CONTEXTS

Book Reviewsand direction for development. If you’re looking forinformation on user interfaces other than the traditionalGUI, this book is a great place to start.Devor BartonDevor Barton holds a BA in communications from the Universityof Houston, and a certificate of project management and an MSin technical communication from the University of Washington.He is a member of STC’s Puget Sound Chapter and the TechnicalEditing SIG, and is an ICIA Certified Technology Specialist.Artifice and Design: Art and Technology inHuman ExperienceBarry Allen. 2008. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. [ISBN 978-0-8014-4682-5. 213 pages, including notes and index. US$35.00.]Barry Allen’s Artifice and Designargues that the invention oftools established a commonground between design(technology) and artifice (art).For Allen, only humans caninfer the intentions of others(whether expressed or not),and this awareness definesa uniquely human socialunderstanding. The singulardexterity of the human handcan in turn shape this socially shared knowledge intofunctional objects, tools, and artifacts. Human toolsare therefore consciously “designed and made, usually byothers, to facilitate action”; they are “manufactured,”literally “made by hand,” and are specifically socialin nature (p. 2). In contrast, apes lack both the abilityto read intentions and the prehensile facility tomanufacture tools. A chimp extracting termites from ahole with a stick employs “a conveniently nonce objectmanipulated into facilitation,” but such use dependsentirely on the co-presence of stick, ape, and termites(p. 2). A chimp will not necessarily use his “proto-tool”again, even in the same circumstance; nor will he see itsusefulness in other situations or share his knowledgeof it; hence a chimp’s tool is really a “proto-tool,” animplement usable only in a particular context, andusually only once.Tools and artifacts—made objects—thereforeembody the social needs and purposes of the group;these include both utility and beauty. Hence artifacts aredesigned for both function and perception, either singlyor as assembled systems. The emergence of artifactualsystems combining instrumentality with aestheticsresults in what Allen calls “technology” and coincideswith the development of art—both involve artifactsdesigned “in anticipation of perception” (p. 177); bothare unified in a “technical economy” of “perceptuallyexpressive works” (p. 157); and since “technicalcoherence (design) begins with aesthetic coherence(beauty) and never abandons it,” both share a commonorigin and retain a symbiotic relationship (p. 178).New York’s Hell Gate Bridge exemplifies thissymbiosis. The arch bridge, its ends embedded on eachside of the East River, can easily support its load allby itself, yet the designer added massive towers at theabutments. Why include towers that aren’t technicallynecessary? Because both the engineer’s “trained” eyeand the nonengineer’s untrained eye feel “the want ofa visual counterpart to the thrust inconspicuouslychanneled into the foundations” (p. 139). Intellectually,we understand the bridge’s ability to work withoutthe towers; aesthetically, we do not. We need to see theweight at work; and so an aesthetic quality is built intothe object in anticipation of its perception. However,though they seem purely ornamental, the towers, byincreasing downward thrust, also assume a functionalpurpose: they permit “the designer to minimize thevolume of the foundation while keeping thrusts withinthe safety zone” (p. 140). Beauty and utility, then, are notmutually exclusive. They reinforce each other, and thiscan be seen throughout history, in an ancient axe or amodern bridge.Allen’s argument sometimes seems circular andrepetitive, and the style occasionally is obscure, butthese are cavils. The book is rich in insight, revealsdeep scholarship, and will provoke fruitful reflection intechnical communicators concerned about usability as acombination of utility and beauty. Read it!Donald R. RiccominiDonald R. Riccomini is an STC member and a lecturer in Englishat Santa Clara University, where he specializes in teachingengineering and technical communications. He previouslyspent 23 years as a technical writer, engineer, and manager insemiconductors, instrumentation, and server development.336 Technical Communication l Volume 57, Number 3, August 2010