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Computers as Theatre (Hardcover)

by Brenda Laurel (Author)

4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

Hardcover: 250 pages
Publisher: Addison Wesley (May 1991)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0201510480
ISBN-13: 978-0201510485
Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.5 x 2.5 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,301,380 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Synopsis

Building on Aristotle's analysis of the form and structure of drama, presents a new theory of human-computer activity. Suggests that the next generation of interactive computers will employ dramatic as well as psychological and graphic techniques. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

From the Back Cover

This paperback version of Brenda Laurel's 1991 hardcover classic features a new chapter that takes the reader through virtual reality and beyond to a new level of human computer interaction that is genuinely transforming. Like its predecessor, this book presents a new theory of human-computer activity.

0201550601B04062001 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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	90% buy the item featured on this page: Computers as Theatre 4.7 out of 5 stars (3)
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews

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4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps this should be called the "Tao of Software Design", 13 May 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Computers as Theatre (Paperback)

... because it reminds me a great deal of Bruce Lee's "Tao of Jeet Kune Do." In that book, the reader is warned in the preface to approach the book actively with pencil in hand to jot notes and draw lines between connected ideas. I have done this with Brenda's book. It will take about 6-7 reads and lots of mental connections before everything starts to gel.

It is a new "Way" of thinking, and, indeed, is so far ahead of any way we design software now that many ideas that this book suggests still need extensive research to even understand how to implement. (e.g. Freytag graphs as a way of structuring software/task flow to provide a pleasing HCI, and Brenda's Principles of Intelligent Computer Agency as a means for implementing truly AI agents with personality and emotions).

Along with the wonderful head rush of compelling new theory, she also takes the second half of the book to explain principles of software design that you can implement in your programs _now_, and also takes the time to introduce you to fascinating HCI research offshoots like Programming by Demonstration.

It is wonderful writing, and her ideas and concepts continually refresh and remind me why I am in such an exciting field.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good ideas, but I felt the book lacked a clear focus., 23 May 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Computers as Theatre (Paperback)

I finished reading "Computers as Theater" by Brenda Laural yesterday. The book has many good ideas in it, and it may well be worth reading just to pick these up.

It is also one of those books which does not do a good job of unifying its material, in my opinion. Rather than being a progression of ideas that builds to some intellectual climax, it meanders through various interesting points not quite aimlessly. The book introduces two useful diagrams: 'flying wedges' which describe how the space of possibilities in a drama go from the 'possible' to converge on the 'necessary', and 'freytag triangles', which measures the rise and fall of a plot. If these are used to describe this book (a slight abuse?), it doesn't fare well. The freytag diagram never peaks, and the wedge doesn't converge to the 'necessary'. This may be because the objectives for the book were not clear. As a reader, I didn't realize she was not (mostly) speaking to the modern commercial software world for quite a while into the book. The book also ended with two chapters about virtual reality (the substance, not the hype), and I was left wondering if perhaps *this* was what the book was really about (if so, I didn't see it coming).

All that said: there are many good ideas in the book, some of which will make you stop and think for a while (e.g. those diagrams). It is valuable because of this. As an individual, I simply wish the book had been better structured, for I'd have gotten more out of it.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Aristotle's Poetics applied to software design, 8 Aug 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Computers as Theatre (Paperback)

Laurel is quite the scholar - she's got experience and learning in the fields of theater and human-computer activities. Laurl applies Aristotle's Poetics to computer software design. I especially liked her comparison of computers to theatrical production - a tremendous amount of action goes on "behind the scenes." As Laurel points out, dramatic expression is a type of virtual reality; anything we develop with computers has a very long heritage. A must-read for the digerati.

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