Navigating the Customer Contact Center in the 21st Century

Book Description

Supervisors and managers who are responsible for the creation and successful operation of modern customer contact centers must understand and react to the remarkable changes that are transforming call centers in this technological age. Examined in this guide are the influences driving the creation and expansion of contact centers; the impact of voice mail, e-mail, and the Web; and a management process that focuses on managing productivity and quality in equal measure. Management challenges, the effective use of reports and rewards, and operations issues are also covered.

Customer Reviews:

Must have Guide for Contact Centers.......2003-03-16

I have read many Contact Center management books but this was the only one that really puts it all together in a concise easy to read manner that is easy to implement. I think it should be mandatory reading for every Contact Center manager and supervisor. The only drawback is the lack of further references.

Type, Image, Message: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop

Average customer rating:

a workshop for an inspiring adventure in design
Great book!
A wonderful text for designing with type and image concepts
An important book for students, educators and young professionals
fills an unfilled niche

Type, Image, Message: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop
Nancy Skolos , and Tom Wedell
Manufacturer: Rockport Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Building Design Portfolios: Innovative Concepts for Presenting Your Work (Design Field Guides)
Fingerprint: The Art of Using Handmade Elements in Graphic Design
The Anatomy of Design: Uncovering the Influences and Inspirations in Modern Graphic Design
Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design
Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop

ASIN: 159253189X

Book Description

Working with type and image and the integration of these two elements to create persuasive and effective design pieces are the foundations of good graphic design. Yet, very little practical information exists for these tasks.

This book changes all it. It gives designers the practical know-how to combine type and image for dynamic effect as well as to use them in contrast to create tension and meaning in design. Creating strong layouts is the most important as well as the most challenging of any project. This book inspires through excellence by exhibiting great design work then deconstructing the processes in simple visual terms.

Type, Image, Message: Merging Pictures and Ideas looks at this respected art form while providing practical information that can be used by any designer wishing to hone the skills needed to merge type with images in an inspired manner.

Customer Reviews:

a workshop for an inspiring adventure in design.......2006-11-09

Skolos and Wedell have captured their knowledge and enthusiasm for graphic design in this invaluable book. They generously share their own inspiring creative processes, while educating the reader through eloquent text and a unique compilation of design excellence from around the world. This workshop motivates a designer to open one's mind--to look past rigid combinations of type and image, and embark on a new adventure with photo-typographic works. Design practitioners, educators, and students alike will discover new depth with each read.

Great book!.......2006-10-31

Natalia Ilyin has it dead on (so be sure to read her review).
Really amazing examples inside by top world design firms from the USA, Europe, Middle East, Korea, Japan, etc. such as Bruno Monguzzi, Gunter Rambow, cyan, Lucille Tenazas, Why Not Assoc., Catherine Zask, and last but not least Pierre Bernard.
This is the kind of quality hard back design book at a great price that is worth every penny.
It would also make a great gift for a soon to be or current graphic design major at any art and design school or university. They would love it!

A wonderful text for designing with type and image concepts.......2006-10-21

"When type meets image, there is automatically a dialogue between them, and each can pull the other in many different directions," write Nancy Skolos and Tom Wedell. Partners in life and in business, they affirm this in their intelligently written and premised workshop primer on how to design with type and image.... Neither portfolio-style eye-candy, dry-toast scholarship, or how-to textbook, this book will find its own niche with design students and professionals. Despite its subtitle, it is definitely, thank goodness, too sophisticated for the DIY crowd.

An important book for students, educators and young professionals.......2006-10-20

Finally, a graphic design book about form with more than eye candy - although there's a banquet of visual inspiration here. This smart book provides a taxonomy that explains strategies for combining typography and imagery. Designers will find that they can apply these methods (beyond style) in their own work to achieve their conceptual objectives. The book itself is both form and content - the book's innovative design demonstrates its content.

fills an unfilled niche.......2006-10-20

Manipulating type and image to create the tension that breaks meaning open is the essence of graphic design. Few books, particularly books created as "workshops," do a balanced job of communicating useful strategies for creating with type and image. Often their authors are a little better at one thing than they are at the other--a little better at type or a little better at using images. But few have an equally high standard or talent in both, and for this reason, the tension that makes meaning lags, and the book is useful for some lessons, but not for others. Not so with Skolos and Wedell. Their combined type talent and image expertise-- born of working together for so long, perhaps-- is like that of one consciousness-- a doubled consciousness that benefits the user. Their book is a rich, satisfying review of technique and result. I recommend it as a primary text for any design course that explores the making of meaning in graphic design.

The Dynamics of Persuasion: Communication and Attitudes in the 21st Century (Lea's Communication)

Average customer rating:

Great book on the basics of persuasion.
A Wonderful Textbook
It is an investment for life. Go for it.

The Dynamics of Persuasion: Communication and Attitudes in the 21st Century (Lea's Communication)
Richard M. Perloff
Manufacturer: Lawrence Erlbaum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Communications | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Influence: Science and Practice (4th Edition)
Persuasion: Theory and Research (Current Communication: An Advanced Text)
Thinking From A to Z
The Psychology of Attitude Change and Social Influence
Psychology of Attitudes

ASIN: 0805840885

Book Description

This completely revised second edition of the best-selling text presents an up-to-date, comprehensive introduction to persuasive communication and attitude change. Employing the same organizational strategy he used in the first edition but offering more applications and fresh examples, Richard Perloff systematically explores the impact of persuasive communications on attitudes toward a host of topics spanning health, politics, and racial prejudice.

This text will:
*enhance students' understanding of persuasion theories and research;
*introduce readers to the social science perspective on persuasion;
*expose students to major issues discussed in the field of persuasion research;
*help students appreciate complexities and subtleties in the dynamics of everyday persuasion; and
*raise consciousness about the ethics of contemporary persuasion.

Part I introduces students to the ubiquity of persuasion, how it is defined and differentiated from related terms, and the meaning of core concepts like attitude, belief, and value. Perloff combines a discussion of major concepts, such as balance theory, accessibility, and the theory of reasoned action with application of these concepts to numerous situations in everyday life, including the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, body art, religion, abortion, and AIDS prevention.

Part II of the book explores communication and attitude change. Contemporary theories, such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the Extended Parallel Process Model, and Cognitive Dissonance Theory are discussed in detail. Students and professors will find an up-to-date discussion of research generated by these theories, coupled with criticisms of theoretical perspectives.

Part III of the book examines advertising and communication campaigns. After introducing students to advertising--using well-known advertising slogans and motifs--Perloff debunks subliminal advertising and describes major theories of advertising effects.

Written for the upper-undergraduate level, The Dynamics of Persuasion is appropriate for courses in the social sciences, notably communication, speech, journalism, psychology, marketing, and sociology.

Customer Reviews:

Great book on the basics of persuasion........2002-08-14

This book is easy to read and understand. The concepts are backed up with studies and real-world examples, not too much speculation and theorizing. There is so much thought-provoking material, it really stands out for a textbook. In fact, this is one of the best textbooks I have ever seen.

Want to persuade people in everyday life? This isn't a bad place to start learning about it. You'll get an overview of dozens and dozens of ways to become more persuasive, why they work, and examples of how to use them.

A Wonderful Textbook.......2000-01-09

I teach a course in social influence at a local university, and this is the textbook that I like to use. Some of my students think it is overly dense, but a textbook isn't supposed to read like a novel. It has a great range of information, and is written from a communications, rather than a psychological, perspective. I find it highly readable and accurate, and love the section on propaganda. I hope a second edition will be available soon.

It is an investment for life. Go for it........1999-12-05

I have read this book several times each time found it interesting and challenging. Written in an extravagant manner the book touches upon the main techniques of Persuasion. The book helped me a lot while writing me thesis on Persuasion in Advertising. Hope you'll like it too. It a visa for new territories, vague and yet real. Lilly George Bulgaria

System Safety for the 21st Century: The Updated and Revised Edition of System Safety 2000

Average customer rating:

System Safety for the 21st Century: The Updated and Revised Edition of System Safety 2000
Richard A. Stephans
Manufacturer: Wiley-Interscience
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

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Safety | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (4th Ed)
Aviation Safety Programs: A Management Handbook
Aircraft Accident Analysis: Final Reports
Human Factors in Flight
Commercial Aviation Safety

ASIN: 0471444545

Book Description

Summarizes the current state of "front-end" risk-control techniques
Many approaches to risk control are possible. However, only through careful reading, evaluation, and study can one make the best choice of a practical philosophy for a system safety program. The goal is to apply the best scientific and engineering principles in the best way, resulting in the soundest and safest possible system.
System Safety for the 21st Century provides in-depth coverage of this specialized discipline within the safety profession. Written for both technical and nontechnical reference, this clearly organized text serves as a resource for both students and practitioners. It gives basic and essential information about the identification, evaluation, analysis, and control of hazards in components, systems, subsystems, processes, and facilities.
Integrating the changes to the field that have occurred since publication of the first edition, this revised and expanded resource offers:
* Logical progression from basics to techniques to applications
* New focus on process safety not found in other texts
* A new and unique section on professionalism for system safety and other safety practitioners
* Presentation of both system safety scope and essentials
* Consistent chapter format for easy learning includes an introduction and summary for each chapter
* Review questions reinforcing important points
* A combination of basis requirements with practical experience
* Information on selected techniques to assess hazards and provide management oversight
* An updated section on protecting against external events in the light of the global terrorist threat
* Critiques of existing systems, including those of the Department of Defense and the
* Department of Energy
Relevant to industry, academia, and government, System Safety for the 21st Century is an essential resource for anyone studying or implementing proactive hazard identification and risk control techniques and procedures.

And the Truth Shall Set You Free: The 21st Century Edition

Average customer rating:

Eye opening look at the real world
A mix of real suppressed truths and utter baloney
And the Truth Shall Set You Free
Give me a break...
Straight-jacket?

And the Truth Shall Set You Free: The 21st Century Edition
David Icke
Manufacturer: David Icke Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Conspiracy Theories | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Channeling | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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Tales from the Time Loop: The Most Comprehensive Expos of the Global Conspiracy Ever Written and All You Need to Know to Be Truly Free
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Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster
I am me I am free - The Robots' Guide to Freedom

ASIN: 0953881059

Book Description

David Icke exposes what he says is the real story behind global events which shape the future of human existence.

Customer Reviews:

Eye opening look at the real world .......2007-08-25

Thought it was a very good book. Have encounted this information before in his other books. Eye opening look at the real world we live in. It certainly makes since when you consider how conditioned we all seem to be. If you have never read any of his books, I would start with this one.

A mix of real suppressed truths and utter baloney.......2007-08-17

David Icke manages to take a lot of genuine and generally ignored history of the schemes of the global economic elite and weave it together with his own special brand of way-out-there-ness. He is famous for claiming to have been the messiah (he no longer claims this) and that humans are ruled over by shape-shifting reptilians.

The only reason this book gets 2 instead of 1 star from me is that it is worth understanding who people like Icke are and why they do what they do. It seems the idea is to discourage people from examining inconvenient historical truths by conflating them with truly bizarre claims.

And the Truth Shall Set You Free.......2007-05-13

This book is a real eye-opener....all I can say is WOW! Reams and reams of info. This book is worth it's weight in gold. Thanks David Icke.

Give me a break..........2007-04-26

I can't believe I got suckered into reading this poorly written, sci-fi fantasy. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty open-minded. However every few pages has Icke over-explaining his resoning for writing this book. I kept hoping the "juicy" stuff would show up after his endless philosophizing. Not so.

Straight-jacket?.......2007-04-16

Anyone have one, because this author should be fitted for one! Or is he crazy like a fox, making this nonsense into a cottage industry to line his bank accounts! Oh, perhaps, that makes me part of the conspiracy? Dumb nonsense - thankfully, I borrowed it from the library and quickly too it back!

Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2003

Average customer rating:

Good Explanations but not Practical
Overall, not too bad
Poor writing style
From The Author
Good in some areas, lacking in others

Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
Barry Gerber
Manufacturer: Sybex
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

E-mail | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Networking | Microsoft | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Mastering Windows Server 2003
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Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Unleashed (2nd Edition) (Unleashed)

ASIN: 0782142044

Book Description

Exchange Server 2003, the next version of Microsofts messaging and collaboration server, provides corporate environments with built-in e-mail, calendaring, contact and task management, discussion groups and document workflow. IDC recently reported that Exchange Server's user install base grew to 39.40f the total market, clearly surpassing IBM Notes as the leading integrated collaborative environment.

Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 is a comprehensive reference for those who need to install, configure and administer the multifacted operating system. Author Barry Gerber carefully walks readers through planning and design, installation, administration and management, maintenance and more. Hot topics include disaster and recovery, security, wireless access and building custom e-mail forms for Outlook.

Customer Reviews:

Good Explanations but not Practical.......2004-11-27

This book has generally good easily digestible explanations for Exchange 2003. I really appreciate the informal down-to-Earth style and discussion of a lot of pieces. I was especially happy to see some good coverage of LDAP, IMAP, and POP configuration, which is seldom adequately covered in other Exchange books.

Despite the excellent overview in many areas, I wish the book was more practical in real world situations. It is great to know about key technologies, which makes the book a worthy of perusal, but still we need to implement and deploy this stuff, which unfortunately involves bizarre tweaks and configurations combined with third party tools and maybe even scripting. I just don't get this practical real-world oriented sense from this book.

One area that irked me quite a bit was coverage of security. There is some coverage of securing open insecure technologies like POP and IMAP, but only on the client. In the security chapter, there's a few paragraphs stating that security is a client issue and should not be covered in the scope of the book. I think it is important both to setup the security on the client and the server, so that the clients can use it, and so that potential hackers don't get passwords for domain accounts. The author does attempt to give a short blurb on how to setup SSL, but I found that the instructions did not work. I was probably missing some other pieces, Certificate Authority?

In conclusion, overall decent coverage of Exchange 2003 with good explanations, but one needs more material, perhaps other books in order to put all the pieces together and get the job done.

Overall, not too bad.......2004-07-26

I would hardly consider this book "Mastering Exchange" but the author does take the time to step you through all the property pages and settings so you at least get a basic idea of what it all means. You will have a solid basic understanding when you are done but you certainly won't be a master by any stretch of the imagination. I found several errors throughout the book specifically related to Windows and networking. The author should stick to Exchange because when the topic shifts to something else, I had my doubts about what I was reading. For instance, I believe the author stated that in an NT 4.0 Domain, if a PDC goes down, the other DC's elect a new one. WHAT!!!! Maybe a browser, but not a PDC. Its been a while since I read the book but I am pretty sure I read that in a side bar. As I said, overall, not bad if you what a basic intro to Exchange 2003. The title should be changed to Exchange 2003 basics.

Poor writing style.......2004-06-27

Maybe the content of this book is ok, but the writer has constant urge to put useless text lines and useless personal opinions between the technical explenations. This shouldn't be a story book ...

Things get worse when on page 142 he still needs to explain the difference between FAT and NTFS.

quote: "Setup displays a little gauge showing formatting progress. Formatting takes quite a
bit of time."

in this case, burning a book is ok ;)

From The Author.......2004-05-29

First I support a web site with additions and corrections to the book. There's lots of information there, based mostly on comments and questions from readers. You can find the site at http://bgerber.com/Ex2003AddCorrect.htm. Page past the hot news section for a numbered list of very specific questions followed by answers.

The comments that have been expressed about my book "Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2003" are interesting. They seem to come from two basic types of readers: those that have a hands-on job to do and those focusing on the Exchange Server certification process.

The book is for those who have a hands-on job to do -- install and run Exchange Server. Comments I receive from readers with that task, especially those starting anew with Exchange Server are almost always complementary. They also ask questions to which I usually respond quickly.

Hands-on people looking for a more advanced book on Exchange Server 2003, should read Jim McBee's "Exchange Server 2003 24seven," also from Sybex. I was privileged to work with Jim on this edition of his book and am listed as a contributing author on the cover.

People who are collecting facts for certification tests should turn to the many books on Exchange certification. There isn't time or space in a book the size of mine to deal with every detail of the Exchange system. For example, contrary to a comment by an earlier Amazon reviewer, you can actually upgrade an Exchange 5.5 system to Exchange 2000 or 2003, operate it successfully and ultimately remove 5.5 components without knowing that SRS, the Site Replication Service, participates in Exchange 5.5-Exchange 2000 or 2003 data replication. Certification is valuable, but it can't replace hands-on experience when it comes time to do a real job.

I have successfully planned, installed and supported Exchange systems for a number of medium and large user-base clients for 10 years. I also do Exchange Server security breach forensics. As one with a set of hands-on jobs to do, I have written a book for that sort of person.

Good in some areas, lacking in others.......2004-05-01

I find that the book doesn't agree with the title. It was good for some basic how-to Exchange things, but what I really wanted, was some in-depth instruction on getting the EAS up and running. What I got was VERY VERY basic, and if you run into any problems, you're SOL. It doesn't say anything about working EAS through a firewall, and it kind of blows past it saying that the guy likes using IMAP better. Well I'm sorry, but if I'm supposed to be "mastering" Exchange Server 2003 then I certainly need a bit more than the most rudamentary thing on such a new implement to Ex'03 as EAS.

The Global Village: Transformations in World Life and Media in the 21st Century (Communication and Society (New York, N.Y.).)

Average customer rating:

A Laudable Extension of McLuhan: Cool, Seminal & Involving!
a shameful posthumous misrepresentation of McL.'s thought.
FIGURING OUT THE GROUND

The Global Village: Transformations in World Life and Media in the 21st Century (Communication and Society (New York, N.Y.).)
Marshall McLuhan , and Bruce R. Powers
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Future of Computing | Business & Culture | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

The Medium is the Massage
The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
Laws of Media: The New Science
Essential McLuhan

ASIN: 0195079108

Book Description

Extending the visionary early work of the late Marshall McLuhan, The Global Village, one of his last collaborative efforts, applies that vision to today's worldwide, integrated electronic network. When McLuhan's groundbreaking Understanding Media was published in 1964, the media as we know it today did not exist. But McLuhan's argument, that the technological extensions of human consciousness were racing ahead of our ability to understand their consequences, has never been more compelling. And if the medium is the message, as McLuhan maintained, then the message is becoming almost impossible to decipher. In The Global Village, McLuhan and co-author Bruce R. Powers propose a detailed conceptual framework in terms of which the technological advances of the past two decades may be understood. At the heart of their theory is the argument that today's users of technology are caught between two very different ways of perceiving the world. On the one hand there is what they refer to as Visual Space--the linear, quantitative mode of perception that is characteristic of the Western world; on the other hand there is Acoustic Space--the holistic, qualitative reasoning of the East. The medium of print, the authors argue, fosters and preserves the perception of Visual Space; but, like television, the technologies of the data base, the communications satellite, and the global media network are pushing their users towards the more dynamic, "many-centered" orientation of Acoustic Space. The authors warn, however, that this movement towards Acoustic Space may not go smoothly. Indeed, McLuhan and Powers argue that with the advent of the global village--the result of worldwide communications--these two worldviews "are slamming into each other at the speed of light," asserting that "the key to peace is to understand both these systems simultaneously." Employing McLuhan's concept of the Tetrad--a device for predicting the changes wrought by new technologies--the authors analyze this collision of viewpoints. Taking no sides, they seek to do today what McLuhan did so successfully twenty-five years ago--to look around the corner of the coming world, and to help us all be prepared for what we will find there.

Customer Reviews:

A Laudable Extension of McLuhan: Cool, Seminal & Involving!.......2000-12-09

Powers says that this book is not about "final answers." By God he's right! And he proceeds to effloresce a wondrous garden wrought of the print medium brimming over with fresh probes, "osmic space," brains "astonied," the secret lives of "sense ratios," and other electrific, outsized insights and invitations into the futurepresent. One could readily argue and effectively so that "The Global Village..." is indeed a worthy extension of the medium of Professor McLuhan himself, ringing true and resonating orchestrally with the spirit and vivacity of that bright, iridescent, warm and radiant bulb which, tragically, went out suddenly and left us in darkness on New Year's Eve, 1980.

Feed forward 9 years. Powers'/McLuhan's "tetrad" is a mesmerizingly rich metaphor lending clarity and intensity to McLuhan's seminal 1964 probicon, "Understanding Media--The Extensions of Man." This "new" 1989 book is a MUST-read, a reverent continuance of McLuhan's oeuvre, a virtual channeling of his spirit, and in various ways easier to grasp perhaps, more accessible even, than the monumentally revolutionary/visionary UMTEOM.

The beauty of McLuhan and by protraction Dr. Bruce Powers here is that these men are not pedants but facilitators. Their goal, much like that of Carl Rogers or George B. Leonard or Joseph Campbell, is not to pound stuff into brainpans, but to gently yet insistently open up minds to possibilities, perils, challenges, potentialities and joys imperative in the present reality/"reelity?" or whatever one wishes to term the agardish within which each of us swims, breathes, eats, creates, dances, defecates, procreates and seethes.

If McLuhan is the sorcerer, Bruce Powers is his worthy apprentice, now successor. In fact he veritably invites all of us to be successors (McLuhanatics?), to become involved (the essential definition of "cool"). This book is exciting, invigorating, pulsating, intensely involving and above all, highly rewarding. We need more extensions of McLuhan like this one. This is a superb nonbook, a hybrid medium, and a seamless read. TGV will get your probing juices flowing. It's as revitalizing as pure MDMA (as far as "the mdma is the message" goes). Buy this deceptively modest paperback, and step into it like a hot bath.

a shameful posthumous misrepresentation of McL.'s thought........2000-06-09

I'm surprised this travesty is still in print. "Not in McLuhan's style" is a kind understatement; Powers demonstrates flagrant misunderstanding and confusion of basic McLuhanesque ideas. Try 'Laws of Media' or 'Understanding Electric Language' instead.

FIGURING OUT THE GROUND.......1998-09-14

This book is for the McLuhan enthusiast who would like to figure out the ground on which McLuhan stands. It is chock full of McLuhan's ideas, but not presented in McLuhan's typical style. Published 9 years after McLuhan's death, it seems likely that co-author Bruce Powers assembled the material for publication.

If you are not already very familiar with McLuhan's thoughts and earlier writings, this book is not for you. If you are already very familiar with McLuhan's words, you won't find anything new, but you will find some of McLuhan's basic ideas amplified and extrapolated.

Customer Reviews:

Steering Communication Studies into the Twenty-First Century.......2000-07-29

Judith S. Trent has assembled an outstanding selection of essays reflecting the diversity that the field of communication studies has become at the end of the twentieth century. These essays are the outgrowth of convention presentations by scores of leading researchers-scholars who participated in the 1996 San Diego convention of the National Communication Association.

This assemblage of essays (59 in all) are divided into seventeen chapters comprising an introductory chapter from the bridge, as it were, of Trent's ship of researchers followed by sixteen discrete chapters which chart the waters of communication studies today. There is little or no looking back to the origins of this professional association of educators which was founded in 1914 as the National Association of Academic Teachers of Public Speaking. Rather, this text views where the academic discipline of communication studies is today as a way of charting the directions the field may take into the twenty-first century.

"Communication: Views from the Helm for the Twenty-First Century" admirably showcases the most recent trends and directions in communication studies including health and relational communication; political, group, and organizational communication; media, performance, gender, and cultural studies; as well as intercultural, rhetorical, and political communication.

From this reviewer's perspective - which may be a deck or two below the bridge - the view might have been enhanced by a broader inclusivity. For example, the gender chapter needed a more diverse view with a stronger focus on gay, lesbian, and transgender areas of inquiry and the area of environmental communication received no consideraton whatsoever. Also marginalized were such areas as debate and forensics, ethics and religion, and freedom of speech and law. While granting that some of these latter areas such as debate and forensics have their own textual history and other areas may be small and specialized, some researchers in these areas of communication studies may feel left back ot the dock.

Book Description

Both highly informative and entertaining, Multicultural Manners gives readers the understanding they need, the perfect words to say, and the correct behavior to use in a wide range of cross-cultural situations. This incisive and award-winning guide to etiquette features completely updated etiquette guidelines with special emphasis on post–September 11 culture clashes as well as a brand-new section that demystifies unfamiliar cultures in the news. Norine Dresser identifies key cross-cultural hot spots and suggests methods that foster respect for diversity. Readers will discover the dos and don’ts of successful business and social interaction, detailed tips on avoiding embarrassment in a variety of social settings, amusing firsthand accounts of cultural gaffes, a breakdown of customs, religions, languages, and ethnicities for seventy different countries, and appropriate etiquette for innumerable settings.

Customer Reviews:

The most important part is just being aware that there are differences.......2006-03-08

I wish that everyone would read this book, just to be aware that different cultures have different mores, and if someone is "foreign" to you, their manners may seem very odd. It is necessary not to jump to conclusions. Of course, since so much of communication is non-verbal, it's also difficult not to.

Obviously, one cannot adopt a single set of manners that would suit all people since people often have opposite customs. I worked with one group of people that hated to have money left on the counter, and another that preferred to have money left on the counter, and it was hard to remember to switch. Dresser notes that not all people from one country have the same customs, and as people live in the US for a few generations, they may forget ethnic customs. She tells a story on herself: visiting Hmong-Americans, she insists on removing her shoes, only to find out that the family has dropped that custom. Fortunately, I think most people appreciate the attempt to be polite, even if one stumbles from time to time.

The book is told mainly in the form of anecdotes about cultural miscommunications, with explanations of customs of various societies. After this is a section listing many, although not all individual countries. This is followed by an extensive bibliography and an index.

The index is one of the weakest points of the book. If one wants to use the book to learn customs for a specific group of people, the cross-indexing is erratic. If one is looking for Iranian customs, one also needs to look up Muslim and Middle-Easterners, but there are no cross references for this, although there are for some entries.

A useful book, if one is going to be interacting with a known group of people. Otherwise, at least a reminder that customs vary.

Rethink Redesign Reconstruct: How Top Designers Create Bold New Work by Re:Interpreting Original Designs

Average customer rating:

Exercise for the Creative Imagination
So far so good...
Inspirational!
Una guia para entender que siempre hay recursos
Totally reinvents the 'redesign' genre of design books

Rethink Redesign Reconstruct: How Top Designers Create Bold New Work by Re:Interpreting Original Designs
Mark Wasserman
Manufacturer: How Design Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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Area

ASIN: 1581804598

Book Description

This book is a powerful reminder that there's more than one solution to every creative problem. Author Mark Wasserman has created a unique experiment in design that is much like the process of remixing music. Top designers were given the source files to one of 37 original designs and asked to reinterpret the original art into new creations. Ultimately, the project was not about making a design better, but about different visual approaches. Besides being a visual treat, these remixes can also serve as a creative jolt for those inevitable times when designers need a little extra inspiration.

Each section starts with an original design and detailed Q&A-style captions that explain the concept and process behind the design. The following redesigns--ranging from wild freeform creations to more subtle changes--are paired with insightful interviews that give readers a rare glimpse into the creative thought process.

In all, the book features 160 designers, from 20 countries around the world. Designers involved include such notables as Stefan Sagmeister, Dave Eggers, eBoy, KINSEYvisual, Joshua Davis (PrayStation), Modern Dog, The Heads of State, WeWorkForThem, Jemma Gura, UPSO, Aesthetic Apparatus, Brent Rollins (Ego Trip), Plinko, Deanne Cheuk (neomu), 2Advanced, Nonconceptual, Jon Santos, HONEST, kozyndan, Milky Elephant, Patent Pending (SubPop), Mr. Jago, and many many more.

With page after page full of never-before-seen artwork, this book is equally at home in a designer's bookshelf, and a non-designer's coffee table.

Customer Reviews:

Exercise for the Creative Imagination.......2007-06-08

This collection of original ads and the subsequent exercise done by at least 4 different design firms is a very interesting approach to an art book. I enjoyed the accompanying "interview" with each designer so you could align the feeling you got from the rework with their explanation of the approach.

So far so good..........2007-05-07

I work as a designer myself in an advertising agency and have only had this book for a short time, but really enjoy looking and reading through it. It has givien me inspiration and motivation in my own work. Also it has been a good way of seeing how other designers and artist percieve the same idea or concept. This book is great for anyone who wants to see or learn how other designers work, it's a good motivational tool.

Inspirational!.......2007-02-09

Right when I opened this book I already knew that I would be hooked. The idea that certain design work would be redesigned by other designers helps me to see that there is never one way to solving a problem. If you want a new perspective on a project you are on, perhaps this book will help!

Una guia para entender que siempre hay recursos.......2006-09-02

Quizás lo que aprendí en este libro es que cuando estamos trancados en un diseño, es mejor empezar desde cero, como si nunca hubieramos trabajado alguna idea sobre el mismo desde el comienzo.

Totally reinvents the 'redesign' genre of design books.......2004-09-30

If design books have one general fault, it is failing to keep up with the curve, the leading edge of graphic design. Things change so quickly. The subgenre of redesign books has been among the worst offenders in this area. That's because many have been content to take 15 year old designs and reconfigure them for today, in the process inadvertently passing off more or less standard results as special work. This book is a total break with this lazy tradition of contrasting your father's design and your own generation's. It does that by picking relatively recent designs for "what if" rethinking. The results play out as mind-blowing re-envisionings of already edgy design. To me that's what sets this book apart: the pieces being redesigned aren't ancient, they aren't the least bit stodgy. In most cases, the originals up for redesign could probably themselves have appeared in fairly recent design annuals, and may have, in many instances.

Rethink Redesign Reconstruct is a fresh, exciting book that stands out in a genre of the design book field that has settled into a comfortable rut. I would call it a definite must have among current design books.

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