Virgilio Tosi: Cinema Before Cinema: The Origins of Scientific Cinematography (2005)
Filed under book | Tags: · chronophotography, cinema, film, film history, scientific cinema
This classic history of early film and photography, first published in 1984, describes the scientific impulses behind sequence photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge and E.J. Marey, whose work led directly to the birth of cinema. Now entitled Cinema Before Cinema: The Origins of Scientific Cinematography, the book has been updated to include recent research in the field. The English translation was done by BUFVC Library and Database Manager Sergio Angelini. The BUFVC is the distributor of the English-language version of the film series THE ORIGINS OF SCIENTIFIC CINEMATOGRAPHY, which Tosi produced over 1990-1993 to complement his written researches. The BUFVC has produced a DVD edition of the films, to mark the publication of the English edition of the book.
Publisher British Universities Film & Video Council, 2005
Film Studies series
ISBN 0901299758, 9780901299758
234 pages
PDF (updated on 2013-1-23)
Comment (0)Edward R. Tufte: Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative (1997/2005)
Filed under book | Tags: · design, information design, interaction design, visual culture
Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative is about pictures of verbs, the representation of mechanism and motion, process and dynamics, causes and effects, explanation and narrative. Practical applications and examples include statistical graphics, charts for making important decisions in engineering and medicine, technical manuals, diagrams, design of computer interfaces and websites and on-line manuals, animations and scientific visualizations, techniques for talks, and design strategies for enhancing the rate of information transfer in print, presentations, and computer screens. The use of visual evidence in deciding to launch the space shuttle Challenger is discussed in careful detail. Video snapshots show redesigns of a supercomputer animation of a thunderstorm. The book is designed and printed to the highest standards, with luscious color throughout and four built-in flaps for showing motion and before/after effects.
Publisher Graphics Press, 1997
Seventh printing, with revisions, June 2005
Length 156 pages
PDF (no OCR)
Comment (0)Edward R. Tufte: The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint (2003)
Filed under pamphlet | Tags: · computer graphics, design, visual communication
In corporate and government bureaucracies, the standard method for making a presentation is to talk about a list of points organized onto slides projected up on the wall. For many years, overhead projectors lit up transparencies, and slide projectors showed high-resolution 35mm slides. Now “slideware” computer programs for presentations are nearly everywhere. Early in the 21st century, several hundred million copies of Microsoft PowerPoint were turning out trillions of slides each year.
Alas, slideware often reduces the analytical quality of presentations. In particular, the popular PowerPoint templates (ready-made designs) usually weaken verbal and spatial reasoning, and almost always corrupt statistical analysis. What is the problem with PowerPoint? And how can we improve our presentations?
Publisher Graphics Press, 2003
ISBN 0-9613921-5-0
Length 32 pages