From the Publisher:
Written by the author of the best-selling HyperText & HyperMedia, this book provides an excellent guide to the methods of usability engineering. Special features: emphasizes cost-effective methods that will help developers improve their user interfaces immediately, shows you how to avoid the four most frequently listed reasons for delay in software projects, provides step-by-step information about which methods to use at various stages during the development life cycle, and offers information on the unique issues relating to informational usability. You do not need to have previous knowledge of usability to implement the methods provided, yet all of the latest research is covered.

Usability Engineering

The concept of an agent has become important in both Artificial Intelligence (AI) and mainstream computer science. Our aim in this paper is to point the reader at what we perceive to be the most important theoretical and practical issues associated with the design and construction of intelligent agents. For convenience, we divide these issues into three areas (though as the reader will see, the divisions are at times somewhat arbitrary). Agent theory is concerned with the question of what an agent is, and the use of mathematical formalisms for representing and reasoning about the properties of agents. Agent architectures can be thought of as software engineering models of agents;researchers in this area are primarily concerned with the problem of designing software or hardware systems that will satisfy the properties specified by agent theorists. Finally, agent languages are software systems for programming and experimenting with agents; these languages may embody principles proposed by theorists. The paper is not intended to serve as a tutorial introduction to all the issues mentioned; we hope instead simply to identify the most important issues, and point to work that elaborates on them. The article includes a short review of current and potential applications of agent technology.

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Intelligent Agents: Theory and Practice

From the Publisher: 
A Question of Identity 
Life on the Screen is a fascinating and wide-ranging investigation of the impact of computers and networking on society, peoples' perceptions of themselves, and the individual's relationship to machines. Sherry Turkle, a Professor of the Sociology of Science at MIT and a licensed psychologist, uses Internet MUDs (multi-user domains, or in older gaming parlance multi-user dungeons) as a launching pad for explorations of software design, user interfaces, simulation, artificial intelligence, artificial life, agents, "bots," virtual reality, and "the on-line way of life." 
Turkle's discussion of postmodernism is particularly enlightening. She shows how postmodern concepts in art, architecture, and ethics are related to concrete topics much closer to home, for example AI research (Minsky's "Society of Mind") and even MUDs (exemplified by students with X-window terminals who are doing homework in one window and simultaneously playing out several different roles in the same MUD in other windows). Those of you who have (like me) been turned off by the shallow, pretentious, meaningless paintings and sculptures that litter our museums of modern art may have a different perspective after hearing what Turkle has to say. 
This is a psychoanalytical book, not a technical one. However, software developers and engineers will find it highly accessible because of the depth of the author's technical understanding and credibility. Unlike most other authors in this genre, Turkle does not constantly jar the technically-literate reader with blatant errors or bogus assertions about how things work. Although I personally don't have time or patience for MUDs,view most of AI as snake-oil, and abhor postmodern architecture, I thought the time spent reading this book was an extremely good investment.

스크린 위의 삶 = Life on the screen : identity in the age of the internet

Erik Eriksen is a remarkable individual. He has no college degrees yet is Professor of Human Development at Harvard University. He came to psychology via art, which explains why the reader will find him painting contexts and backgrounds rather than stating dull facts and concepts. He has been a training psychoanalyst for many years as well as a perceptive observer of cultural and social settings and their effect on growing up. This is not just a book on childhood. It is a panorama of our society. Anxiety in young children, apathy in American Indians, confusion in veterans of war, and arrogance in young Nazis are scrutinized under the psychoanalytic magnifying glass. The material is well written and devoid of technical jargon. The theme of the volume is that it is human to have a long childhood which will leave a lifelong residue of emotional immaturity in man. Primitive groups and

Childhood and Society.

How to ... be a reflective practitioner.

In this article we present a computer program called “MAD”, Movie Authoring and Design. Whereas most computer software for filmmaking focuses on the editing and post-production stage, MAD is designed specifically to support the authoring stage, and may be used before any film footage is shot. It assists in the process of developing and refining the concept for a movie by supporting the intrinsically hierarchical nature of movies; it supports a top-down design approach as well as a bottom-up implementation approach. MAD allows the user to keep script, storyboards, sounds, and digitized video clips together in a single document. Visualizing the final result is assisted by the “play” feature, which allows an approximation to the final film to be played on the author’s workstation at any time. The accuracy of this approximation increases as additional script, timing information, and other data is added to the movie.

Multimedia for Authoring Motion Pictures

Getting the Design Right and the Right Design: Testing Many is Better than One

Video mediated communication alters our perception of the way in which we interact and communicate. In contrast to face to face or audio only (e.g., telephone) communication, there is relatively little systematic research on the effect of video conferencing on communication within groups of people at dispersed locations (Harrison, 1991b; Harrison et al, 1992b; Sellen, 1992; Wolf, 1988; Cohen, 1982; Short, Williams, and Christie, 1976). In this paper we describe a study of how participants at three distant locations perceived differences between face to face (within site) and video mediated (between site) communication. Results indicate that participants perceived between site, mediated communication to be unnatural and uncomfortable. They felt there were problems with gaining floor control and with conversation flow. Additionally, participants perceived the between site, mediated communication to be less interactive, less social, and less enjoyable than the face to face, within site communication. The ins...

Out of Site, Still in Mind? A Case Study in Video Mediated Communication

A conversational, animated modeling environment implemented on a minicomputer is used to build and experiment with models of taxi-dispatching systems and strategies. The implications of each strategy are portrayed by the production and playback of an animated movie that depicts the simulated system as if it were real. The modeler can observe the system, modify the strategy, and immediately see the effects of the change. Use of the technique to assist in verifying the correctness of the simulation program, to enhance human intuition and aid strategy formulation and testing, and to facilitate technical communication about the model is described. /Author/

Computer-animated simulation of taxi-dispatching strategies

The role of computer animation in visualizing the behavior of simulation models of complex processes and systems is described. The results of a demonstration project applying this technique to transportation planning are reported and analyzed. The study involved the modeling and display of passenger flow in a subway station. It was carried out by using SIMULOGO, a new discrete-event simulation language, and ZAPP, a new computer animation system, which are discussed in the paper. Planned extensions and elaborations of these facilities to provide a comprehensive and responsive environment for transportation systems modeling are outlined.

Ronald M. Baecker

Papers

Multimedia for Authoring Motion Pictures

Getting the Design Right and the Right Design: Testing Many is Better than One

Out of Site, Still in Mind? A Case Study in Video Mediated Communication

Computer-animated simulation of taxi-dispatching strategies

Computer-animated simulation models: a tool for transportation planning