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Ariel
Library and Bookstore
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Here
are books that we highly recommend. For your convenience,
we've included links to Amazon.com.
The titles are arranged alphabetically, by author.
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 Contextual
Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems by
Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt (Morgan Kaufmann, 1997;
ISBN: 1558604111, 472 pages)
Hugh
Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt are cofounders of InContext
Enterprises, Inc., a firm that works with companies coaching
teams to design products, product strategies, and information
systems from customer data. Karen Holtzblatt developed
the Contextual Inquiry field data gathering technique
that forms the core of Contextual Design and is now taught
and used worldwide. Hugh Beyer has pioneered the link
between the customer-centered front end and object-oriented
design.
Paperback
edition
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Designing
and Developing Electronic Performance Support Systems
by
Lesley A. Brown (Digital
Press, 1996; ISBN:
1555581390; 250
pages)
An
EPSS is a software context that integrates the support
needed to perform a job task - information, software,
and expert advice - with the actual job task or tasks.
EPSS's provide this support at the appropriate time and
in the most appropriate format - ED4 (EPSS Define, Design,
Develop, and Deliver). This book describes ED4 and the
process that the instructional designers and software
engineers used to create the Learning Services Workbench.
Paperback
edition
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 About
Face: The Essentials of User Interface by
Alan Cooper (Hungry Minds, Inc., 1995; ISBN: 1568843224;
400 pages)
An
excellent book (by the creator of Visual Basic)
for anyone who wants to understand why so much software
is so poorly designed - and an even better book for anyone
who wants to DO something about the problem. Must reading
(and doing!) for programmers of any level. (Amazon.com)
Paperback
edition
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 The
Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive
Us Crazy and How To Restore The Sanity by
Alan Cooper (Sams, 1999; ISBN: 0672316498; 261 pages)
In
this book about the darker side of technology's impact
on our lives, Alan Cooper begins by explaining that unlike
other devices throughout history, computers have a "meta
function:" an unwanted, unforeseen option that users may
accidentally invoke with what they thought was a normal
keystroke. Cooper details many of these meta functions
to explain his central thesis: programmers need to seriously
reevaluate the many user-hostile concepts deeply embedded
within the software development process. (Amazon.com)
Hardcover
edition
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 Working
Knowledge, How Organizations Manage What They Know
by
Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak (Harvard
Business School Press, 1997; ISBN:
0875846556; 224
pages)
Drawing
from their work with more than 30 knowledge-rich firms,
the authors - experienced consultants with a track record
of success - examine how all types of companies can effectively
understand, analyze, measure, and manage their intellectual
assets, turning corporate knowledge into market value.
While they present a practical approach to cataloging
and storing knowledge so that it can be easily leveraged
throughout the firm, they caution readers on the limits
of communications and information technology in managing
intellectual capital.
Hardcover
edition | Paperback
edition
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 Electronic
Performance Support System: How and why to Remake the Workplace
through the Strategic Application of Technology
by
Gloria Gery (Ziff
Institute, 1991; ISBN:
0964622300; 303
pages)
This
book compares and contrasts traditional employee training
and performance development with computer-mediated performance
support. It offers design tips, justification descriptions
and detailed case studies.
This
book is no longer in print.
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 User
and task Analysis for Interface Design
by
Joann T. Hackos and Janice C. Redish (John
Wiley & Sons, 1998; ISBN: 0471178314; 512 pages)
An
authoritative text by one of the premier researchers in
usability engineering in the 1990s, Jakob Nielsen's Usability
Engineering provides a landmark guide to software
design that has helped bring this area of research into
the mainstream of computing. "Usability" is the measurement
of how easy or difficult it is to be productive with a
piece of software. It often looks at the user interface - what
elements appear onscreen and how efficient, confusing,
and/or intuitive they are for beginning, intermediate,
and advanced users. "Usability engineering" is the formal
study of usability. It grew out of research on human factors,
which looked at the way people interact with their environment.
(Amazon.com)
Paperback
edition
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 Design
Wise: A Guide for Evaluating the Interface Design of Information
Resources by Alison J. Head (Cyberage Books,
1999; ISBN: 0910965315; 186 pages)
A
badly designed Web site interface can result in a site
that is hard to find and hard to use - but a well-designed
interface helps users find and utilize the information
they need quickly and easily. Design Wise explains what
interface design is and how to evaluate it. Information
on the importance of interface to users, how a product
gets designed, a design evaluation template, and design
analyses of CD-ROM's, Web sites, and on-line providers
is included. Users can now make sure that they are accessing
the best computer resources that their time, effort, and
money can buy. (Amazon.com)
Hardcover
edition | Paperback
edition
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 The
Icon Book, Visual Symbols for Computer Systems and Documentation
by
William Horton (John
Wiley & Sons, 1994; ISBN:
047159900X; 432
pages)
Uses
a practical, research-based approach to the design of
icons. Icons are used widely but not always used wisely.
This book will prescribe an orderly process for designing
sets of icons, suggest ideas for "unpicturable"
concepts, explain how to refine and test icon ideas, demonstrate
how to design large sets of related icons, guide the development
of icons for the international market. There is an icon
glossary which features over 1,500 icons.
Hardcover
edition | Paperback
edition | Software
edition
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 The
Elements of User Interface Design by Theo Mandel
(John Wiley & Sons, 1997; ISBN: 0471162671; 440 pages)
A
total introduction to user interface (UI) design, Elements
of User Interface Design covers theory and application
with easy language and real world examples. Author Theo
Mandel achieves an effective blend of theoretical consideration
and practical utilization without leaving the less experienced
user by the wayside. At the same time, even the most hardened
applications developer will find abundant value in the
discussions of user psychology and the analyses of popular
UIs of the past and present. (Amazon.com)
Paperback
edition
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 Designing
Visual Interfaces: Communication Oriented Techniques
by Kevin Mullet and Darrell Sano (Prentice Hall PTR/Sun
Microsystems Press; ISBN: 0133033899; 304 pages)
An
excellent introduction to the design theories involved
in the creation of user interfaces. Instead of the usual
examples and pictures of computer screens and application
menus, Mullet approaches the concept of UI from its "outside
world" roots. With examples ranging from street signs
to corporate logos to the map of the London Underground,
each section attacks the issues of interface design from
the ground up, appealing first to the eye and then to
the mind. Task menus are compared with concert programs
and street signs are equated with icons. This is not a
technical book, so advanced developers might want to supplement
it with a platform-specific how-to. For aesthetic advice
and sheer enjoyment, anyone involved with or interested
in interface design should pick it up. (Amazon.com)
Textbook
edition
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 Usability
Engineering by
Jakob Nielsen (Morgan
Kaufmann Publishers, 1994; ISBN: 0125184069; 362 pages)
An
authoritative text by one of the premier researchers in
usability engineering in the 1990s, Jakob Nielsen's Usability
Engineering provides a landmark guide to software
design that has helped bring this area of research into
the mainstream of computing. "Usability" is the measurement
of how easy or difficult it is to be productive with a
piece of software. It often looks at the user interface - what
elements appear onscreen and how efficient, confusing,
and/or intuitive they are for beginning, intermediate,
and advanced users. "Usability engineering" is the formal
study of usability. It grew out of research on human factors,
which looked at the way people interact with their environment.
(Amazon.com)
Paperback
edition
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 Knowledge
Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Foster Creativity
and Innovation by
Ikujiro Nonaka, Hiro Takeuchi, and Hirotaka Takeuchi (Oxford
University Press, 1995; ISBN: 0195092694; 304 pages)
The
authors "contend that Japanese firms are successful because
they are innovative, that is, because they create new
knowledge and use it to produce successful products and
technologies. They identify two types of organizational
knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in procedures
and manuals, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience.
[The authors believe that] U.S. managers tend to focus
on explicit knowledge and stress approaches such as benchmarking,
while the Japanese focus on tacit knowledge." (Library
Journal)
Hardcover
edition
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 Design
of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman (Currency/Doubleday,
1990; ISBN: 0385267746; 256 pages)
The
Director of the Institute for Cognitive Science at the
University of California hails excellence of design as
the most important key to regaining the competitive edge
in influencing consumer behavior.
Paperback
edition
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 The
Psychology of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
(Harper Collins, 1998; ISBN: 0465067093; 272 pages)
With
the many recent advances in technology, it seems, there
has followed a diminution of quality. Electronic books
have several advantages over their print counterparts,
for instance. But for the time being, they're hard to
use and unattractive to boot. Computers, which are supposed
to make our lives easier, are commonly sources of frustration
and wasted time. Movies are wondrously chock-a-block with
special effects - but someone forgot the story. And so
on. (Amazon.com)
Paperback
edition
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 If
Only We Knew What We Know, The Transfer of Internal Knowledge
and Best Practice by Carla O'Dell and C. Jackson
Grayson, Jr. (Free Press, 1998; ISBN: 0684844745; 256 pages)
While
companies search the world over to benchmark best practices,
vast treasure troves of knowledge and know-how remain
hidden right under their noses: in the minds of their
own employees, in the often unique structure of their
operations, and in the written history of their organizations.
Now, acclaimed productivity and quality experts Carla
O'Dell and Jack Grayson explain for the first time how
applying the ideas of Knowledge Management can help employers
identify their own internal best practices and share this
intellectual capital throughout their organizations.
Hardcover
edition
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 Inevitable
Illusions, How Mistakes of Reason Rule our Minds
by
Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini (John
Wiley & Sons, 1996; ISBN:
047115962X; 256
pages)
This
highly enjoyable read covers provocative recent discoveries
in the study of the mind. Demonstrates that everyone is
prone to certain "cognitive'' illusions or biases
in thinking which lead to systematic misjudgments in decision
making. Shows how those illusions have important effects
on everyday life from investment decisions to the judgment
of jurors. Introduces the full range of illusions including
"probability blindness'' and "predictability
in hindsight,'' all explained through the use of intriguing
examples that illustrate exactly how illusions fool us.
Hardcover
edition | Paperback
edition
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Performance
Support Engineering Part One: Key Concepts by
Barry Raybould (Ariel PSE Technology, 2000; ISBN: 0970502206;
60 pages)
In
this Special Report, Ariel founder Barry Raybould... gives
an executive overview of how to develop a state-of-the-art
integrated e-learning, knowledge management, and performance
support strategy and highlights some important pitfalls
to avoid. He describes the evolution in thinking that
has occurred over the past decade in how to design and
develop technology-based systems to improve human performance
and gives an overview of the process for designing systems
for "day-one performance" and of the emerging professional
discipline of performance support engineering. A five-level
"maturity model" for the integration of departmental functions
around the goal of performance improvement is provided
to help organizations assess the effectiveness of their
strategy and help them move to a higher level. (Amazon.com)
Spiral
Bound edition
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 Moving
from Training to Performance: A Practical Guidebook
by Dana Gaines Robinson and James C. Robinson, eds.
(Berrett-Koehler, 1998; ISBN: 1576750396; 339 pages)
Consultants
Dana and James Robinson work with clients to define performance
requirements, determine performance gaps and training
needs, and ensure that the work environment will support
expected performance. Their new book is designed to help
organizations move away from focusing on what employees
need to learn, to a focus on performance to meet key organizational
needs.
Paperback
edition
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 First
Things Fast: A Handbook for Performance Analysis
by Allison Rossett (Pfeiffer & Co., 1998; ISBN:
0787944386; 240 pages)
This
book is a hands-on guide to planning and consultation,
with an emphasis on tools, tales, templates, speed, sources,
and systems. First Things Fast is the quick start you
need to surmount resistance to investigating performance.
You'll get job aids, design templates, and implementation
examples that direct you through the basics of performance
analysis.
Hardcover
edition
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 Designing
the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer
Interaction by Ben Shneiderman (Addison-Wesley,
1997; ISBN: 0201694972; 638 pages)
In
1996, recognizing this book, ACM's Special Interest Group
on Documentation (SIGDOC) presented Ben Shneiderman with
the Joseph Rigo Award. SIGDOC praised the book as one
"that took the jargon and mystery out of the field of
human-computer interaction" and attributed the book's
success to "its readability and emphasis on practice as
well as research." In revising this bestseller, Ben Shneiderman
again provides a complete, current, and authoritative
introduction to user-interface design. The user interface
is the part of every computer system that determines how
people control and operate that system. When the interface
is well designed, it is comprehensible, predictable, and
controllable; users feel competent, satisfied, and responsible
for their actions. In this book, the author discusses
the principles and practices needed to design such effective
interaction. Based on 20 years experience, Shneiderman
offers readers practical techniques and guidelines for
interface design. As a scientist, he also takes great
care to discuss underlying issues and to support conclusions
with empirical results. Interface designers, software
engineers, and product managers will all find here an
invaluable resource for creating systems that facilitate
rapid learning and performance, yield low error rates,
and generate high user satisfaction. (Amazon.com)
Hardcover
edition
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 The
Knowing-Doing Gap, How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into
Action by
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton (Harvard Business School
Press, 2000; ISBN: 1578511240; 314 pages)
Jeffrey
Pfeffer and Robert Sutton, well-known authors and teachers,
identify the causes of the knowing-doing gap and explain
how to close it. The message is clear-firms that turn
knowledge into action avoid the "smart talk trap." Executives
must use plans, analysis, meetings, and presentations
to inspire deeds, not as substitutes for action. Companies
that act on their knowledge also eliminate fear, abolish
destructive internal competition, measure what matters,
and promote leaders who understand the work people do
in their firms. The authors use examples from dozens of
firms that show how some overcome the knowing-doing gap,
why others try but fail, and how still others avoid the
gap in the first place.
Hardcover
edition |
Digital edition
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© 2007 Ariel Performance Centered Systems, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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