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Computers As Theatre
Presents a new theory of human-computer activity. Building on Aristotle's analysis of the form and structure of drama, Laurel shows how similiar principles can help us understand what people experience when interfacing with computers.
227 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 31, 2020
Academic framework for Human Computer Interaction that works its way out from theories of theatre. Not an easy read but a useful framework for anyone working in theory of HCI.
I feel the grounding in theatre ia one of the strongest for HCI and allows reaching back as far as Aristotle.
I feel the grounding in theatre ia one of the strongest for HCI and allows reaching back as far as Aristotle.
September 1, 2016
notes: Computers as Theatre second edition, 2014
Brenda Laurel
Goodreads 5 stars finished Tue Jan. 7/2014
Very fluent syntax throughout - this is not a programming reference manual,
and is so articulately written that you might have to shift thought patterns
for absorption. There is no code or intro to UI programming topics.
This was originally published in 1991 as a result of a thesis, and has obviously been updated to reflect growth in the computational industry since then.
Take a look at the table of contents, as the topics as presented match the table, and my summary here is a poor rendition in a restatement format.
This book describes fundamental rule approaches to thinking about what constitutes an interface (human-computer not an OO interface representation of a class). Naturally these rules stem from Aristotle's elements of design as he outlined them.
The rules involve terms such as Formal clause, Material clause, Efficient cause, and End cause. These rules are discussed in terms of presentation in theatre. There are fundamental elements such as Plot, Character, Thought,
Language, Pattern, and Enactment that are atomic constituents to the material and formal causes.
Fundamental issues to a performance such as a time-frame in which to traverse from an introduction, through a rising action or tempo of expectation, a climax, a falling tempo and final catastrophe (denouement) or unwinding of the energy built during the performance are discussed.
Fractal qualities of action are discussed. Dramatic inter-actors such as collaboration, constraints, and engagement are discussed in terms that can apply to theatre or any other measurable worldly event and interaction.
Mediated collaboration as an overlay of the prior fundamental elements is discussed primarily in terms of game play. Interaction and interactions between players is portrayed as a design element that affects the perception of the outcome of an event. This is largely related to multi-player gaming.
Several elements of semantic presence such as gender, persona, character, interface metaphors are related to a machine interface. Strategies and design heuristics are discussed in relation to actions and shapes of actions that affect the perception of outcome and complexity. Emotions, thoughts, and the need to understand a targeted audience are discussed in relation to the prior design heuristic elements.
The final objective is to provide a successful outcome to the individual participant, with considerations to all of the design elements and interface elements of the human computer interactions contributing to what will
be defined as a "successful" outcome. The successful outcome can be construed as having had a participant ending up satisfied with the outcome, possibly having achieved an intended purpose, and willing and able to repeat the
interface actions on a return engagement.
The final chapters of "Emergence", "Terrains in Interaction Design", and last chapter is "Design for the Good", stress the need for a more contemporary perspective of designing interaction in a more symbiotic form for human
consumption.
The book is loaded with interesting historical snippets highlighted in gray-backed note capsules. The people and topics mentioned include some of the avant-garde of the building of the computer age, and in themselves are worth
the read of the book.
The author has a gender specific lean and indicates that more attention should
be applied to gender emotional interactions with machines.
Brenda Laurel
Goodreads 5 stars finished Tue Jan. 7/2014
Very fluent syntax throughout - this is not a programming reference manual,
and is so articulately written that you might have to shift thought patterns
for absorption. There is no code or intro to UI programming topics.
This was originally published in 1991 as a result of a thesis, and has obviously been updated to reflect growth in the computational industry since then.
Take a look at the table of contents, as the topics as presented match the table, and my summary here is a poor rendition in a restatement format.
This book describes fundamental rule approaches to thinking about what constitutes an interface (human-computer not an OO interface representation of a class). Naturally these rules stem from Aristotle's elements of design as he outlined them.
The rules involve terms such as Formal clause, Material clause, Efficient cause, and End cause. These rules are discussed in terms of presentation in theatre. There are fundamental elements such as Plot, Character, Thought,
Language, Pattern, and Enactment that are atomic constituents to the material and formal causes.
Fundamental issues to a performance such as a time-frame in which to traverse from an introduction, through a rising action or tempo of expectation, a climax, a falling tempo and final catastrophe (denouement) or unwinding of the energy built during the performance are discussed.
Fractal qualities of action are discussed. Dramatic inter-actors such as collaboration, constraints, and engagement are discussed in terms that can apply to theatre or any other measurable worldly event and interaction.
Mediated collaboration as an overlay of the prior fundamental elements is discussed primarily in terms of game play. Interaction and interactions between players is portrayed as a design element that affects the perception of the outcome of an event. This is largely related to multi-player gaming.
Several elements of semantic presence such as gender, persona, character, interface metaphors are related to a machine interface. Strategies and design heuristics are discussed in relation to actions and shapes of actions that affect the perception of outcome and complexity. Emotions, thoughts, and the need to understand a targeted audience are discussed in relation to the prior design heuristic elements.
The final objective is to provide a successful outcome to the individual participant, with considerations to all of the design elements and interface elements of the human computer interactions contributing to what will
be defined as a "successful" outcome. The successful outcome can be construed as having had a participant ending up satisfied with the outcome, possibly having achieved an intended purpose, and willing and able to repeat the
interface actions on a return engagement.
The final chapters of "Emergence", "Terrains in Interaction Design", and last chapter is "Design for the Good", stress the need for a more contemporary perspective of designing interaction in a more symbiotic form for human
consumption.
The book is loaded with interesting historical snippets highlighted in gray-backed note capsules. The people and topics mentioned include some of the avant-garde of the building of the computer age, and in themselves are worth
the read of the book.
The author has a gender specific lean and indicates that more attention should
be applied to gender emotional interactions with machines.
August 15, 2016
It feels like there was a trade-off in going for the second edition, which at least makes mention of newer and more readily available technology like smartphone and apps, but each mention of the earlier edition, or indeed earlier technologies (like all computers and gaming consoles prior to tablets and Nintendo Wii, feels like I am missing out on discoveries that might have changed the world. Now it seems like mostly backhanded compliments to current design. Much of the praise goes to herself, obviously well-earned over the decades, and her circle of community players representing the Northern Californian elite who survived the dot-com burst. Aristotle's Poetics as a theoretical frame is a nice touch, but I wonder how many programmers took up the Computer as Theatre challenge?
February 2, 2018
Brenda is a pioneer in human-computer interfaces. I think this book comes from her PhD thesis which envisioned the computer as a virtual place to dream, to laugh, to cry and to play video games !
May 13, 2022
First presents a crash course in dramatics and the theatre as largely informed by Aristotle before examining contemporary human computer interfaces within that framework. Even though there are 30 years between now and when this was written, during which graphical operating systems took over the world alongside the Web and touch-based smartphones, the current sad state of interfaces means the book is as relevant as ever. Towards the end she examines VR as a medium, with the second edition containing a powerful postmortem of the first wave of the fad (we're in the second wave now! how exciting!). My attention struggled in the middle section of the book, but the last 30 pages or so really brought me back in and cemented this as one of the classics of HCI. Full of academic language like 'mimesis', 'representational context', 'Brechtian', 'point of view', 'prosody', because it's full of big ideas worth the bite.
August 18, 2023
Essential reading for designing new technology with interfaces & user engagement in mind. Written straight from a female programmer who developed and designed technology during the Atari & early PC days with important lessons & relevance given even to the interactive tools being created today with VR and more technology being quite accurately predicted. Also really funny and fantastic historical computer technology tidbits sprinkled in perfectly throughout the book! Highly recommend for both technical & design-centric developers.
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January 10, 2023read for my dissertation, hence the lack of star rating!
December 22, 2024
Interesting and refreshing. Most computer books like to talk about "progress"
November 13, 2016
tl;dr: The essentials of contemporary digital product design were laid out by Aristotle.
We've known for a long time what makes a good theatre piece: Aristotle and other bright people after him articulated dramatic principles well. Turns out, these dramatic principles can help us create digital products that are both effective and enjoyable. Brenda Laurel’s book explains how a designer can use Aristotle to get there.
Laurel introduces Aristotle’s six structural elements of drama and applies them to human-computer activity. They are: action, character, thought, language, melody (pattern), spectacle (enactment). There is a causal relationship in both directions: action gives shape to character, character gives shape to thought and so on (Aristotle’s formal cause); conversely, enactment builds up pattern, pattern builds up language, language builds up thought and so on (Aristotle’s material cause).
When it comes to the plot, there’s a sequence from exposition to denouement — this is a whole action. There’s value in approaching tasks as a whole action: a spreadsheet software can help with all aspects of making a calculation, from entering initial data to visualising results, in a more powerful way that a bunch of disparate papers.
So what to do with this knowledge? Start with designing the action rather than environment, interfaces and objects. Then move to characters, representing sources of agency, and further down along the list: functionality, design patterns, visual design, UI copy... Enactment — the essence of dramatic experience that appeal to both thought and emotion — is the very user experience (the term wasn’t used in the book published in 1991).
Drama people got so good at creating outstanding experiences. Designers can learn something there. Now with voice interfaces, computers are sharper than ever perceived as characters. With conversational UIs, action through the dialogue is what happens. Like in drama. So we can as well try a design methodology based on Aristotle.
We've known for a long time what makes a good theatre piece: Aristotle and other bright people after him articulated dramatic principles well. Turns out, these dramatic principles can help us create digital products that are both effective and enjoyable. Brenda Laurel’s book explains how a designer can use Aristotle to get there.
Laurel introduces Aristotle’s six structural elements of drama and applies them to human-computer activity. They are: action, character, thought, language, melody (pattern), spectacle (enactment). There is a causal relationship in both directions: action gives shape to character, character gives shape to thought and so on (Aristotle’s formal cause); conversely, enactment builds up pattern, pattern builds up language, language builds up thought and so on (Aristotle’s material cause).
When it comes to the plot, there’s a sequence from exposition to denouement — this is a whole action. There’s value in approaching tasks as a whole action: a spreadsheet software can help with all aspects of making a calculation, from entering initial data to visualising results, in a more powerful way that a bunch of disparate papers.
So what to do with this knowledge? Start with designing the action rather than environment, interfaces and objects. Then move to characters, representing sources of agency, and further down along the list: functionality, design patterns, visual design, UI copy... Enactment — the essence of dramatic experience that appeal to both thought and emotion — is the very user experience (the term wasn’t used in the book published in 1991).
Drama people got so good at creating outstanding experiences. Designers can learn something there. Now with voice interfaces, computers are sharper than ever perceived as characters. With conversational UIs, action through the dialogue is what happens. Like in drama. So we can as well try a design methodology based on Aristotle.
October 27, 2014
So much fun to read, so good and so...glib about the future.
Not that I mind the optimism, God knows I need it given the gutting of higher education, the money we're not putting in to K-12, the devaluing of both science and the humanities...but Laurel ends on this note that idolizes future possibilities that are, inherently, problematic.
Yes, there's so much cool stuff left to do and all is nowhere near lost. But she lacked the nuance that lets one speak well of good, but problematic things.
Not that I mind the optimism, God knows I need it given the gutting of higher education, the money we're not putting in to K-12, the devaluing of both science and the humanities...but Laurel ends on this note that idolizes future possibilities that are, inherently, problematic.
Yes, there's so much cool stuff left to do and all is nowhere near lost. But she lacked the nuance that lets one speak well of good, but problematic things.
January 11, 2015
Introduction to techno-utopianism, by Brenda Laurel.
Read
November 29, 2015the theme of catarsis Is quite interesting, itS precise and entertaining!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews