Book Cover
Book
Author Norman, Donald A.

Title The invisible computer : why good products can fail, the personal computer is so complex, and information appliances are the solution / Donald A. Norman
Edition First MIT Press paperback edition
Published Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, [1998]
©1998

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 W'PONDS  004.16 Nor/Icw  AVAILABLE
Description xii, 302 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Contents 1. Drop Everything You're Doing -- 2. Growing Up: Moving from Technology-Centered to Human-Centered Products -- 3. The Move to Information Appliances -- 4. What's Wrong with the PC? -- 5. There Is No Magical Cure -- 6. The Power of Infrastructure -- 7. Being Analog -- 8. Why Is Everything So Difficult to Use? -- 9. Human-Centered Development -- 10. Want Human-Centered Development? Reorganize the Company -- 11. Disruptive Technologies -- 12. A World of Information Appliances -- App. Examples of Information Appliances
Summary In this book, Norman shows why the computer is so difficult to use and why this complexity is fundamental to its nature. The only answer, says Norman, is to start over again, to develop information appliances that fit people's needs and lives. To do this companies must change the way they develop products. They need to start with an understanding of people: user needs first, technology last - the opposite of how things are done now. Companies need a human-centered development process, even if it means reorganizing the entire company. This book shows why and how
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Subject Computers.
Disruptive technologies.
High technology industries -- Marketing.
Human-computer interaction.
Human engineering.
Industrial design.
Microcomputers.
LC no. 98018841
ISBN 0262140659 (alk. paper)
0262640414 (paperback)