The Essence of Human-Computer Interaction [Paperback]

Christine Faulkner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0137519753 | ISBN-13: 978-0137519750 | Publication Date: December 5, 1997 | Edition: 1

The Prentice Hall Essence of Computer Science Series provides a concise, practical and uniform introduction to the core components of an undergraduate Computer Science degree. Acknowledging recent changes within higher education, this approach uses a variety of pedagogical tools - case-studies, worked examples and self-test questions - to underpin the student's learning.The Essence of Human-Computer Interaction provides a concise, no-nonsense introduction to studying HCI. It covers all of the essential elements of a standard Human-Computer Interaction course, including Artificial Intelligence, Psychology and Cognitive Science, and suggests ways in which to further develop areas of interest in the subject. It provides examples from everyday life as well as computer systems, such as "real" interfacing problems and solutions. It also includes practical "experiments" for the reader to try, through an examination of subjects such as ergonomics and other HCI issues.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This is a complete, practical guide to building computer systems that interact well with human beings and serve their needs.This interdisciplinary guide to human-computer interaction covers all the topics system designers need to know about, including human psychology, cognitive science and artificial intelligence. It includes many examples from everyday life and contemporary computer systems, as well as a wide variety of real-world interfacing problems and solutions, and practical experiments. It also contains up-to-date coverage of ergonomics and other health, safety and social issues associated with computer use.All computing and "human factors" professionals.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (December 5, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0137519753
• ISBN-13: 978-0137519750
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to HCI for the complete novice., December 31, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essence of Human-Computer Interaction (Paperback)

While there are lots of HCI books around, many concentrate on the theory and recent areas of academic research.

Faulkner, however, endeavours to gently introduce relevant aspects of practical and theoretical HCI.

The book requires no previous or specialist knowledge. The aim is to make HCI skills a part of the general software engineering skill-set that the technical project teams possess.

HCI can be viewed as a specialist skill, but only when it is part of the generic engineering lifecycles will it make its true impact.

With this in mind Faulkner has put together a book that can key you into cconcepts and how they are realised, in quick and simple format.

Although this is not as detailed as some other books on usability engineering, it is not written for that purpose.

It is suitable not only for computer personnel who wish to add HCI to their own projects but also for managers who need to work with usability engineers, entry-level students and possibly end-users who will be required to participate in the usability engineering cycle.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent launching pad., December 24, 2006

By 

wooks "wookies" (uk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essence of Human-Computer Interaction (Paperback)

Gives a useful overview in an easy to read digestible tome hence ideal if HCI is a subcomponent of a course you are taking - as it is for me. Recommended for everybody who is involved in professional software development. It's a small book and less that 200 pages at that so hardly onerous and you really ought to be familiar with this stuff.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Turn off the tape recorder, March 23, 2002

By 

Happy Shopper (Menlo Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Essence of Human-Computer Interaction (Paperback)

This book reads like it was simply transcribed from tape recordings of lectures. I closed my eyes and I almost felt like I was sitting in an uncomfortable chair in a lecture hall in Southpark, England. Really, very little effort was made to smooth out the prose. More importantly, the book offers little in the way of insight into HCI. Perhaps this is because this discipline doesn't really have much to offer; I'll reserve judgment on that until I find a better book.

This book starts out with a fairly interesting discussion about memory, vision, and hearing, but then makes essentially no connection between these early chapters and what follows. Except for the Earth-shaking insights that users can't remember a list of more than seven random things, and some people are color blind, etc. there isn't much actionable information that will help you design a better UI.

I suppose the chapters on user testing were somewhat helpful in understanding what HCI professionals need to do to evaluate user satisfaction, but overall the book left me still searching for a better text. At this point I'd say the best book on UI design I've seen so far is Cooper's "About Face."