InfoD: Bookwatch (32)

      * InfoDesign Bookwatch *   (32)

        In this message:
        1) Content and complexity (M.J. Albers, B. Mazur (eds.))
        2) Information Design. An introduction (Rune Pettersson)
        3) The social life of information
           (J. Seely Brown, P. Duguid)

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1)   TITLE: Content and complexity. Information design
             in technical communication

    EDITORS: Michael J. Albers and Beth Mazur

    SUMMARY: This collection approaches information design
             from a language-based technical communication
             perspective. It looks at uses of information
             design to structure technical material;
             innovative ways of integrating information
             design within the current development methodologies
             and social aspects of the workplace; and theoretical
             approaches that have some practical application of
             information design, emphasizing where theories of
             information design meet the reality of the workplace.

CONTENTS:
- Foreword (K. Schriver)
- Introduction (M.J. Albers)
- Information design in motion (B. Mazur)
- Physical, cognitive, and affective: A three-part framework
   for information design (S. Carliner)
- Collaborative processes and politics in complex
   information design (D. Sless)
- The five dimensions of usability (W. Quesenbery)
- Applying learning theory to the design of web-based
   instruction (S. Feinberg, M. Murphy, J. Duda)
- What makes up a procedure? (H. van der Meij, P. Blijleven,
   L. Jansen)
- Visual design methods in interactive applications
   (J. Vanderdonkct)
- Contextual inquiry as a method of information design (K. Smart)
- Dynamic usability: designing usefulness into systems for
   complex tasks (B. Mirel)
- Complex problem solving and context analysis (M.J. Albers)
- Applying survey research methods to gather customer data
   and to obtain user feedback (B. Zimmerman, M.C. Clarke)
- Single sourcing and information design (A. Rockley)
- Redesigning to make better use screen real estate (G. Hart)

376 pp
Price: USD 79.95 (cloth), USD 39.95 (paperback)
Published: 2003
Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
ISBN: 0-8058-4140-7

Webpages about this book:
http://idblog.org/chapters.pdf
https://www.erlbaum.com/shop/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=0-8058-4140-7
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2)   TITLE: Information Design: An introduction
             Document Design Companion Series 3

     AUTHOR: Rune Pettersson

    SUMMARY: The goal of communication-oriented design of
	    messages should always be clarity of communication.
             In information design the task of the sender is
             not completed until the receivers have received and
             understood the intended messages. 'Information
             Design' includes chapters explaining verbo-visual
             communication, information and message design
             principles, design processes, and design tools.
             These chapters can be seen as a general framework
             for production of information and learning materials.
             Based on theories for verbo-visual communication this
             book presents several practial guidelines for the use
             of text, symbols, visuals, typography, and layout in
             information and learning materials.

CONTENTS:
Preface
1 Message design
   - Information disciplines
   - Design disciplines
   - Communication
   - Sender activities
   - Representations
   - Receiver activities
   - Information design principles
   - Information design tools
2 Text design
   - From cave painting to the web
   - Language models
   - Literacies
   - Comprehensibility
   - Oral presentation
   - Writing
   - Credibility
3 Image design
   - Image functions
   - Visual languages
   - Creating images
   - Image morphology
4 Graphic design
   - Information aesthetics
   - Typography
   - Reading print media
   - Reading projected visuals
   - Reading on screens
5 Cognition
   - Attention
   - Perception
   - Processing
   - Learning from representations
   - Application of knowledge
References
Index

Paperback, 296 pp
Published: 2002
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 1 58811 338 8 / Price: USD 59.95
ISBN: 90 272 3203 2 / Price: EUR 60.00

Webpages about this book:
http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_bookview.cgi?bookid=DDCS_3
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3)   TITLE: The social life of information

    AUTHORS: John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid

    SUMMARY: In this book the authors dispel many of the
             futurists' sweeping predictions that information
             technology will obliterate the need for everything
             from travel to supermarkets to business organizations
             to social life itself. But beaten down by info-glut,
             exasperated by computer crashes, and burned by
             dot-com stocks, individual users find it hard to get
             a fix on the true potential of the digital
             revolution. John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid argue
             that the gap between digerati hype and end-user gloom
             is largely due to the 'tunnel vision' that
             information-driven technologies breed.  We need to
             look beyond our obsession with information and
             individuals to include the critical social networks
             of which these are always a part. The Social Life of
             Information shows how a better understanding of the
             contribution that communities, organizations, and
             institutions make to learning, working, and
             innovating can lead to a rich use of technology in
             our work and everyday lives.

CONTENTS:
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Tunneling Ahead
1. Limits to Information
2. Agents and Angels
3. Home Alone
4. Practice Makes Process
5. Learning-in Theory and in Practice
6. Innovating Organization, Husbanding Knowledge
7. Reading the Background
8. Re-education
Afterword: Beyond Information
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Authors


Paperback, 352 pp
Price: USD 16.95
Published: 2002
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
ISBN: 1-57851-708-7

Webpages about this book:
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=7087
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InfoDesign Bookwatch is compiled and edited by Piet Westendorp
and Karel van der Waarde. Suggestions for titles are welcome,
and may be sent to: [email protected]
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