Leonardo's Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies

Leonardo's Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies

by Ben Shneiderman (Author)

Synopsis

Ben Shneiderman's book dramatically raises computer users' expectations of what they should get from technology. He opens their eyes to new possibilities and invites them to think freshly about future technology. He challenges developers to build products that better support human needs and that are usable at any bandwidth. Shneiderman proposes Leonardo da Vinci as an inspirational muse for the new computing . He wonders how Leonardo would use a laptop and what applications he would create. Shneiderman shifts the focus from what computers can do to what users can do. A key transformation is to what he calls universal usability , enabling participation by young and old, novice and experts, able and disabled. This transformation would empower those yearning for literacy or coping with their limitations. Shneiderman proposes new computing applications in education, medicine, business and government. He envisions a World Wide Med that delivers secure patient histories in local languages at any emergency room and thriving million-person communities for e-commerce and e-government. Raising larger questions about human relationships and society, he explores the computer's potential to support ceativity, consensus-seeking, and conflict resolution. Each chapter ends with a Skeptic's Corner that challenges assumptions about trust, privacy and digital divides.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 01 Oct 2002

ISBN 10: 0262194767
ISBN 13: 9780262194761

Media Reviews
A very useful book... -- Peta Jellis, First Monday Reviews
This book is an inspiration, a must read. < br />
This book communicates a kaleidoscopic vision of how technology can be used to empower people in multiple areas of life. < br />
A very useful book... -- Peta Jellis, First Monday Reviews
Schneiderman} is blessed with an engaging writing style and the ability to make this material interesting and lively. -- Jessie Thorpe, Modbee.com
-- Pashu Anantharam, The Rational Edge
--Christinger Tomer, University of Pittsburgh
-- Diane Maloney-Krichmar, University of Maryland Baltimore County
-- Professor Gavriel Salvendy, International Journal of Human Computer Interaction
A very useful book... -- Peta Jellis, First Monday Reviews
This book will change the way you think about web design. -- WebReference
This is an eloquently written and visionary book. -- Pashu Anantharam, The Rational Edge
This book is an inspiration, a must read. -- Professor Gavriel Salvendy, International Journal of Human Computer Interaction
Who should read (Leonardo's Laptop)? Everyone who cares about mankind, technology, and the future. -- Gerd Waloszek, SAP Design Guild
[Schneiderman} is blessed with an engaging writing style and the ability to make this material interesting and lively. -- Jessie Thorpe, Modbee.com
It's easy...to get caught up in the author's techno-Utopian vision of a world hotwired to serve its populace. -- Elizabeth Millard, ComputerUser.com
Questions about the relationship between technology and culture may be more important than ever. Ben Shneiderman's conviction that da Vinci's ideas about art and technique remain relevant may bring us an important step or two closer to useful answers about the roles that we want computers in play in our lives. The course in which I've used Leonardo's Laptop is called LIS 2000: Understanding Information. ...It is designed as an introduction to the graduate program in library and information science at Pittsburgh, and attempts to look at a series of issues that affect the environment for scholarly publishing, information exchange, information retrieval, etc. The official course description is as follows: Issues and problems arising from interrelationships among information and individuals, society, organizations and systems, and information that the information professions address. --Christinger Tomer, University of Pittsburgh
& quot; This book will change the way you think about web design.& quot; -- WebReference
& quot; A very useful book...& quot; -- Peta Jellis, First Monday Reviews
& quot; This is an eloquently written and visionary book.& quot; -- Pashu Anantharam, The Rational Edge
& quot; Who should read (Leonardo's Laptop)? Everyone who cares about mankind, technology, and the future.& quot; -- Gerd Waloszek, SAP Design Guild
& quot; This book is an inspiration, a must read.& quot; -- Professor Gavriel Salvendy, International Journal of Human Computer Interaction
& quot; [Schneiderman} is blessed with an engaging writing style and the ability to make this material interesting and lively.& quot; -- Jessie Thorpe, Modbee.com
& quot; It's easy...to get caught up in the author's techno-Utopian vision of a world hotwired to serve its populace.& quot; -- Elizabeth Millard, ComputerUser.com
& quot; Questions about the relationship between technology and culture may be more important than ever. Ben Shneiderman's conviction that da Vinci's ideas about art and technique remain relevant may bring us an important step or two closer to useful answers about the roles that we want computers in play in our lives.& quot; The course in which I've used Leonardo's Laptop is called & quot; LIS 2000: Understanding Information.& quot; ...It is designed as an introduction to the graduate program in library and information science at Pittsburgh, and attempts to look at a series of issues that affect the environment for scholarly publishing, information exchange, information retrieval, etc. The official course description is as follows: & quot; Issues and problems arising from interrelationships among information and individuals, society, organizations and systems, and information that the information professions address.& quot; -- Christinger Tomer, University of Pittsburgh
Ben Schneiderman's book, Leonardo's Laptop, was a required text in a Cyberspace, Culture and Society course I taught this summer. The course was a combined upper level undergraduate and graduate seminar class that included students from a wide range of academic disciplines: English, sociology, psychology, anthropology, computer science, information systems, philosophy, interdisciplinary studies, Language, Literacy and Culture, and Policy Science. The students overwhelmingly indicated that the book was excellent: readable, inspiring, and thought provoking. Leonardo's Laptop urges users to promote better design by getting & quot; angry about the poor quality of user interfaces and the underlying infrastructure& quot; and to think big about the ways computers could & quot; support creativity, consensus-seeking and conflict resolution.& quot; Shneiderman urges designers to build technology guided by the principle of universal usability to insures that all types of people, young, old, novices, experts, disabled, will be able to use technology to enhance their lives. Chapters dealing with e-leaning, e-commerce, e-health, and e-government suggest creative ways that technology can support humans as they seek to deal with pressing social issues. This book creatively explores a topic that, all too often, is dealt with in jargon and technical terminology that is not accessible to a wide audience and narrowly frames the discussion of technology and its effects. The book promoted interesting discussion between technical and non-technical students about the effects of technology on societies around the world. The studentsespecially liked the & quot; collect, relate, create, donate framework& quot; that Schneiderman so skillfully uses to illustrate how technology can empower and liberate users. -- Diane Maloney-Krichmar, University of Maryland Baltimore County
A very useful book... -- Peta Jellis, First Monday Reviews
Ben Schneiderman's book, Leonardo's Laptop, was a required text in a Cyberspace, Culture and Society course I taught this summer. The course was a combined upper level undergraduate and graduate seminar class that included students from a wide range of academic disciplines: English, sociology, psychology, anthropology, computer science, information systems, philosophy, interdisciplinary studies, Language, Literacy and Culture, and Policy Science. The students overwhelmingly indicated that the book was excellent: readable, inspiring, and thought provoking. Leonardo's Laptop urges users to promote better design by getting angry about the poor quality of user interfaces and the underlying infrastructure and to think big about the ways computers could support creativity, consensus-seeking and conflict resolution. Shneiderman urges designers to build technology guided by the principle of universal usability to insures that all types of people, young, old, novices, experts, disabled, will be able to use technology to enhance their lives. Chapters dealing with e-leaning, e-commerce, e-health, and e-government suggest creative ways that technology can support humans as they seek to deal with pressing social issues. This book creatively explores a topic that, all too often, is dealt with in jargon and technical terminology that is not accessible to a wide audience and narrowly frames the discussion of technology and its effects. The book promoted interesting discussion between technical and non-technical students about the effects of technology on societies around the world. The students especially liked the collect, relate, create, donate framework that Schneiderman so skillfully usesto illustrate how technology can empower and liberate users. -- Diane Maloney-Krichmar, University of Maryland Baltimore County
A very useful book... -- Peta Jellis, First Monday Reviews
This book is an inspiration, a must read. -- Professor Gavriel Salvendy, International Journal of Human Computer Interaction
This book is an inspiration, a must read.
A very useful book...
Ben Schneiderman's book,
This book will change the way you think about web design. -- WebReference
[Schneiderman} is blessed with an engaging writing style and the ability to make this material interesting and lively. -- Jessie Thorpe, Modbee.com
This book is an inspiration, a must read. -- Professor Gavriel Salvendy, International Journal of Human Computer Interaction
It's easy...to get caught up in the author's techno-Utopian vision of a world hotwired to serve its populace. -- Elizabeth Millard, ComputerUser.com
A very useful book... -- Peta Jellis, First Monday Reviews
Who should read (Leonardo's Laptop)? Everyone who cares about mankind, technology, and the future. -- Gerd Waloszek, SAP Design Guild
This is an eloquently written and visionary book. -- Pashu Anantharam, The Rational Edge
Questions about the relationship between technology and culture may be more important than ever. Ben Shneiderman's conviction that da Vinci's ideas about art and technique remain relevant may bring us an important step or two closer to useful answers about the roles that we want computers in play in our lives. The course in which I've used Leonardo's Laptop is called LIS 2000: Understanding Information. ...It is designed as an introduction to the graduate program in library and information science at Pittsburgh, and attempts to look at a series of issues that affect the environment for scholarly publishing, information exchange, information retrieval, etc. The official course description is as follows: Issues and problems arising from interrelationships among information and individuals, society, organizations and systems, and information that the information professions address. --Christinger Tomer, University of Pittsburgh
Ben Schneiderman's book, Leonardo's Laptop , was a required text in a Cyberspace, Culture and Society course I taught this summer. The course was a combined upper level undergraduate and graduate seminar class that included students from a wide range of academic disciplines: English, sociology, psychology, anthropology, computer science, information systems, philosophy, interdisciplinary studies, Language, Literacy and Culture, and Policy Science. The students overwhelmingly indicated that the book was excellent: readable, inspiring, and thought provoking. Leonardo's Laptop urges users to promote better design by getting angry about the poor quality of user interfaces and the underlying infrastructure and to think big about the ways computers could support creativity, consensus-seeking and conflict resolution. Shneiderman urges designers to build technology guided by the principle of universal usability to insures that all types of people, young, old, novices, experts, disabled,