1. The class notes are not a substitute for the assigned readings. They are often critical commentaries meant to supplement or correct the readings, and sometimes they just reflect what I felt like writing at the time, or what was easy to copy in from somewhere else, rather than what is most important. Also, please note that the lectures and the readings beyond the text are at least as important as the text itself.

2. Readings and homework for a given week will normally be posted on the class website on Thursday of the week before; posted material is subject to change until Saturday, but any changes after Friday will be minimal.

3. Some of you may be unable read assigned gziped postscript papers, probably due to using MS Explorer without gunzip and/or ghostview; the TA for an early version of CSE 171 wrote a short note on this problem, as part of his discussion website for that course. You will probably have no trouble with unix machines, and you will certainly have no trouble with the CSE unix machines on campus.

1. Due 4 April:
   • Chapter 1 of Shneiderman.
   • Section 1 and Section 2 of the class notes.
   • The Scientific American interview with Ben Shneiderman; meet our author and some of his recent obsessions.
   • Basic Webbing Notes by Joseph Goguen.
   Although theoretically this material should have been read before the first class meeting, it is of course acceptable to have read it before the second meeting.
    
2. Due 11 April:
   • Chapter 2 of Shneiderman, and Section 9.3.5 of Shneiderman (p.325).
   • Reread Section 1 and Section 2 of the class notes.
   • Agents of Alienation by Jaron Lanier.
   • On Notation by Joseph Goguen; a PDF version is also available. This is a short introduction to some basics of Peircean semiotics, with illustrations from computer science and mathematics.
    
3. Due 18 April:
   • Chapter 3 of Shneiderman.
   • Section 3 of the class notes.
   • Communication and Collaboration from a CSCW Perspective by Mark Ackerman. This paper is very condensed and will need to be read several times; some of you may need a dictionary, and the class notes will also help.
   • The section entitled "Signs," in Semiotics for Beginners by Daniel Chandler, University of Wales, Aberystwyth; you may also want to read the "Introduction" and/or the "Preface"; if so, I recommend doing so after reading the "Signs" section. You do not need to have a deep understanding of this material; however, it is interesting to get a taste of how semiotics is used in the humanities, and the historical information is also of some interest. The most important points about basic semiotics are summarized in the reading below.
   • Reread On Notation by Joseph Goguen; a PDF version is also available.
   • (Optional) Direct Manipulation vs. Interface Agents by Ben Shneiderman and Pattie Maes, Interactions, 4, no. 6, pp 42-61, 1997. Digest of a debate held at the 1997 CHI.