Customer Reviews

Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A few years ago Byte Magazine named this one of the 10 most important books in the history of the computer industry. Flores was asked to keynote the 50th anniversary meeting of the ACM on the strength of the work he has done, some of which is shown here.

I am a little surprised not to find a review here that shows awareness of what this book is and was intended to do -- to turn those concerned with the design of the role of computers in society into a new direction. The book offers a fundamental enrichment and extension to the traditional engineering-based foundations that are used for designing computer systems that is drawn from philosophy and biology. It opens the development of a rigorous new design milleau to the reader. This is NOT yet another multi-disciplinary rumination.

I would say this is not a "helpful" book, and it was never intended as an easy read. It is a book to turn to when one has learned enough about what is really at issue in putting computers to work in human life to discover that the likes of input, process, output, "friendly" interfaces, attractive graphical presentations, and logical flow charts are vastly insufficient distinctions for doing work that really makes a contribution to your clients and colleagues. The book challenges the reader strongly, and is not simple to read. I guess that the best way to read it is with someone else, having discussions as you go along.

This is a book to engage and grow with -- a must-read for those serious about designing and building systems that will affect the lives of those who engage with them.

A remarkable work that delves into the field of human cognition and emerges with a fresh, intelligent perspective of how computers can and cannot support human cognitive efforts. Anyone interested in artificial intelligence and/or workflow will find this book an informative read

This is an excellent text which describes an approach to using computers to perform an enabling role within corporate enterprises by using their ability to allow clearer understanding between participants in the workplace. The other aspect of this book looks at current methods of creating AI systems and their fundamental weaknesses. Having read this as part of my MSc. in Information Technology I have re-read it several times and I would recommend it to all those involved in complex system design, implementation and support. In addition a book such as Checklands Soft Systems Methodolgy will give a good introduction to how the systems described in Understanding Computers and Cognition can be designed to meet the demands of "real world" environments.

I read this book when it was first published in the mid 1980's. At the time I was studying artificial intelligence as part of a graduate program in computer science. I have not looked at this book in a long time ("my bad") but I remember it was ground-breaking in at least several ways - at least for me personally!

1. It opened my eyes to the limitations of the then-current approaches being attempted to recreate (via computer) human intelligence and/or human speech understanding and production. The approaches dominant at the time were logic-based algorithms based on frames, and neural-inspired algorithms.

2. It opened my eyes to the notion that recreating human intelligence or human language via computer was NOT nearly as important as many of us thought it was. Rather, more important was (and is) to understand human-computer interaction and provide machines that complement and extend our skills and strengths (which I now view as an extension of the thinking of Douglas Englebart). And....

3. Communication and meaning are necessarily embedded in our physical being and our physical situation.

As I recall, the authors drew from a variety of thinkers and disciplines. Frankly, I have a hard time remembering right now to what extents my insights were due to Winograd/Flores work versus how they may have simply altered my direction of exploration (e.g. to study George Lakoff's work on the remarkable role of metaphor in language).

This is the first time I've ever written a book review on Amazon that is essentially a description of the book's impact on my life and thinking rather than the book itself. I don't remember the details of the book! But I clearly remember that it changed my life.

I am thrilled to read in the other comments that Byte Magazine recognized the landmark contribution of this effort.

My hearty - and belated - thanks to the authors.

Art

ps: Why am I writing this review now? This afternoon I stumbled into an old textbook from the mid-1980's on computerizing natural language, and it got me thinking.....

Winograd and Flores' `Understanding Computers and Cognition' proposes that the rationalist tradition in AI must be replaced by a hermeneutic approach. Associating the rationalist tradition with the goal of building a human mind, the authors propose that a hermeneutic approach must adopt the goal of constructing prostheses which magnify the human mind. This paper argues that what AI needs is not so much a hermeneutic approach as a better appreciation of biology and psychology. Understanding Computers and Cognition is a groundbreaking book that presents an important new approach to understanding what computers do and how their functioning is related to human language, thought and action. Byte Magazine has recognized Understanding Computers and Cognition as one of the all-time 20 most influential books on information technology.

Thank you!

In completely enjoyed this book. For starters it takes a lot of Heidegger's work and makes it completely accessible. The book laid out well where AI can and cannot go based on these Heidegarian (sp?) principals. My experience of the book is that it provide practical application for normally difficult content. I referenced this book in one of my blogs:[...]

Understanding Computers and Cognition is an excellent book giving the right background and walks you nicely to understand all the notion of Speech act, Intention driven comversations and how these can be translated to a computer software. The book is not easy to read though (this is the only reason I gave it 4 stars and not 5).
But, those who are interested in this domain and are looking to better understand the academic theory behind it would find the book extremely helpful.

This is probably the 7th or 8th copy of this book, I've purchased. My original? I have no idea where it is. But it is such an important book that I keep buying them and giving them away. I'm not a computer geek by any measure so what I find useful to share with my non-technical friends are the constructs provided on conversational technology that are at the foundation of this book. I'm an executive coach and have had the pleasure of working with Fernando Flores. I cannot overstate how important his contribution is to moving people and organizations forward in producing the results they want. It is well worth the time and energy and thinking you spend.

The authors' theme is that we each react to and are changed by our environment which in turn reacts to and is changed by each of us. In the end, one can design computers only within a particular consensual domain that entails at least some commonly understood rules and concepts. The authors rely heavily on the philosophical works of Maturana and Heidegger. Difficult to read as some word meanings are developed through usage and demonstration (e.g., "throwness"). Also, quotes from references are used endlessly to substantiate their theme. This is nice but I wonder after all is done, what contributions the authors' have made and how much is simply a rehash.

I read the 1986 or 87 version of this book and am of a software/AI background. I didn't follow the biological material that well - either I was being dense or it just wasn't clearly written. I thought the book was repetitious (my chief complaint). Some of the concepts discussed include: "breakdown" (humans become aware of thing X only when something goes awry in which the X is involved), "thrownness" (humans don't rationally consider all possibilities and make perfect decisions because situations they are put in don't permit such cognition and/or we simply we aren't capable of it), "blindness" (we are always somewhat blind to the prejudicies/assumptions that guide our thinking...and we can't totally escape this predicament. Also discusses the co-routine effect (per the software world) of human affects environment and environment affects world circularity.