15.269 new books: Web design, linguistics, cognitive science &c.

From: by way of Willard McCarty (willard@lists.village.Virginia.EDU)
Date: Mon Oct 01 2001 - 02:11:13 EDT

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                   Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 15, No. 269.
           Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   <http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
                  <http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>

       [1] From: Ken Friedman <ken.friedman@bi.no> (159)
             Subject: Two important books on Web design: Content Critical,
                     Web Content Style Guide

       [2] From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi (36)
                     <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
             Subject: An Introduction to Language and Communication

       [3] From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi (22)
                     <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
             Subject: Finding Consciousness in the Brain

       [4] From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi (78)
                     <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
             Subject: Relevance of Phenomenology to the Philosophy of
                     Language and Mind

       [5] From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi (72)
                     <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
             Subject: Gateway to Memory_ with Reviews

       [6] From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi (45)
                     <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
             Subject: A Search for the Hidden Meaning of Science

    --[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 06:46:48 +0100
             From: Ken Friedman <ken.friedman@bi.no>
             Subject: Two important books on Web design: Content Critical, Web
    Content Style Guide

    Dear Colleagues,

    I want to recommend two new books for whoever is active in designing Web
    sites and intranet. They are being published this month by the Financial
    Times. They are Content Critical and the Web Content Style Guide

    The authors are experts in Web design and communication. One author, Rob
    Norton, is former executive editor of Fortune Magazine, one of the world's
    largest and best known business magazines. The other is Gerry McGovern, one
    of Ireland's leading experts in Web design and interactive media.

    To learn more about Content Critical, go to:

    http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/content_critical.htm

    To learn more about Web Content Style Guide, go to

    http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/web_content_style_guide.htm

    I will print selected advance information on these books below.

    Our universities, schools and departments are spending -- and wasting --
    millions of dollars, pounds, kroner, lira, markka, etc., on Web sites that
    do not work. Far too many organizations mount Web sites loaded with special
    effects and fancy images, without attending to accessible information, ease
    of use, or good navigation. Many organizations mount Web sites that must be
    repeatedly redesigned. If we can develop and retain key knowledge on basic
    issues, the future investments we make will become a long-term gain.

    Content Critical is an important place to start in developing better Web
    sites. I will send a note on the Web Content Style Guide in the next post.

    I will be reviewing both these books in the December issue of Design
    Research News. The reason I recommend these books before reading them
    completely is simple. I've seen a lot of what will be printed in the
    newsletters of Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton.

    Their newsletters are a valuable resource, and I've been looking forward to
    these books. Knowing the quality of Gerry's thinking and Rob's, I'm already
    recommending these books to different lists. I view this as a public
    service. Much of our work today world is connected with the Web. Making a
    better Web means building a better world.

    If you visit the Web site noted here, you will also have a chance to
    subscribe to a new elist focusing on these issues.

    I have been active in Internet research and information design issues since
    the early 1990s. I view the publication of these books as an important step
    in bringing the Web to its fullest potential.

    In December, I will publish my evaluation of these books. In the meantime,
    you can learn more about them at no cost by visiting the pages listed here.
    If you want my personal advice, I'd say these books are worth the risk of
    an advance order.

    Best regards,

    Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
    Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
    Department of Technology and Knowledge Management
    Norwegian School of Management

    Visiting Professor
    Advanced Research Institute
    School of Art and Design
    Staffordshire University

    (1)

    Content Critical

    http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/content_critical.htm

    Content Critical

    Authors:
    Gerry McGovern, Rob Norton

    Publisher:
    Financial Times Prentice Hall

    Publication Date:
    October 2001

    Content Critical will change the way you think about the World Wide Web. It
    is built upon a simple but profound insight: The Web is a medium for
    publishing content.

    The Internet was invented as a communications medium and the Web was
    invented as a publishing solution for content. If part of your job involves
    writing original content, whether that be a technical paper for a product,
    or a marketing pitch for that product, you're part of a publishing process.

    If you find that you're spending increasing time reading in order to help
    you do your job better, you're directly affected by publishing. The modern
    world runs on content. We're either publishers or consumers of it. Mostly,
    we're both.

    Think of your website as a publication and it all begins to make a lot of
    sense. Think of the person who visits your website as a reader and your
    objectives become clearer. Because the Web is not all that different from
    all those other communication tools: print, phone, fax.

    Yes, there are differences. Yes, Web publishing has different dynamics and
    rules than, say, print publishing. But the core objective is still the
    same: to communicate with other people.

    Content Critical explains both the theory and practice of the Web as a
    publishing medium, drawing from the best and most applicable offline
    publishing practices, and from the best practices of web publishing today.
    It provides in-depth information about reader and website analysis,
    cost-benefit models, and content creation, editing and publishing processes.

    It includes highly detailed, practical advice about what it takes to build
    a professional, content-oriented website, including classification,
    navigation, search and content layout. It will show you how to organize
    your publishing team and how to create a Web publishing strategy.

    If you work for an organization and part of your job is to write for that
    organization you should read this book. If part of your job is to edit the
    written work of others and then publish that work on an intranet or
    Internet website, then you should read this book.

    If your job is to help your organization create, edit and publish Web
    content more efficiently, then you should read this book. If you do any of
    the above you're involved in publishing whether you know it or not, and
    Content Critical will help you do your job more effectively.

    Content Critical:

    Table of contents

    Chapter 1: Everything you know about publishing is wrong
    Chapter 2: The benefits and costs of content
    Chapter 3: The reader is king
    Chapter 4: The need for content standards
    Chapter 5: Creating content
    Chapter 6: Editing Content
    Chapter 7: The four pillars of information architecture
    Chapter 8: Navigation critical
    Chapter 9: Content layout and design
    Chapter 10: Special topics in web publishing
    Chapter 11: The publishing team
    Chapter 12: Five stage publishing strategy approach

    (2)

    Web Content Style Guide

    http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/web_content_style_guide.htm

    The Web Content Style Guide

    Authors:
    Gerry McGovern, Rob Norton, Catherine O'Dowd

    Publisher:
    Financial Times Prentice Hall

    Publication Date:
    October 2001

       Good writing is the exception rather than the rule on the Web. One reason
    for this is simply that good writing is hard to do. Another is that many of
    the people who've been involved with the Web from the beginning have been
    slow to realize that writing is a very big part of what the online
    experience is about.

    While the Web has important non-textual uses, most people who use it spend
    an overwhelming amount of their online time reading words on a page. It's
    not an accident that we call them webpages. It follows that quality
    content-well written, well edited-is essential for the success of any website.

    In addition to quality content, the design of websites must facilitate
    finding and reading that content. Web design is about content design. It's
    about laying out content so that it can be easily read. It's about
    organizing content so that it can be easily navigated and searched.

    The number-one design principle for the Web is simplicity. Quality web
    design should be all about making life easier for the reader to find
    content, and then making it easy for them to read that content.

    The Web Content Style Guide aims to codify the rules and standards that
    make for effective web writing. It also aims to give nontechnical guidance
    to all those involved in designing and running a website, from the chief
    executive officer to the junior writer. It examines topics from
    accessibility to animations, from fonts to forms, from information
    architecture to intranets, from navigation to newsgroups, from search to
    style guides.

    Every entry is written from the perspective that a website must get the
    right content to the reader as quickly as possible, in the most readable
    manner. The fonts entry, for example, discusses the font sizes and types
    that work best onscreen.

    The Web Content Style Guide covers some of the same ground as the offline
    style and usage guides, but is tailored specifically for online managers,
    writers, and editors.

    Grammar and style issues of particular relevance to the Web that it focuses
    on include: the key differences between American and British English; how
    the Web accentuates plagiarism; what sort of dash looks best onscreen; the
    difference between data, content, information, and knowledge; and when and
    how to date documents.

    If you are involved in a website, whether as a manager, designer, writer,
    or editor, The Web Content Style Guide is essential for you. It is packed
    with examples, and is written in a clear, concise, and friendly manner.

    Based on the authors' 40-plus collective years experience in traditional
    publishing, and 15 in designing content-rich websites, it is always
    practical. It champions best-practices in web content writing and design,
    and is not afraid to kill off a few Internet myths along the way.

    --[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 06:35:08 +0100
             From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi
    <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
             Subject: An Introduction to Language and Communication

    Dear humanist scholars,

    Hello, I thought this might interest you --as -- Linguistics: An
    Introduction to Language and Communication by Adrian Akmajian, Richard A.
    Demers, Ann K. Farmer and Robert M. Harnish (MIT Press, September 2001,
    ISBN 0-262-51123-1)

    This popular introductory linguistics text is unique in the way various
    themes are integrated throughout the book. One primary theme is the
    question, "How is a speakers communicative intent recognized?" Rather than
    treat phonology, phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics
    as completely separate fields, the text shows how they interact in
    principled ways. Similarly, language variation and acquisition are
    informed by results in these fields. The text provides a sound
    introduction to linguistic methodology while also revealing why people are
    intrinsically interested in language--the ultimate puzzle of the human
    mind.

    The fifth edition has been thoroughly revised. Revisions include, but are
    not limited to, the addition of "selected readings" sections, updated
    examples, new discussion on the creative nature of neologisms, and the use
    of IPA as the primary transcription system throughout. This edition also
    includes an account of the patterns of occurrence of reduced vowels in
    English. An understanding of these patterns enables the reader to write a
    phonemic transcription of any English word.

    For more details, please see here:

    <http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?sid=81609E1E-C28C-4887-B3A5-534FD1982B61&ttype=2&tid=8601>

    About authors: The late Adrian Akmajian was Professor of Linguistics at
    the University of Arizona Richard A. Demers is Professor of Linguistics at
    the University of Arizona. Ann K. Farmer is a Senior Staff Technical
    Writer in the High Level Verification Group at Synopsys, Sunnyvale,
    California. Robert M. Harnish is Professor of Philosophy and Linguistics
    and Research Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona.

    With kind regards,
    Arun Kumar Tripathi
    =============================================================================
    "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." -SOCRATES
    =============================================================================
                      --eye sees, ear hears and mind believes--

    --[3]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 06:35:52 +0100
             From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi
    <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
             Subject: Finding Consciousness in the Brain

    Dear scholars,

    I thought --this might interest to humanists --as -- "Finding
    Consciousness in the Brain: A neurocognitive approach." GROSSENBACHER,
    Peter G. (ed.) (Advances in Consciousness Research)

    How does the brain go about the business of being conscious? Though we
    cannot yet provide a complete answer, this book explains what is now known
    about the neural basis of human consciousness.

    The last decade has witnessed the dawn of an exciting new era of cognitive
    neuroscience. For example, combination of new imaging technologies and
    experimental study of attention has linked brain activity to specific
    psychological functions. The authors are leaders in psychology and
    neuroscience who have conducted original research on consciousness. They
    wish to communicate the highlights of this research to both specialists
    and interested others, and hope that this volume will be read by students
    concerned with the neuroscientific underpinnings of subjective experience.
    As a whole, the book progresses from an overview of conscious awareness,
    through careful explanation of identified neurocognitive systems, and
    extends to theories which tackle global aspects of consciousness.

    Contributions by: S. Baron-Cohen; D. Derryberry; P.G. Grossenbacher; J.M.
    Kelley; S.M. Kosslyn; D. Levitin; P. Luu; M. Posner; M. Price; Y.
    Rossetti; S. Schliebner; B. Stein; M. Wallace; R. Whitehead.

    With sincere regards,
    Arun Tripathi

    --[4]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 06:36:54 +0100
             From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi
    <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
             Subject: Relevance of Phenomenology to the Philosophy of Language
    and Mind

    Dear Prof. Willard McCarty,

    Recently, a new book entitled "The Relevance of Phenomenology to the
    Philosophy of Language and Mind" written by Professor Sean D. Kelly is
    being published by Garland publisher (11/2000) The book opens a new
    discussion in the field of philosophy of language and mind & neuroscience.

    Through discussion of phenomenological and analytic traditions such as the
    philosophical problems of perceptual content, the content of demonstrative
    thoughts and the unity of proposition, Kelly explains that these concepts
    are not as alien to one another as most people believe.

    His new book is based on his dissertation _The Relevance of Phenomenology
    to the Philosophy of Language and Mind_ He finished his PhD under the
    great philosophical leadership of Prof. Hubert Dreyfus (chair), Prof. John
    Searle, Prof. Walter Freeman (Neurobiology).

    _The Relevance of Phenomenology to the Philosophy of Language and Mind_
    Dissertation Abstract by Sean D. Kelly:-->

    Perceptual experience, according to many contemporary philosophers, is
    intimately connected with demonstrative thought: if a person can see,
    hear, touch, or otherwise sensibly discriminate an object then she can, on
    that basis, demonstratively identify it. If this connection holds, as I
    believe it does, then any adequate account of demonstrative thought must
    be based upon an accurate description of the content of perceptual
    experience. I argue, however, that the dominant views about perceptual
    content in both analytic philosophy and cognitive science are
    phenomenologically inaccurate. When we get the phenomenology of perception
    right, I show, several traditional problems concerning demonstrative
    thought are either reformulated considerably or dissolved altogether.

    First among these problems is the question, "How do perceptual
    demonstrative thoughts identify their object?" Perceptual demonstrative
    thoughts are those demonstrative thoughts that pick out the object the
    thinker is currently perceiving. According to Gareth Evanss influential
    view, perceptual demonstratives identify their object solely by
    determining its objective location. It follows, on Evanss account, that if
    we know the objective location of an object, then we can always
    demonstratively identify it, even if we are radically mistaken about what
    it is. I argue that this theory is based on a faulty analysis of
    perceptual content. Drawing on phenomenological analyses developed by
    Maurice Merleau-Ponty I show that, in the cases Evans considers, the
    perceptual identification of an object depends essentially upon
    information about what, in addition to where, the object is. If the
    perceptual identity of an object is part of the content of a demonstrative
    thought about it, then we must reformulate considerably Evans's purely
    locative account of perceptual demonstrative thought.

    Second, how can perceptual demonstrative propositions unify their subject
    and predicate terms? Russell, and others following him, have assumed that
    we perceive objects as sets of independently specifiable properties. On
    such a view, the problem of how to unify these properties is built into
    the very perceptual experience of an object. I argue that this account of
    perception is wrong. Building on the phenomenological work of Heidegger
    and Merleau-Ponty, I argue that we primarily perceive the features of an
    object not as independently identifiable properties, but rather as aspects
    of a unified whole. This claim forces us to re-evaluate the problem of the
    unity of demonstrative propositions: if the objects and properties that we
    identify demonstratively are connected with those that we perceive in
    experience, then in virtue of the fact that they are not primarily
    understood as independently specifiable items, the problem of how to unify
    them is dissolved.

    About the Author:
    ------------------
    Sean Dorrance Kelly is an Assistant Professor in the Department of
    Philosophy at Princeton University, a Senior Fellow for the James S.
    McDonnell Project in Philosophy and the Neurosciences, and an Affiliated
    Investigator at Princeton's Center for the Study of Brain, Mind, and
    Behavior. His primary research interests center around the philosophical,
    phenomenological, and cognitive neuroscientific aspects of perception.
    The project his is mostly concerned with these days is a book on
    perception and perceptual demonstrative thought, which is tentatively
    entitled Seeing Things: perception in an embodied world. The
    philosophers most important to this project are the phenomenologist
    Maurice Merleau-Ponty and the Oxford philosopher Gareth Evans. He is also
    very interested in the cognitive neuroscientific work of David Milner and
    Melvin Goodale.

    Thanking you.
    Sincerely
    Arun Tripathi
    =============================================================================
    "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." -SOCRATES
    =============================================================================
                      --eye sees, ear hears and mind believes--
    =============================================================================

    --[5]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 06:37:48 +0100
             From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi
    <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
             Subject: Gateway to Memory_ with Reviews

    dear Dr. Willard McCarty,

      From Bradford Books: Gateway to Memory: An Introduction to Neural Network
    Modeling of the Hippocampus and Learning (MIT Press, August 2001, ISBN
    0-262-57152-8) by Mark A. Gluck and Catherine E. Myers

    "Gateway to Memory is an exciting and badly needed text that integrates
    computational and neurobiological approaches to memory. Authoritative and
    clearly written, this book will be valuable for students and researchers
    alike." -- Daniel L. Schacter, Professor and Chair of Psychology, Harvard
    University, and author of Searching for Memory

    This book is for students and researchers who have a specific interest in
    learning and memory and want to understand how computational models can be
    integrated into experimental research on the hippocampus and learning. It
    emphasizes the function of brain structures as they give rise to behavior,
    rather than the molecular or neuronal details. It also emphasizes the
    process of modeling, rather than the mathematical details of the models
    themselves.

    The book is divided into two parts. The first part provides a tutorial
    introduction to topics in neuroscience, the psychology of learning and
    memory, and the theory of neural network models. The second part, the core
    of the book, reviews computational models of how the hippocampus
    cooperates with other brain structures--including the entorhinal cortex,
    basal forebrain, cerebellum, and primary sensory and motor cortices--to
    support learning and memory in both animals and humans. The book assumes
    no prior knowledge of computational modeling or mathematics. For those who
    wish to delve more deeply into the formal details of the models, there are
    optional "mathboxes" and appendices. The book also includes extensive
    references and suggestions for further readings.

    More endorsements:
    "This book is a very user-friendly introduction to the world of computer
    models of the brain, with an emphasis on how the hippocampus and
    associated areas mediate memory. The authors take the time to explain in
    detail the rationale for making models of the brain, and then use their
    own work, as well as related neurobiological and computational research,
    to illustrate the emerging successes of this approach to understanding
    brain function." -- Howard Eichenbaum, Laboratory of Cognitive
    Neurobiology, University Professor and Professor of Psychology, Boston
    University

    "If you purchase only one book at the turn of the new millenium to teach
    you about the latest computational models of memory and amnesia, let it be
    Gateway to Memory. Gluck and Myers display their extraordinary ability to
    simplify difficult concepts so that a broad readership can appreciate the
    breadth and depth of the rapid advances in the cognitive neuroscience of
    memory being made by the best and brightest of computational modelers." --
    Jordan Grafman, Ph.D., Chief, Cognitive Neuroscience Section, National
    Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

    "Gateway to Memory is a valuable addition to the introductory texts
    describing neural network models of learning and memory. The early
    chapters present abstract models of brain and learning in an intuitively
    appealing style that is accessible to lay readers as well as advanced
    students of network modeling. Later chapters, relevant to experts as well
    as novices, advance cutting-edge ideas and models that are tested closely
    by experimental results on learning. A particular virtue is the close
    interchange the authors maintain throughout between predictions of
    competing models and experimental results from animal and human learning."
    -- Gordon H. Bower, Department of Psychology, Stanford University

    "This delectable book lays out Gluck and Meyers' comprehensive theory of
    hippocampal function in easily digestible steps. Readers without a
    computational modeling background will find it accessible and intriguing.
    Practicing modelers will be inspired." -- David S. Touretzky, Center for
    the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University

    For more details, see here at:

    <http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?sid=81609E1E-C28C-4887-B3A5-534FD1982B61&ttype=2&tid=8565>

    About authors: Mark A. Gluck is Associate Professor of Neuroscience at
    Rutgers University-Newark. Catherine E. Myers is Research Assistant
    Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University-Newark.

    Thank you for your listening

    With sincere regards,
    Arun Kumar Tripathi

    =============================================================================
    "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." -SOCRATES
    =============================================================================
                      --eye sees, ear hears and mind believes--
    --[6]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 06:43:40 +0100
             From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi
    <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
             Subject: A Search for the Hidden Meaning of Science

    Dear Prof. Willard McCarty,

    A book on Philosophy on Science --Labyrinth: A Search for the Hidden
    Meaning of Science by Peter Pesic (MIT Press, October 2001, ISBN
    0-262-66126-8)

    Nature has secrets, and it is the desire to uncover them that motivates
    the scientific quest. But what makes these "secrets" secret? Is it that
    they are beyond human ken? that they concern divine matters? And if they
    are accessible to human seeking, why do they seem so carefully hidden?
    Such questions are at the heart of Peter Pesic's enlightening effort to
    uncover the meaning of modern science.

    Pesic portrays the struggle between the scientist and nature as the
    ultimate game of hide-and-seek, in which a childlike wonder propels the
    exploration of mysteries. Witness the young Albert Einstein, fascinated by
    a compass and the sense it gave him of "something deeply hidden behind
    things." In musical terms, the book is a triple fugue, interweaving three
    themes: the epic struggle between the scientist and nature; the distilling
    effects of the struggle on the scientist; and the emergence from this
    struggle of symbolic mathematics, the purified language necessary to
    decode nature's secrets.

    Pesic's quest for the roots of science begins with three key Renaissance
    figures: William Gilbert, a physician who began the scientific study of
    magnetism; Franois Vite, a French codebreaker who played a crucial role in
    the foundation of symbolic mathematics; and Francis Bacon, a visionary who
    anticipated the shape of modern science. Pesic then describes the
    encounters of three modern masters--Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, and
    Albert Einstein--with the depths of nature. Throughout, Pesic reads
    scientific works as works of literature, attending to nuance and tone as
    much as to surface meaning. He seeks the living center of human concern as
    it emerges in the ongoing search for nature's secrets.

    "In this brief book, Pesic examines the struggle between scientists and
    nature, from Bacon to Einstein; how the struggle affects "the character of
    the scientist"; and how this struggle led to the development of symbolic
    mathematics. Pesic also shows the manifold ways that their sense of
    spirituality spurred and undergirded these scientists' drive to understand
    nature." -- Tech Directions

    For more details, please visit here at:

    <http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?sid=81609E1E-C28C-4887-B3A5-534FD1982B61&ttype=2&tid=8538>

    AUTHOR: Peter Pesic is a Tutor and Musician-in-Residence at St. Johns
    College, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

    With best regards,
    Arun Kumar Tripathi

    =============================================================================
    "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." -SOCRATES
    =============================================================================
                      --eye sees, ear hears and mind believes--
    =============================================================================



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