NPUC 1999 Speakers

Aaron Marcus Aaron Marcus and Associates

My Two Scents on New Paradigms

Abstract:

After a brief look at the last 30,000 years of civilization in which human beings have made tools and signs, I shall present some themes of likely development for user-interface and information-visualization design in the next decades of computer hardware and software. Among other scenarios I shall explore are the emergence of style, of she-c's in addition to he-c's, the growing importance of cultural diversity, and consequent new metaphors and new hieroglyphics, giving rise to "fabulous" new appearance and interaction paradigms.

Brief Biography:

Aaron Marcus received a BA in physics from Princeton (1965) and a BFA and MFA in graphic design from Yale Art School (1968). He co-authored Human Factors and Typography for More Readable Programs (1990), the Cross-GUI Handbook for Multiplatform User Interface Design (1994), and Graphic Design for Electronic Documents and User Interfaces (1992).

Mr. Marcus did pioneering work in bringing graphic design to computer graphics. He designed a desktop publishing system for the AT&T Picturephone in 1969 and He designed virtual reality work starting in 1971. He received the NCGA Industry Achievement Award for his contributions to computer graphics in 1992.

He started Aaron Marcus and Associates in 1982. His team has worked on hundreds of multimedia/CBT applications and on the Internet.