By M. Strata Rose
I'm supposed to be a multimedia artist. How can I get my brain back when it's taken a sudden vacation? How can I get some work done? I kind of know what I want to do, but I don't know how to do it.
Mind Over Media, by Mark von Wodtke, was written to get my synapses firing again. Imagine Roger Von Oech's A Whack on the Side of the Head crossed with Edward R. Tufte's classics, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and Envisioning Information.
For example, a chapter on "Exploring Electronic Media" discusses the use of templates and graphics applications (drawing programs, CAD programs) within the context of efficient transfer of ideas from brain to screen. Another imparts a minitreatise on ergonomics, complete with human form diagrams and stretching techniques for head-clearing, neck unkinking, and carpal tunnel relief. The bibliography alone – a compact and esoteric graduate-level reading course in design, cybernetics, and semiotics – is worth the cover price.
Mind Over Media: Creative Thinking Skills for Electronic Media, by Mark von Wodtke, US$30.75. McGraw-Hill: (800) 262 4729, +1 (212) 512 2000.
STREET CRED
Online User's EncyclopediaTwo Tot-Enthralling Titles
The Personal Information Industry and You
Faster Than a Speeding Kilobyte
Multimedia Muse
