Brenda Laurel | University of California, Santa Cruz (original) (raw)
Papers by Brenda Laurel
Entr'acte, 2015
The telescope and microscope are among humanity’s crowning achievements. Each provides affordance... more The telescope and microscope are among humanity’s crowning achievements. Each provides affordances for seeing what was previously unseen. The data that these instruments and their permutations have allowed us to gather and the resulting new understandings have utterly transformed human knowledge over and over again1. Today, transitions in the media landscape—24-hour cable news networks, interactive media, blogs, tweets, comment strings, etc.—alter both how and what we know about our world. Despite the frenzy of the popular press over nature-related stories, about the latest climate change findings or giant storms and forest fires, popular media generally fail to impart a deep understanding of the natural world.
Brenda Laurel’s approach to computing is a shock to many because of how classical it is. Certainl... more Brenda Laurel’s approach to computing is a shock to many because of how classical it is. Certainly, it seemed radical in 1991 to envision interaction with computers in theatrical terms—but what Laurel proffers as the key to understanding computer interaction is a book more than 2300 years old: the Poetics. Although Laurel’s specific insights attained from Aristotle are useful (and are illustrated very well with regard to Star Raiders, in a section of her Ph.D. thesis that was not adapted for publication in Computers as Theater but is included here), the most powerful idea involved in her approach is that the computer can be studied from a rigorous humanistic perspective, using well-defined models established for other forms of art. As Donald Norman wrote in the foreword to Computers as Theater, the book from which the first selection below comes, Laurel asserts that “technologies offer new opportunities for creative, interactive experiences, and in particular, for new forms of drama...
Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 2016
Canadian Journal of Communication, 2006
Title Toward the design of a computer-based interactive fantasy system Author Laurel, Brenda Kay ... more Title Toward the design of a computer-based interactive fantasy system Author Laurel, Brenda Kay Degree Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Theatre, 1986. Committee / Advisors Donald R. Glancy (Advisor) Alan L. Woods (Committee Member) Russell T. Hastings ( ...
Human Values and the design of Computer …
12 Interface Agents: Metaphors with Character BRENDA LAUREL Abstract: Anthropomorphism is a natur... more 12 Interface Agents: Metaphors with Character BRENDA LAUREL Abstract: Anthropomorphism is a natural human tendency that human-computer interface de- signers can employ to good advantage. This chapter presents criteria for design of anthropomor- phic agents that are ...
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '92, 1992
Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings
interactions
My research at Interval led to the founding of Purple Moon (a transmedia company for girls) in 19... more My research at Interval led to the founding of Purple Moon (a transmedia company for girls) in 1996. As we set about to discover or invent computer games that would be attractive to girls, we were tempted, at first, to look at what girls thought of existing games. We did explore ...
Professional Case Management, 2017
Human-centered design research methods serve two vital purposes in the world of design. The first... more Human-centered design research methods serve two vital purposes in the world of design. The first is educational. At the graduate level, methods and techniques for engaging the world as it is are fundamental to good design pedagogy. The notion of the designer as a Great Man (or Woman) still haunts the ethos of design, even though we have largely passed into an era of collaboration -- primarily because of the increasingly transdisciplinary nature of design work. A degree of humility and a great deal of curiosity are required of today's new designers. Who are these people for and with whom we design? The computer game industry provides an interesting example of how designing for oneself may reach a certain audience, but will be thwarted in its ability to move beyond its own narcissistic gaze until some Other audience -- along with designers willing and able to understand it -- comes into view. Students who comprehend the diversity of human qualities and situated contexts that their work may engage emerge from the educational process with the informed intuition of a good designer and with the means to inquire of the world as they move through their careers. For the working designer, human-centered design research is the principal means of educating oneself about the people for whom one designs and the situated contexts in which one's work will be encountered.
... Collaborative Colleagues: Brenda Laurel: colleagues. S. Joy Mountford: colleagues. The ACM Po... more ... Collaborative Colleagues: Brenda Laurel: colleagues. S. Joy Mountford: colleagues. The ACM Portal is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. Copyright © 2009 ACM, Inc. Terms of Usage Privacy Policy Code ...
Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Sep 15, 1995
... and interfaces that are richly multimodal in the way they empower people who are differently ... more ... and interfaces that are richly multimodal in the way they empower people who are differently endowed." Allucquere Rosanne Stone aka ... is seen to be a construct that paves over, subdues and silences the natural but raucous, unruly, diversity with the steamroller of reason. ...
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems Wings for the mind - CHI '89, 1989
The title of this panel immediately leaps out as being out of place. Of all the things that come ... more The title of this panel immediately leaps out as being out of place. Of all the things that come to mind when one thinks of computers and user interfaces, drama and personality are among the last. The point here is not to make using computers more dramatic, per se, but to learn and borrow from the performing arts about techniques that could improve main stream interface design. The contributions described in this panel are borrowed from the theatrical world, film producing and music. In all the panelists work, the user is at the very center of creating the actual user interface experience, either through direct user participation or via engaging the individual viewer's personality. The panelists' pioneering research has produced and created several examples of new user interface experiences and designs. The discussion will focus on what techniques offer the most promise for facilitating the design of really new experiential user interfaces.
Investigacion Y Ciencia, 1995
Entr'acte, 2015
The telescope and microscope are among humanity’s crowning achievements. Each provides affordance... more The telescope and microscope are among humanity’s crowning achievements. Each provides affordances for seeing what was previously unseen. The data that these instruments and their permutations have allowed us to gather and the resulting new understandings have utterly transformed human knowledge over and over again1. Today, transitions in the media landscape—24-hour cable news networks, interactive media, blogs, tweets, comment strings, etc.—alter both how and what we know about our world. Despite the frenzy of the popular press over nature-related stories, about the latest climate change findings or giant storms and forest fires, popular media generally fail to impart a deep understanding of the natural world.
Brenda Laurel’s approach to computing is a shock to many because of how classical it is. Certainl... more Brenda Laurel’s approach to computing is a shock to many because of how classical it is. Certainly, it seemed radical in 1991 to envision interaction with computers in theatrical terms—but what Laurel proffers as the key to understanding computer interaction is a book more than 2300 years old: the Poetics. Although Laurel’s specific insights attained from Aristotle are useful (and are illustrated very well with regard to Star Raiders, in a section of her Ph.D. thesis that was not adapted for publication in Computers as Theater but is included here), the most powerful idea involved in her approach is that the computer can be studied from a rigorous humanistic perspective, using well-defined models established for other forms of art. As Donald Norman wrote in the foreword to Computers as Theater, the book from which the first selection below comes, Laurel asserts that “technologies offer new opportunities for creative, interactive experiences, and in particular, for new forms of drama...
Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 2016
Canadian Journal of Communication, 2006
Title Toward the design of a computer-based interactive fantasy system Author Laurel, Brenda Kay ... more Title Toward the design of a computer-based interactive fantasy system Author Laurel, Brenda Kay Degree Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Theatre, 1986. Committee / Advisors Donald R. Glancy (Advisor) Alan L. Woods (Committee Member) Russell T. Hastings ( ...
Human Values and the design of Computer …
12 Interface Agents: Metaphors with Character BRENDA LAUREL Abstract: Anthropomorphism is a natur... more 12 Interface Agents: Metaphors with Character BRENDA LAUREL Abstract: Anthropomorphism is a natural human tendency that human-computer interface de- signers can employ to good advantage. This chapter presents criteria for design of anthropomor- phic agents that are ...
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '92, 1992
Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings
interactions
My research at Interval led to the founding of Purple Moon (a transmedia company for girls) in 19... more My research at Interval led to the founding of Purple Moon (a transmedia company for girls) in 1996. As we set about to discover or invent computer games that would be attractive to girls, we were tempted, at first, to look at what girls thought of existing games. We did explore ...
Professional Case Management, 2017
Human-centered design research methods serve two vital purposes in the world of design. The first... more Human-centered design research methods serve two vital purposes in the world of design. The first is educational. At the graduate level, methods and techniques for engaging the world as it is are fundamental to good design pedagogy. The notion of the designer as a Great Man (or Woman) still haunts the ethos of design, even though we have largely passed into an era of collaboration -- primarily because of the increasingly transdisciplinary nature of design work. A degree of humility and a great deal of curiosity are required of today's new designers. Who are these people for and with whom we design? The computer game industry provides an interesting example of how designing for oneself may reach a certain audience, but will be thwarted in its ability to move beyond its own narcissistic gaze until some Other audience -- along with designers willing and able to understand it -- comes into view. Students who comprehend the diversity of human qualities and situated contexts that their work may engage emerge from the educational process with the informed intuition of a good designer and with the means to inquire of the world as they move through their careers. For the working designer, human-centered design research is the principal means of educating oneself about the people for whom one designs and the situated contexts in which one's work will be encountered.
... Collaborative Colleagues: Brenda Laurel: colleagues. S. Joy Mountford: colleagues. The ACM Po... more ... Collaborative Colleagues: Brenda Laurel: colleagues. S. Joy Mountford: colleagues. The ACM Portal is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. Copyright © 2009 ACM, Inc. Terms of Usage Privacy Policy Code ...
Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Sep 15, 1995
... and interfaces that are richly multimodal in the way they empower people who are differently ... more ... and interfaces that are richly multimodal in the way they empower people who are differently endowed." Allucquere Rosanne Stone aka ... is seen to be a construct that paves over, subdues and silences the natural but raucous, unruly, diversity with the steamroller of reason. ...
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems Wings for the mind - CHI '89, 1989
The title of this panel immediately leaps out as being out of place. Of all the things that come ... more The title of this panel immediately leaps out as being out of place. Of all the things that come to mind when one thinks of computers and user interfaces, drama and personality are among the last. The point here is not to make using computers more dramatic, per se, but to learn and borrow from the performing arts about techniques that could improve main stream interface design. The contributions described in this panel are borrowed from the theatrical world, film producing and music. In all the panelists work, the user is at the very center of creating the actual user interface experience, either through direct user participation or via engaging the individual viewer's personality. The panelists' pioneering research has produced and created several examples of new user interface experiences and designs. The discussion will focus on what techniques offer the most promise for facilitating the design of really new experiential user interfaces.
Investigacion Y Ciencia, 1995