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.
Using the inspiration of Leonardo da Vinci to build a new,
humanistic computing that focuses on users' needs and
goals.
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 expert, 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 creativity, consensus-seeking, and conflict resolution.
Each chapter ends with a Skeptic's Corner that challenges
assumptions about trust, privacy, and digital divides.
Review text:
'... This book is an inspiration, a must read.'
-- Gavriel Salvendy, International Journal of Human-Computer
Interaction
'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
'A very useful book ...'
-- Peta Jellis, First Monday Reviews
'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
'This book communicates a kaleidoscopic vision of how
technology can be used to empower people ... interesting and
exciting.'
-- Parshu Anantharam, The Rational Edge
'Who should read [Leonardo's Laptop]? Everyone who cares
about mankind, technology, and the future.'
-- Gerd Waloszek, SAP Deisgn Guild
'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, 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 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 "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 "[Schneiderman is blessed with an engaging writing style and the ability to make this material interesting and lively." Jessie Thorpe Modbee.com "This book communicates a kaleidoscopic vision of how technology can be used to empower people in multiple areas of life." Parshu Anantharam The Rational Edge "This book is an inspiration, a must read." Professor Gavriel Salvendy International Journal of Human Computer Interaction "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 "Who should read (Leonardo's Laptop)? Everyone who cares about mankind, technology, and the future." Gerd Waloszek SAP Design Guild "A very useful book..." Peta Jellis First Monday Reviews "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 "[Schneiderman] is blessed with an engaging writing style and the ability to make this material interesting and lively." Jessie Thorpe Modbee.com "This book communicates a kaleidoscopic vision of how technology can be used to empower people... interesting and exciting." Parshu Anantharam The Rational Edge "... This book is an inspiration, a must read." Gavriel Salvendy International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction "This is an eloquently written and visionary book." Pashu Anantharam The Rational Edge "Who should read [Leonardo's Laptop]? Everyone who cares about mankind, technology, and the future." Gerd Waloszek SAP Deisgn Guild
Ben Shneiderman is Professor of Computer Science and Founding Director (1983--2000) of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park.
