru the experience of going in blindly for the BCSD exam, I thought I would help the initiated by providing more info:
1) There are 65 questions, to be completed within 90 minutes. Honestly I barely have time to finish all. Tip is to skip those you are unsure and return later.
2) The question's format consists of multiple choices, multiple answers, exhibits to click on.
3) I believe you need 70% to pass, at least for my case.
The 4 Sections examined are:
* Define SAN requirements/Interview End User
* Create a successful SAN design to suite requirements
* Implement SAN solutions
* Understand Impact of a SAN design upon Management

Wish y'all all the best :-)

All of our field engineers carry a copy of this book. It is straightforward and is really the only resource out there other than the documentation and the Brocade web site.

This book is not the end-all be-all methodology for software design. Infact, the authors aren't really suggesting anything new, other than providing a framework within which to assess what they learn through observation and inquiry. And they are a bit redundant in the presentation.
While I might recommend contextual inquiry to developers and analysts as it is presented here, I most certainly wouldn't recommend their design process. It has many holes and there are better ways to complete the process.

If you've got a memory like a gold fish this might be a great book. For others this book is likely to be repetative to the extreme. Half of the pages could easily be cut out. The same message gets repeated over and over again. Many of the ideas are great but.. for many people out there time is a limiting factor, thats my largest issue with both the book and the method in general.

This book provided a method to gather requirement efficiently but the rest of the method should be revised.

This is quite a useless book about an otherwise interesting subject. The writers give redundancy and repetition new meaning as they repeat themselves by saying the same thing over and over innumerable ways.

That said, the examples scattered throughout the text are the most interesting part.

Beyer & Holtzblatt have done an excellent job describing the process of contextual design. I'm currently implementing a new company-wide business process, in conjunction with co-workers, and thought it would simply be a good idea to both refresh my memory, gather ideas, and form concepts that would be helpful in the organizational design process. This book has undoubtedly served the purposes I've wanted it to. Again, excellent book - worth the buy.

Having just finished Jef Raskin's disappointing "The Humane Interface", I looked forward to reading this one. After all, Chris Crawford is a legendary game designer, whose Balance Of Power I played to death in the Eighties. Here was someone who should be able to (a) engage me and (b) show me some novel ways to think about software design in general and interactivity in particular.

Sad to say, I was wrong. The book starts promisingly with CC talking about interactivity as conversation (listen, think, speak), but from there he meanders off on a host of barely related topics, talking at length about each one while rarely giving concrete examples (problems, solutions, issues, etc.). I know it's not supposed to be a cookbook of UI methods, but there has to be *something* to grab onto once in a while.

It's all hand waving, and it gets old fast. I forced myself to read to the end, to see if it improved, but it didn't. The only thing he's terse about is his own work (software for interactive storytelling), a potentially fascinating topic that he glosses over in 2 pages.

I read UI books with a highlighter, marking key ideas or examples that I want to return to later and think about. Usually this means a highlight every 10 pages or so. This book ended up with 3 marks in the first 50 pages, and nothing after that.

For me, at least, 99% of this book was a waste of time.

An amusing book. Perhaps Crawford's most striking suggestion is that a project should be headed by a designer who has an arts background and who is also able to program. To him, this is an ideal, which may take the field decades to achieve.

I am dubious as to how necessary this is, in the first place. He claims that it is easier to find someone from the arts and have her learn the rudiments of programming, than vice versa. But in a specialised environment, like engineering, science or education, it may be better for her to hail from that field, so that she can better know what users might want. Granted, though, for a mass market audience, a more general background might be better.

When it comes to specific suggestions regarding the design of a program, he has good ideas. Like using progress bars if a task takes longer than ten seconds. Or using first or second person active voice, rather than a third person passive. These do increase the interactivity.

The book is somewhat verbose. He writes at length to illustrate his points. But a little brevity may have been possible, without losing any clarity.

Ah the philosophical musings of Chris Crawford...

If you're looking for a Interaction cookbook- see Alan Cooper's about face 2.0 (isbn 0764526413), because this isn't that. Far from it. This is a book that seeks to stick an idea in your face and then get you to think about it rather than just spoon feeding you, like a good little pleb. Sure there's lashings of righteous indignation and condemnation aplenty (and given the state of some software it's not undeserved!) Again, provocation to think and construct mental arguments (or vocal if you're that way inclined) is not a bad thing. It's a very good thing: active learning is far more rewarding than passive acceptance.

So Chris Crawford relates his thoughts, ideas, feelings, hates and a thousand other things in a rather amorphous form in this book. While it is not tightly structured (very waffling in parts), I don't think that is suffers too much from that- indeed the lack of totally rigid form often enhances rather than debilitates (flexibility!). Though he can struggle to fully chase the tail of an idea: perhaps that is deliberate, leaving it up to us to do that. And sometimes his thoughts seem misguided, incomplete or just plain wrong or couched in language that makes it largely inaccessible to some (odd coming from somebody trying to engage reader that they would choose such a tactic that prevents engagement). And yes, at times, you do get the impression that you are being ranted at or this guy is trying to talk down to you (a thesaurus doesn't make you literate- the ability to 'speak' to your audience and have them understand is far more of a yardstick (oops, I should say 'metric' to be up on the vernacular) in that regard).

Content wise: there is a lot here that is of considerable importance. I particular like the chapter on 'Play', because as an educator (book he cites is Homo ludens: A study of the play element of a culture, Johan Huizinga), I agree whole heartedly with that and see that revealed in the mess some of my colleagues make of educating others by taking all of the fun/play out of it (I teach Mathematics and Physics). I also liked the simplicity yet depth of the 'speak-think-listen' notion. Too much nowadays it's all speak, little thought and no listen. And when that happens, we just MEGO (my eyes glaze over).

At times he struggles to idea of how he tries to pull this unwieldy construct he has built into a cohesive pile (it's a concept like a slippery pig- grab it just so and you're okay, change your hold just a little and it's off...). Some of it is unneccessary: the clock chapter, dedicated devices, history of interactivity, why learn programming. Some of it is belabored: particularly behaviors, linkmeshes, linguistics, erasmus. Yet, ironically enough, they still make the book a richer experience because they provide context. And this is important. So while is writing style may not be perfect, his approach has much merit. And I think the book works. It seeks to not only open your eyes to interactivity, but provide some philosophical underpinnings for adopting a proactive approach when trying to incorporate that into design mindset. In other words, it seeks to put interactivity at the center of the things you do, not as an add on.

And I think Chris Crawford does manage to get that message across (if a little self-importantly and in a stilted manner). I think, while his love of language is fairly obvious, his choices in this regard can be a little poor at times and self-aggrandizing, which can place barriers on your acceptance of his work. Just bear that in mind and factor some of the language and tone out, because if you do, I think you can get a lot from this book.

This book definitely has a drum to beat, and it's around the value of interactivity over just pure featuritis. However, it goes on and on, littered with what feel like pseudo-scientific statements. It would've been nice to see a few studies of real people, research citations, or even just opinions of somebody other than the author. It felt like he was rewriting the evolution of software over time from his own frame of reference, and then extrapolating about where he thought it was going.

Still, there was at least one point I agreed with; interactivity (and, in general, providing value to the user) is more important than additional hanger-on features.

This book is a very diffcult read. Touching on a whole lot of subjects, alternating between abstract, complicated theory and abundant, confusing detail, and displaying Crawford's usual Thesaurus-o-holic writing style, it is sure to leave you scratching your head in bewilderment a couple of times.

Still, I must heartily reccomend it to anyone who is willing to make the effort. This book is very far from an intellectual "do it yourself" kit, though it does have many useful practical suggestions. It also has very little that would satisfy the criteria of academic research. What it does have, however, is an abundance of sheer, brilliant inspiration.

The pages are laden with powerful, abstract concepts that, upon reading and re-reading them, slowly seep into your mind and enrich your thinking on the subject immensely. It is for this important reason, and for this reason alone, that I consider this book priceless. Mental enrichment is a far rarer commodity than either practical know-whats or academic knowledge.

Mr. Crawford is a charming, albeit disorderly, writer (whether he's on topic or not), and this book must be his most amusing and wittiest creation. Readers who are acquinted with Mr. Crawford's other books will notice with approval that this volume contains comparatively little that can be found in his other books or on his website, although, of course, ideas as well as specific paragraphs are qouted from himself due to his iredeemably conversational writing style.

Computerized interactivity is the next great landmark in Western civilization after the invention of the printing press. With its deep understanding of the concepts underlying interactivity, this book is a must not only for those who work in interactivity design, but also for anyone interested in understanding the revolution that the world is going through.

Get this book for an extremely rewarding mental challenge!

Very theoretical. Not much help for daily operations. It's more a strategic book on call center planning. Still was useful on some equipment buying decision.

The way Keith Dawson handles the materials is well-written and concise. He does not waste much time going into more than just a couple real-world applications for the technologies he is explaining, but he does set your mind spinning about how they can be used to suit your needs. The information on VoIP and IP Telephony are a little dated and an updated edition would obviously expand a lot on those technologies (which were just emerging when the book was written but have become very popular in the industry now). Not only does he discuss what technologies are available (like AVR, IP-PBX, Recording, Call Queuing, etc.), he goes into a brief discription of the more traditional PBX system, if only to point out their flaws compared to today's newer technology but not failing to point out their merits as well. A good book for someone who is just beginning to integrate themselves in the field and the tech.

Buy it only if you are a beginner.

Chances are that you already have this book in your IT library. But, you probably don't have the 5th edition of the book. Author Keith Dawson has done an outstanding job of presenting the complete guide to starting, running and improving your call center.

Dawson begins by showing you his Six-Stage Model of Call Center Development, which is has to do with the way the call center interacts with the rest of the company. Next, the author discusses how you are going to have to find a place or location for your call center. Then, he covers some of the important factors that go into a call center successful design. Dawson next discusses how you have to be very careful in choosing the toll free and long distance services for your call center, because they will be very expensive. Next, the author also covers the automatic call distributor, which routes calls and manages information with respect to those calls. Then, he examines predictive dialing systems, which automate the entire outdialing process, with the computer choosing the person to be called and dialing the number. In addition, Dawson then examines the pros and cons of computer telephone integration. Next, the author looks at interactive voice response, which always captures information in an accurate manner. Then, he researches speech recognition system technology as an autoselector tool for the call center. Dawson continues on by exploring the Web as a tool to automate all of the call center functions without human interaction. Next, the author discusses some of the interesting new tools available, including CRM and the new theories of multichannel access for customer contact. Then, he gives some very serious thought about putting a video in your call center. Dawson then discusses that the best way to route a call to the agent most capable of handling that specific call, is routing based on an agent's skill or combination of skills, like language, training, experience, or any mix of those and other factors. Then, the author explains the importance of customer relationship management (CRM). Next, he shows you why order processing systems give you power over your inventory and pricing. Dawson next reminds you why display boards and readerboards are a stable versatile technology, and an inexpensive way to quickly improve call center performance. The author also explains why headsets are a key ingredient in every call center. Next, he discusses the on-hold messaging queue. Dawson also explains the importance of workforce management software, and how it is the art and science of having the right number of agents at the right times, in their seats, to answer an accurately forecasted volume of incoming calls at the service level you desire. Then, the author continues on by explaining why monitoring is a critical part of the process of teaching anew rep how to deal with customers, how to handle difficult situations, even simply how to follow a script and read a screen full of complex information. Finally, he goes into how to make call center careers meaningful.

With the preceding in mind, the author has done an excellent job of making you, the reader, understand the value of surefire ways to motivate your reps; realize the value on the front line; outsourcing; disaster and contingency planning; and, telecommuting agents. At the end of the day, you'll know whether the call center is self-service or self-delusion.

This is a definite Must Read for any Call Center professional! All those questions about what system/technology does what and how are answered in one fact-based publication. If you want to avoid the headache of time-consuming hunts through web-sites and talking with marketing reps to learn which product works best for your company, this book is for you. If you are looking for a bubble-gum view of call center management, don't read this book because you just might learn the truth! By the way, get a Call Center Magazine subscription to continue the information flow started by reading this book.

I was fortunate enough to know Bonnie Nardi when I worked for AT&T. I read her book and enjoyed it. She is an anthropologist and this book explains how humans deal with technology. Might be a little advanced for some, but give it a try.

Information Ecologies:Using Technology with Heart is a good book that caters to both technical and non-technical individuals. The authors try to sway readers into believing that technology is more than just a physical structure. Technology affects how people react at home, school, work, etc. The authors try to prove this point through interviews, field research, past theories, and even the movie Metropolis.

Since we are heading into a total technical dominated world, I think it is very important that we not only know "how" to use a certain technology, but "why" we use a certain technology. By trying to understanding technology this way, we will then be to communicate our thoughts to others and find ways to use technology a lot more effectively.

The book shows that no matter what work you do or what your age is. Technology will have an impact on our lives. With technology such as e-mail and the internet being used by almost the entire world, a book such as Information Ecologies is a good first step to critically think about "why" we are using these technologies.

Well the book Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart by Bonnie Nardi and Vicki O'day was a good book. It is really easy to read and the points are brought out fairly well. The key points of users finding "healthy information ecologies" are fairly laid out.

I really felt that this book tries "to change the way people look at information technology." The instances/studies they refer to, claim that technology pushes for diversity, better education, better jobs, etc. The book is easy to read and friendly to both the computer literate and illiterate. The second half of the book mainly states case studies and how others have found their information ecology. I guess the authors try to make us realize that acceptance and assimilation into the technological world can be beneficial in a myriad of ways. Although, I failed to find the answer to the question "Is technology built for the need, or does technology build the need?"

It is a good book because of its references and its clear concepts it gets across to the reader. But I do find that their happy medium of living in information ecologies was anticlimactic for me. Since, I already encompass technology from having & obtaining this book (buying it on amazon.com, having it sent via US Postal-bar-coding, writing the review with my word processor, and then posting it online). The only non-technical thing about me using the book was actually reading it. Thus, I am biased towards the use and importance of technology, prior to reading this book.

The book grabs the reader with an interesting title then immediately starts off with a look at a boring movie and then reviews of even more boring competing therories. Finally the authors reveal the information ecology therory. Unfortuanately, the don't offer much to back up their view and paint a picture of it being another feel good PC therory. Too bad since they have a valid point that will sadly be lost as another PC mistake...

I really wanted Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart by Bonnie Nardi and Vicki O'Day to be a great book. Unfortunately it was only OK. As a librarian, with an undergraduate degree in Anthropology, I was intrigued that O'Day was described as a graduate student in anthropology and that the authors were using a library setting as one of their case studies. Finally, I thought, someone will definitively present to the world the value of what it is librarians DO and with anthropologically informed insight!

The authors do a very good job of summarizing the various "framing conversations" and "metaphors" that have been used to talk about technology and as the basis for analyzing the impact of technological change. They cite many books that I have read and enjoyed as thought-provoking discussions of technology and its role in society (Being Digital, Silicon Snake Oil, The Gutenberg Elegies, Technopoly, Life on the Screen) and use them to bolster their arguments in ways that will probably encourage others to seek out those books and read them (in fact I am inspired to delve into "ancient history" and read some of the older, seminal works the authors cite).

The writing style of the book is very clear and cordial but every time I felt I was being led through interesting discourse to a logical conclusion or culminating POINT I would exit a paragraph or chapter feeling somehow that there was no "there" there.

Interesting questions were raised and a persuasive thesis was put forward concerning why the old ways of thinking about technology should be superceded by their metaphor of "information ecology". The authors note (pg. 70) that "It is common to leap ahead to 'how' questions when we think about technology. [...] It is less common - but crucially important - to ask a full range of "why questions as well [...]" But at the end of the first section I felt *all* I had was a framework of questions, and no discussion of how the answers define an information ecology. The authors "conclusion" (page 74) was apparently that the whole matter is a "complex business" and "change can become confusing and overwhelming" but "talk" and "experiments" and "local settings" are the answer.

To which I heaved a sigh of "HUH?" and moved on to part 2 where I was promised that we would "look in detail at specific information ecologies ... [and] see examples that show diversity, coevolution, keystone species, and the application of values". OK! I was ready for some solid field work and logical analysis of the data to substantiate their new way of examining technology. What did I find? Redundant, boring, embarrassing and CONFUSING transcripts of interactions that definitely lost something in the translation. I have personal and extensive experience in environments similar to those described in chapters 7 (Librarians: a keystone species) and 9 (Cultivating Gardeners: the importance of homegrown expertise) and I couldn't tell how the material presented was supposed to illustrate their points! This is not to say that I didn't find much of the discussion interesting as a point of departure for thinking about those situations - but the transcripts of interviews were a distraction and waste of time. They should have been relegated to footnotes (or left out entirely). By the time I got to Chapter 10 and had to read interviews that were filled with "Yeah. And it's weird. I thought it was weird how you can get a picture into the computer" ... well, ya know it was, like, gag me with a spoon, ya know?

The last chapter was primarily a rehash of dozens of articles praising the Internet "as a riveting global phenomenon with important implications for local information ecologies". They state that "Information ecologies are local habitations with recognizable participants and practices" but nothing in the previous 184 pages had demonstrated that to me! I felt as if Chapter 13 had been tacked on to fill the book out to a reasonable length.

In spite of it all, I give the book 3 stars (I'd give it 2 1/2 if I could) because of the first section and the interesting observations that are scattered in the second section. The concluding paragraph on the last page quotes Annie Dillard - "we need to call our attention to what passes before our eyes". This book DOES do that - but I had hoped for so much more.

Defiance and Maggie are my two girlfriends. Defiance is a bronze statue and Maggie is a rag doll. They both have personalities and attitudes. They "live" with me, and, for the most part, I enjoy their company. You might think me crazy but I say I'm ahead of the times, an "early adapter." In his book "Love + Sex with Robots," David Levy posits that by mid-century: love and sex and marriage with humanoid robots will be popular. He sites a lot of personal and social benefits from this "advancement." He says the robot can be individually programed to be the perfect companion to mesh with any particular person's desires. And these characteristics can be adjusted and changed as needed. In addition, the robot can instruct the human on communication, emotional, and sexual skills. And, they never get tired--they're ready when you are. He sees this as inevitable, being driven by human needs and profit. (Oh, and yes, they will look and feel just like us.)

He makes a compelling case. Starting from the human biological need for attachment and the pleasure principle, and moving through the psychological propensities for projection and transference, conjoined with technological advancements and sparked by the free market -- we are headed towards -- love and sex with things without heart or soul. (Although you won't know that the case, so "real' they will be.)

The ideas are interesting ones. I think its important for people to realize how ubiquitous technology has become in every area of our lives, including love and sex. This wasn't as shocking as I originally thought, but I am a researcher in the field (AI and HCI), so I have some experience and know about how people react to robots and AI software.

While I liked the book, the editing was pretty bad. A number of sentences were obviously ungrammatical (most likely typos), and I found a number of misspelling of people's names, and incorrect citations. Perhaps the upcoming paperback will fix some of these problems?

I am extremely disappointed in this book and am still confused why there is such a powerful taboo on this subject. Who or what is everyone afraid of? It can't be the usual suspects, the religious right. How about the feminists? The author spends a lot of time trying to pander to a (probably nonexistent) female audience. Is female approval that critical? If so, then why?
There is almost nothing in the book that matches the title. There is a rehash of various psycho-babble theories from the last century. A long but ultimately superficial review of certain erotic practices. Unsubstantiated claims that things are 'evolving'. A lot of predictions that some day someone will actually get up enough nerve to analyze and act on the subject.
If one searches the web on this topic there will be the usual zillion hits but almost none of them, except for works of science fiction, will have anything of substance to say. In many ways I get the impression the book is a sort of composite of these hits from the web.
We don't need a history lesson on the topic. Someday the Japanese will get the job done. Until then I suggest viewing the movie 'Blade Runner' for an idea of what robots might become.

Overall, this is a fairly thorough treatment on the subject. Mr. Levy provides a history of the use of artificial devices in human sexuality, some of the issues of sexuality in the law, and a quick glimpse at the state-of-the-art in attempts at believable computer interfaces to imitate human interaction. It's an interesting book, and delves into many of the questions that might arise with (as with any new technology) the use of robots for sexual purposes.

Mr. Levy did a lot of research on the history of changes in sexuality and the acceptance thereof, but he definitely views things through a prism of his own biases. For example, he cites the increasing acceptance of "buggery" in England through the 17th and 18th centuries, but dismisses the sharp rise in its prosecution during the 19th century. He writes about the legal issues involved with the use of robots for prostitution, replacements for human sexual partners, and human-robot marriage, and always mentions that there are ethical issues involved, but discusses none of the ethical issues in-depth. He has a very optimistic view of both how quickly and how cheaply robot sex will become; given the history of advancements in computers, this makes sense...given the history of mechanical devices (especially of such complexity and subtlety) it does not. Mr. Levy does not even mention the effect that the Uncanny Valley might have; the fact that at a certain point, anything simulating a human will become noticed not for its similarity, but the sharp contrast that its difference bring to mind.

In summary, this book is a thorough argument for Love and Sex with Robots, but it is not a deep discussion of the more fundamental arguments for why there might not be FemBots in everybody's future.

Title: Love + Sex With Robots
Author: David Levy
ISBN: 978-0-06-135975-0

After reading David Levy's fascinating Love + Sex With Robots I would have to concur that in the short term many of his ideas and predictions would appear outlandish and will be met with considerable scepticism, or downright disbelief and even hostility. However, as Levy maintains that those who doubt the prospect of computer life or robot life lack a breadth of vision similar to the doubters in the 1960s, of the possibility of artificial intelligence.

In Levy's introduction Sherry Tuckle, author of The Second Shelf is quoted wherein she states that we should be asking not what the computer will be like in the future, but instead what will humans be like?
And with this in mind, Levy begins Love + Sex With Robots analysing what kind of people we are becoming. It is his believe that huge technological advances will be accomplished by around 2050 and basically his thesis revolves around the belief that "Robots will be hugely attractive to humans as companions because of their many talents, senses, and capabilities. They will have the capacity to fall in love with humans and to make themselves romantically attractive to humans. Robots will transform human notions of love and sexuality." Is all of this mind-boggling? Just look at the Japanese, who are very advanced in the science and technology of robots and who consider robots as not just toys but also rather helpers in factories, receptionists, household helpers. As Levy mentions, the interactive aspect of a robot's being is becoming an important element of its usefulness. Will they also be considered sometime in the not too distance future sex partners?

Central to his book is why should people fall in love with robots and to answer this Levy divides Love + Sex With Robots into two parts, the first exploring Love with Robots that delve into topics as why we fall in love with people, loving our pets, emotional relationships with electronic objects and falling in love with virtual people (Humanoid Robots). The second part examines why we enjoy sex, why people pay for sex, sex technologies and the mental leap to sex with robots.
Is it possible that we will have an artificial partner, husband, wife or friend, or lover and would this not challenge the notion of relationships?

Levy maintains that no longer will these artificially intelligent entities be perceived as some kind of a machine but rather human like with emotions. In fact, there is now an entire new discipline devoted to robotic psychology and robotherapy. Levy believes that by 2025 at the latest there will exist artificial-emotion technologies that will not only simulate the full range of human emotions and their appropriate responses but there will also exist nonhuman emotions peculiar only to robots.

As for love relationships with robots, Levy strongly believes that the various behavior patterns necessary to endear one human being with another are already capable of simulation and in certain instances have been simulated, using various techniques that are presently the subjects of research.

In Japan, scientists are working on robots to simulate basic facial expressions as anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise, love and disgust. The Japanese are so convinced of the importance of the interaction of robots and humans that they have invested millions of dollars in research and they have estimated that the industry could surge from about $5.2 billion in 2006 to $70 billion in 2025. Levy informs us that Toyota by 2010 plans to sell robots that can help to look after the elderly and to serve tea to guests in the home.

Love + Sex With Robots is certainly a timely book for a society that is in the process of reassessing what the future holds pertaining to human relationships with robots. Although some of us may find Levy's theories far-fetched, you still have to admit that they are thought provoking. It should be pointed out that Levy is uniquely positioned to examine the question, as he is an internationally recognized expert on artificial intelligence. In 2006 he became the first person ever to present papers on intimate relationships with robotic partners at an international conference. In addition to Love + Sex With Robots, he has also authored Robots Unlimited.

Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor Bookpleasures

My viewpoint: I am a user experience specialist and UI designer with a development background. I bought this book in hopes that it would address some of the complicated data issues I run into on a daily basis.

The bad:
Despite saying how cheap it is to print in color now, most of the sample images were 1 or more pages away from where it was referenced. I could have gone without the color if it meant I got the referenced image under the text referencing it. (Don't make me think while I'm reading books either, please.)

Commerce sites were deemed web applications. In some cases, I would agree. But for the samples given, I would generally disagree.

A best practice would be described, then in the next best practice's sample image, that best practice would be broken. Most best practices mentioned in this book can easily be found at Nielsen or Spool's websites. There was very little new to learn here. Also, some best practices given in this book are directly opposed to those given by Nielsen or Spool, without any supporting documentation or testing results. I'd be more apt to give those consideration if they were supported.

Almost the entire second half of the book was spent on displaying data (graphs, maps and more) and very little spent on forms for capturing data. Data capture was only lightly touched and did not even begin to touch complicated data capture.

If you are beginner, DO NOT PAY ATTENTION to the data base design "tips" given in this book. It was obvious the authors have never heard of data views and you will screw your database design royally if you follow their advice. Do the homework you might need on real database design.

The good:
If you work with a small to medium-sized website and you are new to, this book could be helpful to you. It does cover most of what would be considered best practice usability guidelines and I did glean a new one or two new things from the book.

If you work with Dashboards, you might also find one or new twists in the book. But most of the data display will be beyond what anyone will need for a smaller data-related sites.

It is very hard to find books that go beyond ABC. This is one of a few.

If you are looking something technological like I was or even theories, this isn't the book. And usually I think the pictures and examples are a good thing, but in this book it seemed that they were there to fill space. Can't recommend. But then again, it might be just because I misunderstood what the book was about and expected something more concrete.

This book helped me a lot as in my day-to day work. I used it as powerful guide for the construction of the "nice and pleasant" presentation layer for our applications. Our customers were happy - and it is the best feedback somebody can give.

I would definitely recommend this book to the wide range of Software Designers, Developers and Managers. Profession GUI always makes a difference!

I bought this book because Krug's book (Don't Make Me Think) recommended it and because my main concern was web-based business applications not public web sites.

I was extremely disappointed by Web Application Design Handbook:
1) It doesn't say much more than what any Windows developer has known
for the past 10 years
2) It is full of discussions about software DEVELOPMENT but it is
supposed to be a DESIGN book
3) It is supposed to be a book about WEB design but half of it is
about reports, graphs, diagrams, and maps

The first half of the book concentrates on what was advertised: design/usability of web-based applications. But it doesn't offer many new ideas. Most of the recommendations are well-known to Windows developers. It doesn't give enough attention to what's different about web-based applications.

The amount of useful, thought-provoking information in this book that could help a Windows developer create better web-based applications is no more than 50 pages. Not very good for a book of 600 pages.

The book does not inspire confidence that the recommendations are based on real usability testing. There's a lot of conventional wisdom followed by a lot of suggestions to figure it out yourself with your own usability tests.

The book has a maddening tendency to slip into development issues. Why on earth are there JavaScript code examples in a design book???!!! Why are there discussions about the impact of client vs server-side code on network bandwidth? Not only are these discussions distracting, they are also full of half-truths, oversimplifications, obsolete information, and some outright mistakes.

Almost 2/3 of the book is about topics that are beyond the scope of web application design (ok they're at least straining the limits): reports, graphs, diagrams, maps. That material would be handled better in a separate book, dedicated to those topics. As it is, most of the book is irrelevant to my needs.

If you are concerned with usability/GUI design of web sites or web applications forget this book and get Krug's Don't Make Me Think instead.

The following review was written by my 10 year old daughter:

Hackerteen is a comic book about a boy named Yago, who has exceptional computer skills. His worried and clueless parents enroll him in a school for hackers, which has a reputation for teaching hackers to use their skills for good (white hat hacker school).

I think it was a very good idea to make something that kids will read that shows the good side of the word _Hacker_. I personally thought it should have had some twists or something of the sort that would make it less predictable. I can see that the girl that Yago helped out is going to turn into something but she is obviously not a hacker. There is a girl hacker on the Yago's team but she doesn't really do anything. All we girls out here need girl role models. All in all I think it's a good idea yet it still needs a little help to get it on the right path.


And here's a short review by myself:

Hackerteen is a good guy hacker story for tween and teen boys. Young boy becomes good guy uberhacker, fights bad guys, faces moral dilemmas, saves the family, and tries to win the girl. The plot and character development are fairly 2 dimensional. The other downside is that girls are portrayed as weak, beautiful, and contribute little beyond needing to be saved.

Tossed into the mix are footers with url links for interested kids to find out more about technological and organizational references. There is a lot of not so subtle healthy propaganda against the abuses of big business and central governments. But not much more than the anti-establishment vigilantee leanings you'll find in your typical comic book.

Two things I liked very much were that the hero, Yago, isn't perfect. He makes a bad choice and has to deal with the consequences. Also, in the end, the bad guys are defeated not through the heroic efforts of a single individual, but by people working together.

Story - I read this book in one sitting, and overall enjoyed the story and direction. Granted, this is a comic book for children, the story can be childish and simpli. However, hackers are usually portrayed as criminals, and Hackerteen shows these geeks in a positive light. I enjoyed that the author made the protagonists almost super heroes. There were some really cliche moments with the bad guys being the stereotype sunglasses-indoors wearing tech baddies. We see our protagonist go from youngster to full-fledged super-hacker karate kid style, as the book description implies. There's also some teen tension and a small love interest subplot; exactly what teens are looking for!
My favorite part was when the protagonist recommends a webcam to another character based on it having open source drivers. Not only is that how any of my nerdy friends would react, but I know what model real-life camera that's referencing!

Art - The biggest problem I had with this graphic novel is the art production. Sure, the full color pages are awesome, but the actual design is pretty low production. It reminds me of a comic I did in junior high! My friends have described the art style as a South American anime rip-off. There are plenty of low quality backgrounds like one color gradients and things.

Misc - Including URLs to the technical vocabulary was an awesome touch. At times, I found the highlighted terms to be extremely novice and other times too technical for beginners. Perhaps this was the author's vision. I also do not know why they were all php documents? A directory redirect would have sufficed and been cleaner. But this review just got really nerdy.

Overall, I applaud the book's efforts for putting out a tech based action story that rivals hacker movies. I look forward to checking out future volumes in the series.

I used to read comic books as a kid (I'm 30 now), so I was looking forward to this comic book about "Hackerteen". I work in IT, so the subject was especially interesting to me.

The quality of the binding, artwork and colors is very good. However the dialog and story fell short of my expectations. The story starts out with a one page intro in the current time. Then we flash back to 6 years earlier, and start to learn about Yago (weird name, I keep wanting to call him Yugo, like the automobile), the main character.

My main issues with the story were that it felt a little silly, and the technology terms felt like they were kind of just thrown in. By silly, I mean the dialog sometimes sounds like its aimed at an 8 year old. I don't know what age bracket O'Reilly was targeting with this book, but I didn't even start reading comics until I was around 12 or 13.

The way the technology was talked about in the book made it seem like it was being written by someone with a very cursory knowledge of the terms they were throwing around. Like - ok we need to mention "OpenOffice", how do we work that into the story? So at one point there is a frame of Yago getting a text message on his cell phone that says "Yago, your contribution solved the OpenOffice.org problem". There had been no mention of any problem, OpenOffice or otherwise before this nor was it brought up again afterwards. I get they are trying to "tease" you and leave it up to the reader to track it down and figure it out, but it just didn't seem to flow very well. Another example is when they talked about DNS. It feels forced, like they wrote the story around the buzzwords.

Most of the terms have an asterisk by them, and if you look at the bottom of the page there is a URL you can go to for more information. But they don't all work. Taking off the ".php" may get you better results. The book has been out for at least a month now, I don't know why they haven't fixed this yet.

I plan to give this to a 14 year old I know and then get his thoughts about it, I'll try to update my review when that happens.