The Unfinished Revolution : Human-Centered Computers and What They Can Do for Us

From Barnes & Noble

Our Review
A few hours before I started reading Michael Dertouzos's The Unfinished Revolution, I was furious, angry -- you might even say downright spitting mad. You see, my boyfriend and I, both with limited money and free time to spare, had decided to use our computer to create our Christmas cards. It seemed like an easy enough task until we attempted to print the address labels. The ZIP codes, although properly in place on our computer screen, refused to show up on the printouts. After running through about $50 worth of Avery sheets, I started plotting ways to throw the printer out the window, while my boyfriend cursed at the screen and repeatedly pressed the Control-Alt-Delete keys.

If you've ever had a similarly frustrating experience with your PC, not only will you love Dertouzos's latest work, you'll want to email passages of text to engineers and executives at every major computer, software, and networking technology company. You see, even Dertouzos -- who is more high-tech than most high-tech moguls and has pioneered countless technological developments as director of MIT's prestigious Laboratory for Computer Science -- can't figure out those automated voice mail systems that make you press 1 if you have a touch-tone phone and 7 to hear the instructions in Spanish. That's why his new book resonates for everyone. He shares all of our high-tech frustrations and argues that we must accept nothing short of human-centered computers.

"Once we change our mind-set in earnest," he writes, "we will no longer put up with the maddening computer faults we now suffer.... No longer will we be seduced by fancy buzzwords like 'multi-media,' 'intelligent agents,' 'push-versus-pull technologies,'...and a few hundred others already with us and yet to come."

The most refreshing thing about Dertouzos's new work is the fact that it never abandon's his "keep it simple" philosophy. He uses simple metaphors to help readers envision the creation of truly human-centric systems. (One of my favorites is an "e-bulldozer" that helps us with the overwhelming amount of "information shoveling" that we face every day.) The book's different sections present five human-centric forces -- speech understanding, automation, individualized information access, collaboration, and customization -- and clearly explain why the existence of all five is entirely plausible in the near future. Unlike so many business and technology books of the past five years, this is not a collection of pie-in-the-sky futurist hype. Instead, it's a common sense refashioning of our collective focus when it comes to technology.

If Dertouzos is at all guilty of futuristic fantasizing, it's in his argument for breaking down economic barriers and making computers available to individuals in the world's developing nations. "Imagine a new breed of useful counseling exchanges between the rich people of the West, who are often troubled by depression, divorce, and family problems, and the poor people of the East, who seem to counterbalance lack of money with strong family ties and inner peace." Although this reviewer is all for equal access to technology, it's hard to imagine, as Dertouzos suggests, that leveling the technology playing field will eliminate our need for psychotherapy and family counseling.

Despite such minor faults, The Unfinished Revolution will be a great start to your new year's reading. It will help you begin 2001 on an optimistic note. Instead of throwing that printer out the window or forcefully pressing Control-Alt-Delete, you'll want to join Dertouzos in finishing what is sure to be one of this century's most important revolutions.

--Amy Lambo is a freelance writer and editor living in New York City.

New York Times

In eight books, Dr. Michael L. Dertouzos—engineer, inventor, theoretician, and director of the Laboratory for Computer Science at MIT—predicted the many ways the information revolution would affect human lives.

Publishers Weekly

With wry humor and searing wit, the man Time magazine calls "MIT's #1 computer guru" disparages the high-tech devices (PCs, laptops, Web-friendly cell phones, hand-held digital organizersDwhat the author dismissively calls "weird animals") we've come to rely on so heavily but that often take forever to boot up, then crash and frustrate us to no end. (In a few years, he warns, there will be 10 times as many of these "creatures biting at" us.) Enough is enough, says Dertouzos (What Will Be). Instead, he envisions a time when we alternate ample leisure with intellectually stimulating work, seamlessly integrated by technology that spares us the inconveniences of modern life. The key, says Dertouzos, is "human-centric computing," technological devices that "talk with us, do things for us, get the information we want, help us work with other people, and adapt to our individual needs... [that] truly serve us, instead of the other way around." These are not generic recommendations; the book discusses both the existing technology and what is needed to bring it up to human-centric standards. It then offers a five-pronged approach that takes into account "both the human and computer sides of the relationship." A weakness in Dertouzo's argument, however, is the lack of discussion of competing design views or past failures in implementing these ideas. Human speech interaction, in particular, has been controversial since the 1960s and has occasioned many expensive flops; there is also a school of thought that early adopters have consistently preferred cutting-edge features to user-friendly ones. Still, the book is a readable and sensible application of design principles to computer technology, written at a level accessible to nonprofessionals. Agent, Ike Williams. (Jan. 31) Forecast: A well-known futurist and technology expert, Dertouzos will command significant attention on his 15-city tour to East and West Coast technology hot spots. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

From The Critics

Unfinished Revolution focuses on human-centered computers and how they can change our lives reveals a technology which adapts to people; a new concept in how designers are producing computers. Human-centered computing uses five key technologies which will expand human capabilities: Unfinished Revolution explains how these computers will change our professional specialties and personal lives alike.