Movies, Songs, Stage Plays, TV/Radio, Fiction, Non-Fiction
about HCI
List compiled by Barry Wellman and excerpted (with permission) from
the Berkshire Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction (Berkshire
Reference Works, 2004).
___________________________________________________________
Net, The
Irwin Winkler
Columbia 1999
U.S.A
Shy female computer expert discovers a conspiracy that allows criminals
to gain secret data from government computers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Robocop
Paul Verhoeven
Rank/Orion 1987
U.S.A
In the near future, a slain policeman is revived as a cyborg: a human
brain in an enhanced, almost indestructible robotic body. His emotions
and values unstably oscillate between human and machine, with human
values winning out in the end. His "good" human side uses his robotic
strength and technology to triumph over the evil organization. The
privatization of the police force adds another moral complication.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Flash Gordon
Frederick Stephani
Ray Taylor
Universal 1936 U.S.A
Flash Gordon himself is boring, but Ming the Merciless, the evil emperor
of the planet Mongo, has a wonderful TV camera that provides detailed
real-time pictures of anywhere and anyone on earth. Way ahead of NASA.
Originally a movie serial in thirteen episodes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Technical Writer, The
-1-
Scott Saunders
Vagrant Films 2003
Canada
The hero is a technical writer of computer manuals (twitchy and
agoraphobic of course), who is seduced by artist Tatum O'Neal with much
less benign purposes than the similar nerd genre of _The Centre of the
World_.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Mercury Rising
Harold Becker
Universal 1998
U.S.A
This thriller implausibly contends that a nine-year old autistic boy can
crack secret government codes, ten years in the making, merely by
reading the numbers on a computer screen. A celebration of the
individual versus the ruthless, computerized government.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Steven Spielberg
Columbia 1977
U.S.A
The only way to communicate with benign alien visitors to earth is via
computer-generated musical codes. One of the purest examples of the
"good alien" genre (along with Spielberg's _E.T._).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Sleeper
Woody Allen
MGM/United Artists 1973 U.S.A
In this comedy, a nerdish clarinet player (Woody Allen) revives 200
years in the future to become a revolutionary leader and takes the
disguise of a robotic house servant. He finds solace in a robotic
confessional booths and he finds sex in an instantly effective
Orgasmatron booth (in a scene much funnier than Sylvester Stallone and
-2-
Sandra Bullock's experience in _Demolition Man_.) The movie is doubly
Keaton: It is a modern equivalent of a Buster Keaton comedy, and it
costars Diane Keaton (no relation).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Fantastic Voyage
Richard Fleischer
20th Century Fox 1966 U.S.A
Raquel Welsh and associates are computer-shrunk to fit into the
bloodstream of an important terminally ill person so that they may treat
and save him. The battle with the phagocytes is epic, and the visuals
are always outstanding. A good example of how computer technology can
benefit the world.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Spaceballs
Mel Brooks
MGM/United Artists 1987 U.S.A
The hero in this Brooksian parody of Star Wars is protected by the
wisdom of Yogurt, a hologram, who gives him powers of "The Schwartz."
The heroine's virginity is constantly checked by her robot, Dot Matrix
(with the voice of Joan Rivers).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Revenge of the Nerds
Jeff Kanew
20th Century Fox 1984 U.S.A
Computer-using studious outcasts are harassed by preppy college
students, but exact scientifically aided revenge. One of the few "good
computer" stories foreshadowing the making of dot-com heroes in the
1990s, led by Microsoft's bespectacled Bill Gates.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Stepford Wives, The
Bryan Forbes
-3-
Columbia 1975
U.S.A
In this quietly-building horror story, boring suburban men create even
more boring and subservient computerized wives to replace their
original, too independent, human wives. A critique of male chauvanism
and human conformity. Remade in 2004 for the George W. Bush era as a
tepid comedy, starring Nicole Kidman, directed by Frank Oz, and released
by Paramount. This time around, the engineering of the Stepford wives is
done by a former Microsoft employee (played by Christopher Walken).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Swordfish
Dominc Sena
Warner 2002 U.S.A
Ace computer hacker (Hugh Jackman) is blackmailed by mastermind (John
Travolota) and his sidekick of ambiguous loyalties (Halle Berry) to
steal nine billion dollars in unnoticed government funds. The hacker, of
course, performs incredible feats despite the distractions of a gun held
to his head and sexual ministrations of Ms. Berry.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Space Children
Jack Arnold
Paramount 1958
U.S.A
A glowing brain-like creature arrives on a beach near a rocket test site
via a teleportation beam and takes control of the children.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
David Hand
Disney 1937 U.S.A
The movie contains the first visual display screen with intelligence
although not much survival skill: "Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who is
the fairest of them all?" the wicked Queen asks. And is told that it is
not her but Snow White.
-4-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Computer Beach Party
Gary Troy
Southwest Motion Pictures 1988 U.S.A
The ultimate bikini-human-computer interface movie. Reportedly one of
the worst movies ever made.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------I, Robot
Alex Proyas
2004 U.S.A
Will Smith stars as a detective in the year 2035 who is called on to
investigate a crime allegedly committed by a robot. Based on the Isaac
Asimov stories.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Total Recall
Paul Verhoeven
Carolco/TriStar 1990
U.S.A
In the near future, a computer process has replaced the hero's memory
and personality with another, going from tough fighter to wimp. How does
the old personality communicate with the new? Via a taped message on a
digital videophone.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Patriot Games
Phillip Noyce
Paramount 1992
U.S.A
In one episode of this Tom Clancy story, U.S. intelligence and military
agencies combine to use computer-enhanced visuals to identify and bomb a
militant base in a Middle Eastern country.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Hunt for Red October, The
-5-
John McTiernan
Paramount 1990
U.S.A
It's a battle of computers and sonar as a U.S. and a Soviet submarine
hunt for each other towards the end of the Cold War. A hymn by author
Tom Clancy to the technology of war.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Galaxina
William Sachs
Marmark/Crown 1980
U.S.A
Famous for starring Dorothy Stratten as an android sex slave with
feelings, dealing with the men on her space ship. Stratten was a
_Playboy_ magazine centerfold of 1980, but is, alas, best known for
being brutually murdered in real life by her jealous husband, as
depicted in the _Star 80_ movie.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Dark Star
John Carpenter
University of Southern Califor 1974 U.S.A
Parodic dark comedy of a spaceship (Mother) that must cope with a
runaway alien, faulty computer systems, and the very smart bomb that
thinks it is God and wants to destroy things. John Carpenter's first
feature film.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Silent Running
Douglas Trumbull
Universal 1972
U.S.A
A loner crew member (Bruce Dern) serves on a spaceship that is Earth's
last nature reserve. He loves his forests, and when ordered to return to
eco-devasted Earth, he kills his fellow crew members but finds company
with his three cute (an)droids who better share his philosophy: Huey,
-6-
Dewey and Louie. A poignant, pioneering eco-space film in which the
robots seem more human than the world-destructive humans. Its 1960s
sensibility includes music by Joan Baez.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Contact
Robert Zemeckis
Warner 1997 U.S.A
Astronomer Jodi Foster uses radiotelescopes operated by advanced signal
processing computers to lead the search for extra-terrestrial life. When
her team receives a message, Earth's most advanced spaceship takes her
to their planet, where the aliens' advanced techniques allow her to
perceive paradise.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Things to Come
William Cameron Menzies
London Films 1936
U.K.
An alternative world history of 1936-2036. First, war reduces the world
to small, warring villages. Eventually, hyper-rational, high-tech,
computer-aided scientists bring progress and world government. On the
eve of the first trip to the moon, riots break out, as people fear that
scientific modernism may lead to war again. From H.G. Wells, _The Shape
of Things to Come._ Visually original and stunning and beautifully
acted, with Ralph Richardson (village"Boss") and Raymond Massey
(scientific "airman") standing out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Chapman Report, The
George Cukor
Warner 1962 U.S.A
Male survey researchers go to a California town to study intimate
relationships and romantically interface with their respondents. Adapted
from a novel.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7-
Battle Beyond the Stars
Jimmy Murakami
New World 1980 U.S.A
Adaptation of the _Seven Samurai_ to futuristic space warfare in which
mercenaries in small, agile computerized ships defend a farm colony
against a huge armada of invaders. Overtones of _Star Wars_.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Weird Science
John Hughes
Universal 1985
U.S.A
A teenage movie with a cyber difference: Two boy nerds build a robot as
their love slave -- the beautiful Kelly LeBrock.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Sneakers
Phil Alden Robinson
UIP/Universal 1992 U.S.A
Technologically adept heroes use their computer skills. Robert Redford,
Sydney Poitier, and Dan Ackroyd lead a lovable renegade band of hackers
who penetrate secret computer defenses and transfer billions to their
bank accounts. The map tracing of files routing globally through complex
sets of nodes popularized the field of cyber-geography and colonizing
others' computers to hide one's tracks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Ghost in the Machine
Rachel Talalay
Twentieth Century Fox 1993
U.S.A
A serial killer escapes into cyberspace at the moment of his death. He
continues his killing and harassment from there.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------My Science Project
-8-
Jonathan Beteul
Touchstone/Silver Screen 1995 U.S.A
High school students find a UFO containing a machine that can
materialize objects from past and future.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Metropolis
Fritz Lang
UFA 1926
Germany
In the first great science-fiction movie, workers in a hyper-modern city
(set in the year 2000) rebel against wage slavery. A mad scientist
creates a beautiful robot (Maria) to calm them down. A more widely seen
early warning against artificial computerized humanity than the even
earlier "The Machine Stops" story and "R.U.R." play.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Virtuosity
Brett Leonard
Paramount 1995
U.S.A
A computer-created psychopathic killer enters the real world. Starring
Denzel Washington.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Johnny Mnemonic
Robert Longo
Twentieth Century Fox / Allian 1995 Canada
A cyborg courier(Keanu Reaves) is hunted by a pharmaceutical
conglomerate that wants to stop his uploading to the world the contents
of his life-saving memory chip. The forces of good get important help
from two cyborg dolphins, originally trained by the U.S. Navy. A
cautionary tale of how corporate forces can dominate uses of technology,
although fought by a technologically adept alternative society.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-9-
War Games
John Badham
MGM - United Artists 1983
U.S.A
Matthew Broderick is a teenager who uses his home computer to impress
Ally Sheedy, but taps into the Pentagon's main war computer and almost
starts World War III when he plays the "real" war game on the screen. In
short, _Dr. Strangelove_ from a teen's viewpoint, suggesting the dangers
of over-computerization.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Charly
Ralph Nelson
Selmur/Roberston Associates 1968 U.S.A
The first movie of its genre: retarded person (Cliff Roberston) becomes
cyborg-like genius, with tragic results. Overtones of Pygmalion theme of
mentoring a superior human and Faustian theme of overreaching oneself.
Based on Daniel Keyes' 1959 story, "Flowers for Algernon."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Flatliners
Joel Schumacher
Columbia 1990
U.S.A
Medical students (notably Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts and Kevin
Bacon) create near-death experiences for themselves until they go too
far and cross the interface with tragic results.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Demon Seed
Donald Cammell
MGM 1977 U.S.A
A computer scientist creates a super-computer that falls in love with
his wife (Julie Christie) and rapes her. Then, she bears the computer's
child. Like _The Terminator_, an example of the evils of
- 10 -
over-computerization, with machines running amok.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Tron
Steven Lisberger
Disney 1982 U.S.A
A computer expert is kidnapped into a computer world and can only escape
with the aid of a heroic security program. The first feature movie that
was completely computer generated.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Universal Soldier
Roland Emmerich
Carolco 1992 U.S.A
Jean-Claude Van Damme is a super soldier who was killed in Vietnam but
resurrected. He is part of a secret elite robot unit. When the other
robots do evil, his competitive spirit and thirst for justice lead him
to use his still-human ingenuity to defeat them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace
Farhad Mann
First Independent/Allied Enter 1995
U.S.A
A legless man gets greater intelligence and tries to create the city of
the future in cyberspace, where he can rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Forbidden Planet
Fred Wilcox
MGM 1956 U.S.A
In this free adaptation of Shakespeare's _The Tempest_, a space crew
(led by Leslie Nielsen in a dramatic role) lands on a planet to find
only a father (Walter Pidgeon) and daughter (Anne Francis) surviving,
attended by their overly faithful servant, Robby the Robot. In the end,
- 11 -
the computer robot proves to be dangerous, a cautionary message against
losing humanity.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
Robert Butler
Disney 1970 U.S.A
Minor comedy about a university student who receives a major shock while
fixing a computer, becomes linked with it, and omniscient.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Dr Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Stanley Kubrick
Columbia 1963
U.K.
In this dark comedy, human stupidity and computer malfunctions and dumb
programming lead to World War III, set off by a doomsday bomb whose
software is unalterable. The U.S. and Russian war rooms are dominated by
huge computer-generated displays. The implicit argument is that foolish
people have led the world to war, but computerization makes their
actions out of control.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Desk Set
Walter Lang
20th Century Fox 1957 U.S.A
An efficiency expert (Spencer Tracy) tries to rationalize and
computerize the reference section of a corporation. He's resisted on
humanistic terms by chief librarian Katherine Hepburn, and love conquers
all. Based on an eponymyous Broadway show. An early, influential
argument that human ingenuity can outperform computers. (For a later,
more violent, example, see _Soldier_).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Brazil
Terry Gillam
- 12 -
Embassy 1985
U.K.
The oppression of a bureaucratic state of the near future, where people
use curvaceous art deco-ish personal computers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Donovan's Brain
Felix Feist
United Artists 1953 U.S.A
The head of a rich tycoon, severed from its body, lives in a big jar. It
is kept alive and sentient through its connections to a computer.
Indeed, the head's forceful personality comes to dominate his keeper. In
short, computerization makes people less human. The same story was
filmed earlier in _The Lady and the Monster_ and the genre was spoofed
in _Mars Attacks_.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Mars Attacks
Tim Burton
Warner 1996 U.S.A
Martians attack and conquer the earth. In a subplot, probably modeled
after Donovan's Brain, a captive man (Pierce Brosnan) and woman (Sarah
Jessica Parker) are brought to the Martian spaceship where their severed
heads live in a bottle and are kept alive.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Until the End of the World [Bis ans Ende der Welt]
Wim Wenders
Warner 1991
Germany, France, Australi
A woman (Solveig Dommartin) and a man (William Hurt) travel across much
of the world, communicating with others by computer-mediated videophone.
They wind up in the Australian desert where the man's father (Max von
Sydow) has worked with aborigines to invent a machine that records
dreams and visions, and enables blind people to see.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 13 -
Masala
Srinivas Krishna
Metro 1991
Canada
In this romantic comedy of migrant assimilation to multicultural
Toronto, an (East) Indian grandmother converses with the god Krishna,
who appears to her on a TV screen, dressed as a hockey goalie.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick
MGM 1968 U.K.
In the longest section of this movie, two spacemen, exploring the outer
solar system, have HAL, the computer, as their crewmate. HAL runs the
ship, and has a voice interface with the men. Except HAL malfunctions,
gets paranoic, and attacks the men through manipulating their oxygen
supply, etc. An earlier section shows travel to the Moon and life on the
Moon colony, complete with videophones and lots of computer controls.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Minority Report
Stephen Spielberg
20th Century Fox 2002 U.S.A
Tom Cruise plays a wrongly accused detective in the near American
future. He and his confreres make extensive use of data visualization
(displayed on a huge screen), navigating through the data with
dance-like hand gestures. As is common in the genre, human ingenuity and
gumption outwit computerized apparatchiks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Soldier
Paul Anderson
Warner 1998 U.S.A
Kurt Russell, "Sergeant Todd 3465" is a cyber-enhanced, but largely
- 14 -
human, soldier. Deemed obsolete by military bureaucracy and abandoned on
a pariah world, his ingenuity helps lead fellow outcasts in defeating a
largely robotic invasion force.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------General's Daughter, The
Simon West
Paramount 1999
U.S.A
Soldier-detective (John Travolta) solves the murder of a woman soldier,
using computerized image enhancement and his deductive intuition. He
realizes that while image enhancement can identify 256 shades of gray,
the human heart can identify infinite shades.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Conversation, The
Francis Ford Coppola
American Zoetrope / Paramount 1974 U.S.A
A mild-mannered surveillance expert (Gene Hackman) is hired to use
advanced electronics to eavesdrop on two members of a corporation. He
discovers more than he wants to know, and dangerous situations develop.
An underlying theme is the extent to which privacy and autonomy should
be protected.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Michel Gondry
Blue Ruin / Focus Features 2004 U.S.A
A computerized Lacuna program does a brain scan and obliterates selected
memories so that you can forget that you ever had a lover who left you.
Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet use Lacuna to restart their failing love
affair. As the process continues, the movie follows his memories of her
back in time. Written by Charlie Kaufman.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Sliver
Philip Noyce
- 15 -
Paramount 1993
U.S.A
This murder mystery is set in a skinny, sliver of a New York apartment
building, where the voyeur-owner has secret video cameras installed
throughout all the apartment buildings. He can see everything and
everybody, including new tenant Sharon Stone. Foreshadows the
surveillance society with video cameras permeating public and private
places.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Videodrome
David Cronenberg
Canadian Film Development Corp 1983
Canada
The ultimate human-video interface movie: Videodrome is an experiment
that uses TV transmissions to alter viewers' perceptions by permanently
altering their brain.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Gattaca
Andrew Nichol
Columbia 1997
U.S.A
In this cautionary tale of avoiding over-perfection, one of the last
natural men (i.e., with defects) in an eugenicized world must use a
variety of stratagems to avoid being caught by computerized detection
devices.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Clear and Present Danger
Phillip Noyce
Paramount 1994
U.S.A
The CIA Deputy Director (Harrison Ford) uses computerized voice print
analysis to track a Colombian drug cartel leader (Joaquim de Almeida).
The U.S. president orders a rogue government element to eliminate the
cartel. They use a laser-guided bomb. Based on a novel by Tom Clancy,
- 16 -
who is always fascinated with technology.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Mission: Impossible
Brian de Palma
Paramount 1996
U.S.A
Among the many plot twists, secret agents (led by Tom Cruise) use human
ingenuity to break into a vault guarded by many computer-based security
devices.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Poltergeist
Tobe Hooper
MGM 1982 U.S.A
In this horror story, a young girl releases evil forces that come
through her TV screen from the ancient cemetery below. She must be
rescued from the "TV people." Almost a primer for ensuing warnings about
how the Internet will alienate users from real life.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------You've Got Mail
Nora Ephron
Warner 1998 U.S.A
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan get romantic by e-mail. They own two competing
nearby bookstores, but aren't aware of their "real life" rivalry when
they e-mail. The premise of separate e-mail and real lives is seldom met
in actual situations. However, it is one of the few movies that tries to
show Internet use as a normal part of contemporary everyday life.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Hedwig and the Angry Inch
John Cameron Mitchell
Killer Films / New Line 2001
U.S.A.
The story of a German transgender man-woman who tours the U.S. with a
- 17 -
rock group. One character, played by Andrea Martin, has a mobile phone
implanted in her head that she turns on by touching her tongue to a
front tooth.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Negotiator, The
F. Gary Gray
Warner 1998 U.S.A
In an unintentional parody of human-computer interaction in a climactic
scene, when the bad cop wants to destroy computer-based evidence of his
corruption, he shoots and destroys the video monitor instead of the hard
disk. Earlier scenes show an interesting interface, in which audio is
translated directly into written text, accompanied by a voice-stress
analysis.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Demolition Man
Marco Brambilla
Warner Bros. 1993 U.S.A
In this comedy - action movie, Sylvester Stallone is a cop from our era
is revived in the future to fight the only violent criminal left in a
hyper-ordered non-violent society (Wesley Snipes). Public-space
communications are anachronistic: Although people use videophones in
their homes and cars, on the street they rely on public phone booths
rather than on private mobile phones. A subplot extols the unrepressed
life of the underground fighting against bureaucratic repression,
somewhat similar to the much more frightening _Brazil_.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Center of the World, The
Wayne Wang
Artisan / Redeemable 2001
U.S.A
A shy (but attractive) computer genius about to make millions in the
dot.com boom of the late 1990s pays a thoughtful prostitute to spend
four days with him a luxury Las Vegas hotel suite. She agrees to erotic
- 18 -
play but no sexual penetration. But erotic play and conversation leads
to interpersonal attraction. The theme is another variation on the
computer expert as a nerd who finds himself as a person, with overtones
of_Pretty Woman_ and _Indecent Proposal_. (In real life, a Shyness
Institute in Silicon Valley, staffed by psychologists, helps dot-com'ers
to learn interpersonal skills.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Monsoon Wedding
Mira Nair
Delhi Dot Com / IFC 2001
India
Modern urban upper-class India is a mix of modern and traditional, as
signified in a classical dance done by the bride's sister -- holding a
mobile phone.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Space Cowboys
Clint Eastwood
Malpaso / Warner 2000 U.S.A
Four aged former astronauts are recalled into service to deal with a
space emergency when a Russian satellite with 1950s technology threatens
to crash. Having trained in the old technology of a generation ago, they
have to learn and come to terms with contemporary computer skills for
space travel in 2000. Starring James Garner, Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee
Jones and Donald Sutherland.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Disclosure
Barry Levinson
Warner Bros. 1994 U.S.A
The new boss of a male computer expert (Michael Douglas) is a woman
(Demi Moore) with whom he had an affair in the past and who harasses him
into resuming it. When he files charges, the corporate bosses turn
against him, but he uses his computer expertise to triumph and make
honest ambition prevail. It is how he uses his expertise that lifts the
- 19 -
movie above routine. The "Digicon" corporation, way ahead of its time in
1994, has a beautiful, functional virtual reality database that the hero
wanders through (sumptuous virtual hallways), gathering evidence out of
VR files. (Shades of _Neuromancer_ and ahead of _Minority Report_.) When
stymied, the hero is helped by a VR assistant, dressed as an "Angel."
The hero even meets the avatar of his opponent (Demi) in VR, who is
deleting the files that will vindicate him. Yet, the hero soon realizes
that backup files are available elsewhere -- in this case Malaysia.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Fifth Element, The
Luc Besson
Gaumont 1997
France
.The plot is about saving the world from evil in this witty,
science-fiction comedy. More to the point are the visuals, both the
costumes and the mise-en-scene. Although the plot is outrageously
absurd, the movie incorporates much HCI into everyday life 250 years
from now, including databases, 3D traffic control, computer-aided whole
body reconstruction from a fragment, scanner blockers, and videophones.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Virtual Sexuality
Nick Hurran
Noel Gay / Columbia 1999
U.K.
In this teenage comedy, a gorgeous seventeen-year-old young woman goes
with her boyfriend to a virtual reality conference. There, she uses a
computer to clone herself as the gorgeous young man of her dreams, who
has her personality. Romantic complications ensue.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Doctor Who
Sydney Newman
BBC 1963
U.K.
Long running British children's adventure serial. Dr Who is an
unassuming shaggy man who is really a "Time Lord" with great powers and
- 20 -
a time-traveling computer hidden in an old-fashioned British phone
booth. With spunky child companions, he battles the evil, soul-less
Dalek robots. Many actors have played the doctor, and generations of
children have been taught from it that soulless robots are evil, but
will always be defeated by resourceful and spunky human amateurs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Futurama
Matt Groening
Fox 1999 U.S.A
A pizza delivery guy from 1999 awakes in 2999. Among his companions is
the drunken robot, Bender. Much less successful than Groening's "The
Simpsons."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Bionic Woman, The
ABC, then NBC 1976
U.S.A
Like the Six Million Dollar Man, the Bionic Woman was filled with
computerized implants and organs. She too could run, fight, etc. better
than normal humans, but in the person of Lindsay Wagner, she was also
charming and intelligent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Astro Boy [Tetsuwan Atom]
Osamu Tezuka
Fuji 1951 Japan
Famous cartoon robot that helped launch Japanese anime, and made into TV
series in Japan, the U.S., and elsewhere. Later the basis for video
games. Tezuka gave Astro Boy's birthday as 7 April 2003 because he
believed that robots would be everywhere by then. Highly expressionistic
drawing style.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Game Over
David Sacks
- 21 -
UPN 2004
U.S.A
Animated sitcom depicting the everyday lives of video game heroes in
their off-hours: the Smashenburns family. Also a good introduction to
video games for the uninitiated.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Get Smart
Mel Brooks
Buck Henry
NBC 1965-1969 U.S.A
This sitcom popularized the use of the cell phone before it was
invented. However, the "shoe-phone" as it was then called was
inconveniently located. Starred Don Adams as Secret Agent Maxwell Smart
and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99. The Cone of Silence was an early analog
privacy device.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Wire, The
Brad Anderson
HBO 2002
U.S.A
Set in the Baltimore drug/homicide scene, this detective series featured
electronic surveillance. It graphically depicts the lives of everyone in
the drug food chain, on both sides of the law.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Batman
Stanley Ralph Ross
Charles Hoffman
ABC 1966 U.S.A
Batman, Robin, and their valet Alfred use a map display in their
Batmobile (pre satellite GIS) and Batphones to communicate
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Six Million Dollar Man, The
Martin Caidin
Tom Greene
- 22 -
ABC 1973-1978 U.S.A
After astronaut Steve Austin's body was wrecked in a crash, he is
resurrected with ultrahuman bionic parts that enable him to run, swim,
jump, etc. faster than anyone. Alas, his brain remains dull-normal.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Jerry Bruckheimer
CBS 2000
U.S.A
Forensic evidence investigation agents in Las Vegas routinely use a
variety of computer-based techniques to solve crimes. Whereas the
_MacGyver_ show of the late 1980s showed a resourceful man ingeniously
rigging physical (non-computer) devices to foil crime, C.S.I. shows
ingenious professionals using computer-based devices as part of their
repertoire.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Max Headroom
Francis Delia
Janet Greek
1987 U.S.A
A roving reporter for "Network 23" in the a futuristic U.S. does his job
with the aid of a computerized version of himself. It's a battle of
computer smarts and resources, as bureaucratic and evil forces use
computerized surveillance to harass him. Matt Frewer plays both the real
and computerized versions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Star Trek: The Next Generation
Gene Roddenberry
Rick Berman
syndicated 1987-1994 U.S.A
"Data," a lovable human-like robot, is a leading officer of the crew
with many responsibilities. He is forever trying to develop human-like
emotional capabilities. Despite the many scientific advances of his
time, he has very pasty skin and unreal eyeballs. Surprisingly, despite
- 23 -
Data's virtues, no robot shows up prominently on the crew of the later
Star Trek Voyager series.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Lexx
Paul Donovan
Lex Gigeroff
CHUM (Canada)/TiMe (Germany) 1997 Canada/Germany
Fugitives on a starship include a zombie warrior, a former sex worker,
and a sexually excitable computer. Preposterous plot and over-arch
acting, but often a different take on the science-fiction genre. And it
portrays computers that can have feelings.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Knight Rider
Tom Greene
Glen Larson
1982-1986 U.S.A
Detective (pre _Baywatch_ David Hasselhof) solves crimes, greatly aided
by a super car with artificial intelligence. There is an intimate
relationship between the male detective and his (male-voiced) car. Like
the Asimov robot stories, it suggests the synergistic advantages of a
human-computer team.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Lost in Space
Irwin Allen
CBS 1965-1968
U.S.A
The Space Family Robinson get lost in space and trapped on an alien
planet. They are greatly aided by their human-sized robot servant, that
in the Asimovian spirit, can only do good things for them, and is often
wiser and more resourceful, like a good uncle or nanny.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Star Trek (original)
Gene Roddenberry
1966 U.S.A
- 24 -
The crew of the Starship Enterprise use both voice-activated and
button-pushing computer interfaces. Their hand-held "tricorders" are
very advanced personal digital assistants, providing a variety of aids
such as translation and medical diagnosis. However, they never use seat
belts, so storms and enemy attacks bounce them around the ship.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Jetsons, The
Joseph Barbera
Oscar Dufau
ABC, CBS 1962 U.S.A
A family lives in the future in this cartoon comedy modeled after the
prehistoric cartoon series, The Flintstones. There's a video terminal on
every desk.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Nikita
Reza Badiyi
George Bloomfield
1997 Canada
Nikita and the rest of her physically active team of government agents
are greatly aided by the wheelchair-bound Berkoff, who is their computer
expert (especially databases and mapping) and informs them through radio
communication.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Inspector Gadget
Jean Chalopin
Andy Heyward
Nelvana 1983 Canada
Comic cartoon series of a bumbling bionic police officer trying to cope
with the evil empire of M.A.D. using implanted gadgets, such as pop-up
roller skates, extensible arms, and a helicopter-hat. His dog and
girlfriend do all the work: human common sense is more important than
computerized gadgets. Starring (the voice of) _Get Smart_ similar comedy
hero, Don Adams, with echoes of Peter Sellers' "Inspector Clouseau"
character in the _Pink Panther_ series.
- 25 -
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Star Trek Voyager
Rick Berman
Michael Piller
1995 U.S.A
The chief enemy is The Borg. A cyborg entity, which not only merges
human and computer capacity in one body, but links all into a collective
consciousness -- "The Borg". The beautiful Borg, "7 of 9" (played by
Jeri Ryan), joins the Star Trek crew, and repeatedly tries to balance
her collective consciousness with her emerging human individualism.
Another character, the balding "Doctor" is a hologram equipped with
artificial intelligence that allows him to prescribe the correct
treatment with great assurance and success.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Sex and the City
Darren Star
Michael Patrick King
HBO 1998-2004 U.S.A
Newspaper columnist Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) chatters away with
three friends about her romantic crises and other New York events, but
she puts her deepest thoughts down on her Apple laptop as she writes her
column. Her computer use is more casual than her sex, showing how
routine word processing had become by the late 1990s.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Battlestar Galactica
Michael Rymer
Sci-Fi 2003 U.S.A
The last stand of humans against the Cylons, robots who have turned on
them and declared war. The humans flee towards mother Earth in a motley
space odyssey, fighting battles and on the lookout for Cylon spies who
look like humans. A formula movie of the genre that robots are evil and
will turn on humans. With some spy robots posing as humans, there are
echoes of McCarthyistic paranoia in the 1950s U.S.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 26 -
Captain Video and His Video Rangers
Scudder Boyd
Pat Fay
DuMont 1949-1955 U.S.A
The first widely distributed space show on TV, with special effects that
seem primitive today. (The camera would shake to show blast-off.) Aimed
at preteen kids. As the Captain and the Video Rangers patrolled space
and protected us from the evil Dr. Pauli, they used such futuristic
devices as the Opticon Scillometer, a long-range, x-ray machine that saw
through walls; the Discatron, a portable TV portable intercom; and the
Radio Scillograph, a palm-sized, two-way radio.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Outer Limits [II], The
Pen Densham
CanWest Global 1995 Canada
In the spirit of the original 1960s _Outer Limits_ this is more an
anthology of short stories than a linked series. Common themes are
diversity, brotherhood and the unexpected, with heavy use of computers
and advanced communication.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Almost Real: Connecting in a Wired World
Ann Shin
National Film Board 2003
Canada
A snapshot of life in the Internet age circa 2002. Focuses on a few
persons for whom the Internet has become an essential community, and the
many ways (sometimes intimate) that they connect with others. Its
concentration on the extreme and exotic distorts perceptions of how most
people use the Internet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Capturing the Friedmans
Andrew Jarecki
HBO 2003
U.S.A
- 27 -
Child molestation in a suburban U.S. computer class. The dangers of
hanging out with computer mavens.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------No Maps for These Territories
Mark Neale
Mark Neale Productions 2000 U.K.
Science-fiction writer William Gibson converses about his experiences
and views of contemporary life. Cameos by Bruce Sterling, Jack Womack,
Bono, and The Edge. Music video style editing makes it visually
interesting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Hi-Tech War
PBS 2004
U.S.A
Examines the successes and failures of computer-based weapons and
communications systems, including guided JDAM missles. Interviews with
the weapons' designers and soldier-users, but not with those who were
hit by the weapons. Focus is on the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Cyberman
Peter Lynch
Space 2001
Canada
Steve Mann is one of the world's first cyborgs (and a University of
Toronto computer engineer professor). The movie presents his humanistic
and technical ideas, including thoughts on surveillance (and
counter-sousveillance) and wearable computing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Takedown
Joe Chappelle
Dimension Films 2000
U.S.A
- 28 -
Fictionalized account of the pursuit and capture of hacker Kevin
Mitnick. Based on the book by New York Times reporter John Markoff.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine
Vikram Jayanti
World Documentary Fund 2004
Canada/U.K.
Epic tale of the 1977 battle between the world's greatest chess player,
Garry Kasparov, and the IBM computer, Deep Blue. Kasparov lost because,
ironically, Deep Blue was less of a pure computer than its predecessors.
Not only did it rationally anticipate moves, but its software was filled
with lessons learned from previous grandmasters. It was able to adjust
to Kasparov's evolving moves.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Fog of War, The: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert McNamara
Errol Morris
Sony Pictures Classics 2003
U.S.A
This Oscar winner focuses on McNamara's 1960s role as U.S. Secretary of
Defense during much of the Vietnam War. Shows the limits of overly
relying on seemingly rational computerized counts and models, which
didn't accurately portray the situation on the ground.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Digital Divide
Debra Chasnoff
Lorna Thomas
PBS/ITVS 1999 U.S.A
Shows some uses of the Internet in developing countries, including a
Kenyan health, a Zimbabwean dissident website, and Indian fishermen
getting weather information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------I, Robot
Isaac Asimov
- 29 -
1950 U.S.A
The first of Asimov's influential stories about the ethical imperatives,
limitations and dilemmas of human-robot interactions. Sets forth The
Three Laws of Robotics that are wired into their "positronic" brains: 1.
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human
being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders give it by human
beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A
robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not
conflict with the First or Second Law. Influential in urging the
acceptance of robots and technology as potentially benign.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Diamond Age, The
Neal Stephenson
Bantam 1995
U.S.A
The air around the protagonists -- and the novel -- are permeated with
nanotechnology robots that see, sniff, and kill.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Friday
Robert Heinlein
Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1969
U.S.A
A rare event: the cyborg is a woman - a secret courier with enhanced
intelligence, fighting, and lovemaking ability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Starship Troopers
Robert Heinlein
Putnam 1959
U.S.A
The first scenes of this novel vividly depicts how a soldier of the
future fights (aliens) while encased in full, computer-assisted body
armor that gives him enhanced sensory perception, mobility, and
targeting ability. Not in the (poor) movie version.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 30 -
Dune
Frank Herbert
Ace 1987 U.S.A
Computers, as such, don't exist in this classic science-fiction story
set in essentially pre-industrial societies of the distant future. Yet,
certain human "mentats" have computer-like reasoning skills (which
doesn't prevent them from doing foolish things), the only ones who can
navigate space are members of the Guild who have developed the
computational ability to see the currents of space at the cost of human
form, and a motion-seeking missile that almost kills the hero must have
computer-linked sensors to work.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Difference Engine, The
William Gibson
Bruce Sterling
Bantam 1992 U.S.A
What if Charles Babbage had actually gotten to build his "Analytical
Engine" computer in the nineteenth century? This mystery novel describes
the steam-driven cyber society that might have arisen in late Victorian
England, 1885?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Snow Crash
Neal Stevenson
Bantam 1992
U.S.A
Finely detailed (and often funny) novel of life in which both cyberspace
and "real life" interpenetrate. Foreshadowed much of virtual community
and the web, and influencing thinking about their development.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Nine Billion Names of God, The
Arthur C. Clarke
Ballantine Books 1953
U.S.A
- 31 -
In this short story, lamas in an isolated Tibetan monastery acquired a
sequence analyzing computer to speed up compiling the nine billion names
of God from 15,000 years to 100 days. As the computer finishes on the
100th day, the world comes to an end.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Neuromancer
Wiliam Gibson
Ace 1984 U.S.A
The seminal human-computer interaction novel which developed the notion
of people "jacking in" to the web through electrodes that connect
directly to the brain. The term "cyberspace" was popularized (and
possibly invented) here. Contains pioneering depictions of virtual
reality, Internet-like communication, and visual data structures.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Pattern Recognition
William Gibson
Putnam 2003
U.S.A
Folks in this book communicate as much by 1:1 e-mail and group chat than
in-person. Group chat is about a mysterious set of computer-rendered
videos that keep appearing online, with aficionados wanting to piece
together their plot and their meaning. One of the few novels showing
contemporary technologically adept people who are not government or
criminal warriors.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Exit Strategy
Douglas Rushkoff
Soft Skull Press 2002 U.S.A
Originally published as an open source novel online, in which readers
could add things. Set in the near future (2008), the plot is about a man
caught between venture capitalists and hackers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------City and the Stars, The
- 32 -
Arthur C. Clarke
New American Library 1956
U.S.A. / Sri Lanka
Utopian novel of a society where computerization and robots allow people
to concentrate on pleasurable things. Written in dialogue with the "The
Machine Stops". Yet life has become meaningless in such a utopia, and
when the first new human in millennia is born, he searches for a more
meaningful life.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Time Machine, The
H.G. Wells
Knopf 1934 U.K.
The original influential time-travel story in which a contemporary man
travels to the future and finds utopia and dystopia.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Call Me Joe
Poul Anderson
Astounding Science Fiction 1957
U.S.A
A crippled scientist on a Jovian moon uses psionic controls to "inhabit"
a humanoid on Jupiter's surface, specially engineered to withstand the
planet's climate. His persona gradually merges with the humanoid so that
he continues to live on Jupiter even when his human body dies on the moon.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------With Folded Hands
Jack Williamson
Astounding Stories 1954 U.S.A
Perfect humanoids take over all aspects of human life, for their Prime
Directive is "to serve and obey, and guard men from harm" -- whether
people like it or not.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Cryptonomicon
- 33 -
Neal Stephenson
Avon 1999
U.S.A
A novel of codes and cyphers and unraveling them, from breaking Nazi
codes in World War II to supposedly unbreakable codes of modern times.
Features a supposedly secure data haven in the Pacific, and electronic
eavesdropping of computer keys through a wall. Heroes and villains are
all very computer-literate.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Robots and Empire
Isaac Asimov
Doubleday 1985
U.S.A
Concluding volume in the Spacer-Earth struggle that started with Caves
of Steel. Earth is saved from destruction when a robot formulates a new
Zeroth law: The prevention of harm to human beings in groups and to
humanity as a whole comes before the prevention of harm to any specific
individual.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Naked Sun, The
Issac Asimov
Doubleday 1957
U.S.A
A murder mystery set in the future on the planet of Solaria. Residents
have a strong norm of never seeing each other in person. They
communicate by 3D hologram, and they are tended to by robots. But one
day, a resident is killed. Who could have done it, if robots are
hard-wired not to kill and residents are soft-wired not to have
in-person contact?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------The Machine Stops
E.M. Forster
Oxford and Cambridge Review 1909 U.K.
- 34 -
This anti-utopian short story by the author of _A Passage to India_
describes a future society in which people rarely leave their apartments
and all needs and interactions are mediated by The Machine (anticipating
a super-super-computer). Civilization falls and most of the world dies
when The Machine breaks down. The earliest, and still one of the best,
cautionary tales of over-technologization.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Feeling of Power, The
Issac Asimov
If: Worlds of Science Fiction 1957 U.S.A
In the future, only computers know how to do math, including simple
times tables and long division. It seems pointless for humans to know
how. When Earth is threatened by alien invasion and its computers aren't
working, one nostalgic fellow who has kept his math skills alive saves
the planet. A neat tale of the human ingenuity genre.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Survival Ship and Other Stories
Judith Merril
Kakabeka 1973
Canada
"The Lady Was A Tramp" is told from the point of view of a woman who has
spaceman lovers. Yet this woman is a spaceship (with all of its
controls) who has sensual symbiotic relationships with her crew.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Robots of Dawn
Isaac Asimov
Doubleday 1983
U.S.A
In the future, the planet Solaria is people by humans and humanoid
robots. Having the robots do everything means that the humans do not
know how to fulfill many everyday tasks. That is why only the people of
Earth -- who have resisted robots -- can undertake journeys to
unexplored new worlds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 35 -
Through the Looking Glass
Lewis Carroll
1872 U.K.
Alice steps through the looking-glass portal and has many virtual
reality adventures, some quite Jabberwocky. Sequel to _Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland_.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Microserfs
Douglas Coupland
HarperCollins 1995 U.S.A
Life as a computer person in a (fictionalized) Microsoft and then in a
small Silicon Valley dot-com startup.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Libraries of the Future
J.C.R. Licklider
MIT Press 1965
U.S.A
A prescient forecast of the Internet by the then-head of the U.S.
Advanced Projects Research Agency (ARPA) who funded and encouraged much
of the early research.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------History of Modern Computing, A
Paul Ceruzzi
MIT Press 2003 (2d ed) U.S.A
This well-written, comprehensive history of computing since 1945 shows
how humans, corporations, and governments shaped computer hardware,
software, and uses.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------In the Age of the Smart Machine
Shoshana Zuboff
- 36 -
Basic Books 1988
U.S.A
Ethnographic depiction of how large-scale computerization was introduced
to a large organization in the era just before the advent of personal
computing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Trapped in The Net: The Unanticipated Consequences of Computerization
Gene Rochlin
Princeton University Press 1997 U.S.A
Stories about disasters caused by how over-computerization and the lack
of attention to people's needs, practices, and social structures.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Building the Virtual State: Information Technology and Institutional Change
Jane Fountain
Brookings Institution 2001
U.S.A
Describes the implications of how governments use -- and could use -the Internet to relate to citizens. Questions such as who pays for
government websites, which agencies will maintain the sites, and who
will ensure that the privacy of citizens is respected reveal the
obstacles that confront efforts to create a virtual state.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Inmates Are Running the Asylum, The
Alan Cooper
SAMS 1999 U.S.A
Many high-tech applications fail because they are driven by aggressive
techies who have little appreciation of what people want and how they
are going to use such applications. Subtitled "Why High Tech Products
Drive Us Crazy and How To Restore the Sanity," the book argues that
programmers need to reevaluate the many user-hostile concepts deeply
within the software development process.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Leonardo's Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies
- 37 -
Ben Shneiderman
MIT Press 2003
U.S.A
Wondering how Leonardo da Vinci would use a laptop, the book suggests
new ways to think about computer use. Emphasizes universal usability.
Discusses human relationships and society, and the computer's potential
to support creativity, consensus-seeking, and conflict resolution.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Changing Connectivity: A Future History of Y2.03K
Barry Wellman
Sociological Research Online 2000 U.K.
The social implications of probable or possible human computer
interfaces to the year 2030.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Digital Sublime, The: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace
Vincent Mosco
MIT Press 2004
U.S.A
Explores the myths constructed around new digital technologies, such as
the dotcom stock frenzy. Argues for a cultural analysis that such myths
are stories to lift people out of everyday life into the possibility of
the sublime.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Online Communities: Designing Usability and Supporting Sociability
Jenny Preece
John Wiley 2000
U.S.A
Textbook summarizing knowledge about designing and living in online
communities. Covers sociology, design and humanistic practice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Digital Divide
Pippa Norris
- 38 -
Cambridge University Press 2001 U.K.
How the digital divide in computer and internet use can widen or narrow
the gap between social classes and social groups. Examines the evidence
for access and use of the Internet in 179 nations across the world.
Argues that a global divide is evident between industrialized and
developing societies. There is also a social divide between rich and
poor within each nation. And a democratic divide is emerging between
those who do and do not use Internet resources to engage, mobilize and
participate in public life.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Visual Display of Quantitative Information, The
Edward Tufte
Graphics Press 2001 (2d ed) U.S.A
This classic devotes several hundred pages on how to present information
clearly and avoid foolish and misleading uses.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Encyclopedia of Community
Karen Christensen
David Levinson
Sage 2003 U.S.A
The four large volumes include fifty articles about the Internet and
community, defined quite broadly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Information Anxiety 2
Richard Saul Wurman
David Sume
Que 2000 U.S.A
Describes better ways to design and present information clearly.
Stresses avoiding data clutter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, and Interaction
James Katz
Ronald Rice
- 39 -
MIT Press 2002
U.S.A
Argues that the Internet as a "syntopia" embodying both positive and
negative characteristics. Summarizes research into the interplay between
the Internet and society, drawing on large U.S. national surveys and
case studies.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Readings in Human-Computer Interaction
Ronald Baecker
Jonathan Grudin
Morgan Kaufman 1995 U.S.A
The editors provide an authoritative, comprehensive, research-based
compendium of how people and computers interact. About 1,000 pages.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Designing Web Usability : The Practice of Simplicity
Jakob Nielsen
New Riders 1999 U.S.A
Discusses of Web usability in terms of page, content, site, and intranet
design. Emphasizes good engineering for usability over self-expression.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web, The
Jesse James Garrett
New Riders 2002 U.S.A
Explanations and illustrations for user-centered web design that focus
on ideas rather than tools or techniques. Discussion ranges from
strategy and requirements to information architecture and visual design.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Cognitive Style of Power Point, The
Edward Tufte
Graphics Press 2003 U.S.A
This short book argues that Power Point slide presentations inherently
- 40 -
oversimplify arguments by reducing them to linear,hierarchial sets of
bullets. Moreover, they are often badly done.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable
Computer
Steve Mann
Hal Niedzviecki
Doubleday 2001 Canada
Mann, one of the first inventors of wearable computing, presents the
humanistic case for humankind to become computer-enhanced cyborgs. He
also describes his quest to level the playing fields between humans and
bureaucracies.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Information Age (2nd ed.), The
Manuel Castells
Blackwell 2000-2004
U.K.
Trilogy of three major books considering the social, economic,
interpersonal, political, and cultural transformations associated with
the internet and information. The books are: _The Rise of the Network
Society_; _The Power of Identity_; _End of Millennium_.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------e-Living: Life in a Digital Europe
Ben Anderson
www.eurescom.de/e-living/
2004
U.K.
A European consortium providing a large number of readable reports about
the intersection of computer mediated communication and everyday life in
a number of European countries.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------NetLab
Barry Wellman
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~ 2004
Canada
- 41 -
Variety of reports about how the Internet is affecting social relations,
focusing on the turn of community, work and household ties to "networked
individualism."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature
Donna Haraway
Routledge 1991
U.K.
Collected set of essays that critiques the implicitly masculinist
approach to thinking about information and communication technology.
Proposes with detailed examples an alternative feminist approach.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Community Building on the Web
Amy Jo Kim
Peachpit Press 2000
U.S.A
An experienced practitioner gives practical advice on how to build and
maintain virtual communities.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide
Mark Warschauer
MIT Press 2003
U.S.A
Presents different forms of access to -- and use of -- information and
communication technologies. Takes a global perspective and uses case
studies to show why different types of people -- in less-developed and
developed societies -- have differential access and use.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------I Owe Russia $1200
Bob Hope
Doubleday 1963
U.S.A
"Back in the [United] States a reporter asked [comedian Bob Hope] if
they had television in Russia, and without thinking, I replied, 'Yes.
- 42 -
But it watches you.'"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Myth of the Paperless Office, The
Abigail Sellen
Richard Harper
MIT Press 2001 U.S.A.
Why do people use paper in the digital age? Addresses this question as
an entry point into considering the nature of modern work and
organizations, and the myths around supposedly obsolete paper and
supposedly modern digitization.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Internet, The: An Ethnographic Approach
Daniel Miller
Don Slater
Berg 2000 U.K.
Fieldwork based story of how the Internet is actually used by a specific
society: in this case, Trinidadians -- on the island and emigrated abroad.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Pew Internet and American Life Project
Lee Rainie
John Horrigan
www.pewinternet.org 2004 U.S.A
Releases fifteen to twenty reports a year, based on empirical (mostly
survey-based) studies of aspects of the Internet and American life,
including rural life, teens, politics, religion, strong and weak ties,
leisure, music and other downloads.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution
Howard Rheingold
Perseus 2002 U.S.A
How portable communication and computing -- cellphones, wireless, etc.
-- are going to change society as individuals take their access to
connectivity and intelligence with them.
- 43 -
-----------------------------------------------------------------------World Internet Project
Jeffrey Cole
www.worldinternetproject.net 2004 U.S.A
International consortium that provides clear, readable reports about
Internet use in a number of countries.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Network Nation, The
S. Roxanne Hiltz
Murray Turoff
MIT Press 1993 U.S.A
The second edition of the first scholarly book (1978) to talk about
human computer social interactions on the Internet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Internet Galaxy, The: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society
Manuel Castells
Oxford University Press 2001 U.S.A
Summarizes the history, social implications and likely future of the
internet, including its ability to simultaneously liberate and exclude
-----------------------------------------------------------------------As We May Think
Vannevar Bush
Atlantic Monthly 1945 U.S.A
This July 1945 article by the Director of the Office of Scientific
Research and Development lays out a post World War II research agenda,
focusing on making more accessible stores of knowledge. Foresees in
broad detail the web and personal digital assistants, forerunners of
2004's Palms.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Internet in Everyday Life
Barry Wellman
- 44 -
Caroline Haythornthwaite
Blackwell 2002 U.K.
A collection of essays showing how the Internet is affecting community
and community among ordinary people. Unlike most in this genre, looks at
non-American as well as American situations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Distributed Work
Pamela Hinds
Sara Keisler
MIT Press 2002 U.S.A
A number of scholars write reasonable essays describing how people work
together online.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Hanging Out in the Virtual Pub
Lori Kendall
University of California 2002
U.S.A
Rich account of life in a virtual community.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Life on the Screen
Sherry Turkle
Simon & Schuster 1995 U.S.A
Case studies of people whose second lives and selves are based on
immersive interactions online. Fascinating, but some readers
overgeneralized that most people related to computer mediated
communication in similar fashion.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Surveillance Society
David Lyon
Open University Press 2001
U.K.
Critically examines the nature and potential of monitoring technologies
- 45 -
of governments, corporations, and other organizations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Soul of a New Machine, The
Tracy Kidder
Simon & Schuster 1981 U.S.A
Engrossing account of how a Data General team sank their souls and time
into designing a new mini-computer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Communities in Cyberspace
Peter Kollock
Marc Smith
Routledge 1998 U.S.A.
A collection of accounts of how people find community online.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Culture of the Internet
Sara Kiesler
Lawrence Erlbaum 1997
U.S.A
A collection of descriptions of how people are using the Internet for
work and community.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Connections
Lee Sproull
Sara Kiesler
MIT Press 1991 U.S.A
An integrated account of early laboratory experiments comparing computer
mediated communication with other forms of communication, especially
face-to-face. The focus is on social psychology and small group
interactions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Machine in the Garden, The
Leo Marx
- 46 -
Oxford University Press 1964 U.S.A
Scene-setting historical account of nineteenth-century concerns about
the introduction of machinery into pastoral America. Suggests that
concerns about computerization reflect a longstanding tradition.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace
Lawrence Lessig
Basic Books 1999
U.S.A
Describes the implicit and explicit norms that govern design and use of
software and the internet. The argument of this book is that the
invisible hand of cyberspace is building an architecture that is quite
the opposite of what it was at cyberspace's birth. It is constructing an
architecture that makes possible efficient regulation and control.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Future of Ideas, The
Lawrence Lessig
Random House 2001
U.S.A
Argues that corporations, governments and other forces are using law and
technology to control the use of the Internet and limit creativity.
Discusses copyright and open source development.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Virtual Community, The
Howard Rheingold
MIT Press 2000
U.S.A
Second edition of an influential 1993 book that introduced the concept
of the virtual community and provided many engrossing details.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------The Typewriter
Leroy Anderson
1952 U.S.A
- 47 -
A stylized music rendition of a pre-computer word processor, who also
wrote "The Syncopated Clock," without which no computer could flourish.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Virtual Concerto
George Lewis
American Composers Orchestra 2004
U.S.A
A Yamaha Disklavier digital-acoustic player piano is the soloist. It is
"played" by a computer program that reacts to the live orchestra's
performance. Both the computer-driven piano and the orchestra work from
a score that in parts is fully notated while in other parts there are
only suggested parameters for improvisation. The choices made by the
piano and the orchestra affect the music performed by the other in real
time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Dryad, The
Robert Lepage
2005
Canada
Solo performance piece, with a 100-year's reverse timeline to the dawn
of the modern world where technical inventions interact with the poetic
universe of Danish children's writer Hans Christen Andersen. Based on
Andersen's visit to the 1867 Paris World Expo.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------R.U.R.
Karel Capek
1922
Czechslovakia
The short play that invented the concept and the word "robot." R.U.R.
stands for "Rossom's Universal Robots." And the second major work, after
E.M. Forster's "The Machine Stops", to caution against
over-computerization (robotization).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Desk Set
- 48 -
William Marchant
1955 U.S.A
In this comedy, a male efficiency expert tries to computerize the very
book-based reference department of a large broadcasting company.
- 49 -