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Ben Shneiderman

 

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Ben Shneiderman



 
 
Ben Shneiderman (born August 21, 1947) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 computer scientist
Computer science

Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems....
, and professor
Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
 for Computer Science
Computer science

Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems....
 at the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a public research university located in the city of College Park, Maryland in Prince George's County, Maryland outside Washington, D.C....
. He conducted fundamental research in the field of human–computer interaction
Human–computer interaction

Human?computer interaction is the study of interaction between people and computers. It is often regarded as the intersection of computer science, behavioral sciences, design and several List of human-computer interaction topics of study....
, developing new ideas, methods, and tools such as the direct manipulation interface
Direct manipulation interface

Direct manipulation is a human-computer interaction style which involves continuous representation of objects of interest, and rapid, reversible, incremental actions and feedback....
, and his eight rules of design.

s a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science
Bronx High School of Science

The Bronx High School of Science is a Specialized High Schools of New York City New York City public high school. Founded in 1938, it is currently located in the Bedford Park, Bronx, New York section of the Bronx....
, and received a B.S. in Mathematics
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
 and Physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 from the City College of New York
City College of New York

The City College of The City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York, in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning....
 in 1968, and then went on to study at the State University of New York at Stony Brook
State University of New York at Stony Brook

State University of New York at Stony Brook, commonly known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, New York, United States ....
, where he received an M.S.






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Ben Shneiderman (born August 21, 1947) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 computer scientist
Computer science

Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems....
, and professor
Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
 for Computer Science
Computer science

Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems....
 at the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a public research university located in the city of College Park, Maryland in Prince George's County, Maryland outside Washington, D.C....
. He conducted fundamental research in the field of human–computer interaction
Human–computer interaction

Human?computer interaction is the study of interaction between people and computers. It is often regarded as the intersection of computer science, behavioral sciences, design and several List of human-computer interaction topics of study....
, developing new ideas, methods, and tools such as the direct manipulation interface
Direct manipulation interface

Direct manipulation is a human-computer interaction style which involves continuous representation of objects of interest, and rapid, reversible, incremental actions and feedback....
, and his eight rules of design.

Biography

He is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science
Bronx High School of Science

The Bronx High School of Science is a Specialized High Schools of New York City New York City public high school. Founded in 1938, it is currently located in the Bedford Park, Bronx, New York section of the Bronx....
, and received a B.S. in Mathematics
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
 and Physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 from the City College of New York
City College of New York

The City College of The City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York, in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning....
 in 1968, and then went on to study at the State University of New York at Stony Brook
State University of New York at Stony Brook

State University of New York at Stony Brook, commonly known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, New York, United States ....
, where he received an M.S. in Computer Science in 1972 and graduated with a Ph.D.
Ph.D.

Ph.D. or PHD may stand for:* Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group* Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip...
 in 1973.

In 1997 he was inducted as a Fellow
Fellow

A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. Historically, the term fellow was also used to describe a man, particularly by those in the upper social classes....
 of the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery

The Association for Computing Machinery, or ACM, was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership was approximately 83,000 as of 2007....
.

In 2002 his book Leonardo's Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies was Winner of a IEEE-USA Award for Distinguished Contributions Furthering Public Understanding of the Profession
IEEE-USA Award for Distinguished Contributions Furthering Public Understanding of the Profession

Created by the IEEE, the IEEE-USA Award for Distinguished Contributions Furthering Public Understanding of the Profession '"recognize[s] outstanding journalistic or other efforts that lead to a better public understanding of the contributions of engineering professionals to the enhancement and expansion of the social, economic, and cultural a...
.

Work

In his earlier work on studying programmers, he conducted experiments which suggested that flowcharts were not helpful for writing, understanding, or modifying computer programs.

His major work in recent years has been on information visualization
Information visualization

File:HaloVisualizationTechnique.pngInformation visualization the interdisciplinary study of the visualisation Representation of large-scale collections of non-numerical information, such as files and lines of code in software systems, and the use of graphical techniques to help people understand and analyze data....
, originating the treemap concept for hierarchical data. He also developed dynamic queries sliders with multiple coordinated displays that are a key component of Spotfire
Spotfire

Spotfire is a business intelligence company based in Somerville, MA. On 2 May 2007 it was announced that Tibco Software would buy the company....
, which was acquired by TIBCO in 2007. His work continued on visual analysis tools for time series data, TimeSearcher, high dimensional data, Hierarchical Clustering Explorer, and social network data, SocialAction .

In addition to his influential work in user interface design, he is known for the co-invention (together with Isaac Nassi
Isaac Nassi

Isaac "Ike" Nassi is an Executive Vice President at SAP AG. He holds responsibility for SAP Research for the Americas and China and is based out of SAP's Palo Alto location....
) of the Nassi-Shneiderman diagram
Nassi-Shneiderman diagram

A Nassi-Schneiderman diagram is a graphical design representation for structured programming.Developed in 1972 by Isaac Nassi and Ben Shneiderman, these diagrams are also called structograms, as they show a program's structures....
s, a graphical representation of the design of structured software.

He also defined the research area of universal usability
Universal usability

Universal usability refers to the design of information and communications products and services that are usable for every citizen. The concept has been advocated by Professor Ben Shneiderman, a computer scientist at the University of Maryland, College Park....
 to encourage greater attention to diverse users, languages, cultures, screen sizes, network speeds, and technology platforms.

Publications

A selection:
  • 1980. Software Psychology: Human Factors in Computer and Information Systems; Little, Brown and Co. ISBN 0-87626-816-5
  • 1987. 'Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction. With C. Plaisant. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-321-26978-0.'
  • 1999. Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think. With Stuart K. Card and Jock D. Mackinlay
    Jock D. Mackinlay

    Jock D. Mackinlay is an American information visualization expert and Director of Visual Analysis at Tableau Software. With Stuart K. Card, George G....
    . Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN 1-55860-533-9.
  • 2002. Leonardo's Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies; MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-69299-6.


External links

  • , with an extensive list of publications.
  • , B. Shneiderman, R. Mayer, D. McKay, and P. Heller, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 20, Iss. 6, Jun 1977.