Books

Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data

Average customer rating:

From the Dashboard Trenches
Good information
Great discussion on making useful displays of critical information
Basically just Tufte, but perfectly good anyway
Informative and amusing

Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data
Stephen Few
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business
Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten
Beautiful Evidence
Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition

ASIN: 0596100167

Book Description

Dashboards have become popular in recent years as uniquely powerful tools for communicating important information at a glance. Although dashboards are potentially powerful, this potential is rarely realized. The greatest display technology in the world won't solve this if you fail to use effective visual design. And if a dashboard fails to tell you precisely what you need to know in an instant, you'll never use it, even if it's filled with cute gauges, meters, and traffic lights. Don't let your investment in dashboard technology go to waste.

This book will teach you the visual design skills you need to create dashboards that communicate clearly, rapidly, and compellingly. Information Dashboard Design will explain how to:

Avoid the thirteen mistakes common to dashboard design
Provide viewers with the information they need quickly and clearly
Apply what we now know about visual perception to the visual presentation of information
Minimize distractions, cliches, and unnecessary embellishments that create confusion
Organize business information to support meaning and usability
Create an aesthetically pleasing viewing experience
Maintain consistency of design to provide accurate interpretation
Optimize the power of dashboard technology by pairing it with visual effectiveness

Stephen Few has over 20 years of experience as an IT innovator, consultant, and educator. As Principal of the consultancy Perceptual Edge, Stephen focuses on data visualization for analyzing and communicating quantitative business information. He provides consulting and training services, speaks frequently at conferences, and teaches in the MBA program at the University of California in Berkeley. He is also the author of Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten. Visit his website at www.perceptualedge.com.

Customer Reviews:

From the Dashboard Trenches.......2007-06-02

I am actually in the process of creating a marketing dashboard for a Fortune 500 company. I am essentially the lead for this project and wanted to get up to speed in a hurry on the current thinking about dashboards and the visual display of data---this book has been very helpful.

Actually, I have really learned a great deal about what NOT to do when it comes to creating a dashboard.

Colors? No.

Pie Charts? Don't even think of 'em.

How about cool little gauges that look like the speedometer in your car? Please.

Author Stephen Few basically shoots down just about everything you ever thought you knew about what would constitute a good dashboard. What he emphasizes, time and again, is simplicity.

Taking his own advice, the book iteself is very simple and can be read in a few hours as most of its pages contain pictures of, well, examples of bad dashboard design.

My only criticism of the book is that there simply aren't enough examples of good dashboard design.

If you are working on a project that involves the visual display of data, then you should definitely read this book.

Good information.......2007-04-23

It's a good book with good insight on what a dashboard is and isn't, which can help guide design heuristics and guidelines. Might be good to supplement it with an Edward Tufte book for more perspective on general information visualization.

Great discussion on making useful displays of critical information.......2007-04-15

I've been poking through this book for the last several months as I've been starting to get my head around KPI and dashboard capabilities in SharePoint Server 2007. The book's a great bit on figuring out the best ways to concisely display critical summary information on a single screen for an at-a-glance overview.

The book's broken out into solid chapters covering dashboard history/background, uses, design mistakes, and the value of simplicity in dashboard content. The style of the book is clear, and it's concise and well-written. There's also great use of color which is terrific because so much of dashboards is about helping give quick visual impacts via smart use of colors.

The intro chapter gives a lot of examples of dashboards, but I found it disappointing in that it doesn't really lay out clear opinions on whether the author liked or disliked the boards. That weakness is limited to the first chapter, though, because the rest of the book does a great job of laying out problematic dashboards and talking about the fundamental issues behind those problems. Few hits a lot of common things like making dashboards which require scrolling to hit all the parts of a dashboard, or fragmenting dashboard content into multiple screens accessed through tabs.

Few's writing style is very clear, and he's got great insight into many details about what makes a good dashboard -- small details like prefering bar charts over pie charts in all but a few cases, or ensuring that you're setting the proper context for visual information.

I'm definitely not a great visual design guy, so this book's been a great help to me in thinking about how to best represent critical data. Frankly, I think the book's a great aid in helping figure out not just dashboards, but how to best represent any critical information in a clear fashion.

Basically just Tufte, but perfectly good anyway.......2007-04-11

(I've amended this review a bit in response to author Stephen Few's comment below. Few is correct: I shouldn't categorically state that ALL of the advice in the book can be found in Tufte. Much of it can, though Few adds good information about things like which graph type works with different types of data.)

I picked this up for free at a conference, so I haven't given this as close a read as if I'd shelled out my own cash for it. It seems to be a perfectly useful book on a very specific topic. However nearly all of the advice about creating usable and valuable information displays comes right out of Edward Tufte's books. All of Few's lessons, tips, and design pointers are basically the same advice you can get from Tufte's far more beautiful books. That's not necessarily bad, Few's book is less than half the price of any of Tufte's hardcover-only, private-press publications.

It's also too bad that Few couldn't find any examples of well-designed information dashboards. It's shocking, really: there is not a single screenshot in this book that isn't used as an example of what NOT to do. And some of them are so dreadful it boggles the mind, with horrible colors, strange gimmicky graphics, an endless use of the red-yellow-green traffic light metaphor and on and on. Apparently no designer has ever worked on any of these products.

Informative and amusing.......2007-04-02

At last .. a documenting tech-head with a sense of humour. I found this book enlightening, amusing (ok tongue-in-cheek style) and useful. What more could you want in a manual? The book is a little more glossy than it needs to be, and if they cut down on the white-space it would fit into my handbag. However, the content is excellent. It's easy to read, easy to follow, and gives you everything you need to know about developing the most effective and efficient dashboards. I recommend this to everyone who has to design and/or develop performance solutions for their business community.

The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You

Average customer rating:

Great new tips for email
I want my 90 minutes back.
A must-read for everyone who uses email
It's a parable for a practical email management course which really works
A Fresh View Over Email Management

The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You
Mike Song , Vicki Halsey , and Tim Burress
Manufacturer: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide--How to Write and Manage E-Mail in the Workplace
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Cut to the Chase: and 99 Other Rules to Liberate Yourself and Gain Back the Gift of Time
Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home

ASIN: 1576754375

Book Description

The Hamster Revolution is a timely solution to both the widespread problem of email overload as well as most people's inefficient (or nonexistent) systems for categorizing and storing email messages. This book provides the practical steps needed to deal with these problems and become more efficient in our work.

Customer Reviews:

Great new tips for email.......2007-06-20

Purchased the audio tape for the car. Easy listening and great tips on productivity for managing email overload. Makes you think before you send an email, sculpt it, use categories for easier identification/prioritization and shows new system for filing and finding anything anytime. It worked for me and can warmly recommend to everybody! Join the Hamster Revolution!

I want my 90 minutes back........2007-06-13

If you have any system of organizing your email already in place, don't bother reading this book.

First of all, this book is written in a "For Complete Morons" "Who Moved My Cheese?" style which I found to be a complete turn-off.

The first half of the book tells you what's wrong with your email style, which is news only to those that don't know how to conduct business communication in the first place. "Is the content of your email appropriate and professional?" I should hope so. Then it goes on to say you should convert your coworkers to the wonderful time-saving methodologies you've learned in this book, and direct them to the book web site. Any student of human nature can tell you, you can't really force anyone to do anything they don't want to do, you can only set an example and hope that they want to emulate it. If you are the boss, I suppose you can order people to follow the guidelines in this book, but otherwise it suggests giving your peers critiques of what's wrong with the email they've been sending you, a technique that's sure to make you near and dear to their hearts.

The second half of the book, which I eagerly anticipated, makes suggestions, then breaks its own rules, resulting in a confusing set of directions that aren't ultimately very useful. For example, the book states that you should be able to sort any email you receive into one folder, without wasting time deliberating over the decision between folders. You are supposed to organize your emails into Clients, Output, Teams, and Admin folders. If something falls into two folders, for example, some Output for a Client, it goes into the first folder in the COTA order-- the Client folder. But when would you ever create output that doesn't have a Client? And Clients in this case includes external AND internal customers. If your organization has a lot of output that isn't created FOR anybody, you have bigger problems than email.

Some of the other suggestions are obvious but presented as epiphany, such as, use subfolders within the COTA folders. Has it ever occurred to you that you could use email subfolders? Does your organization already use instant messaging for asynchronous messages? Guess what, you don't need this book.

In a FAQ at the end of the book, there is a tip that was not new to me, but which has worked for me. Turn off your email notifications (popups, sounds, etc.) and check your email about twice a day for a dedicated block of time. Otherwise every time you receive an email, you are interrupted from your flow of work.

What will happen with email? It is indeed a growing problem, I can't argue with that. I hope that Outlook develops better search technology, like that embedded in GMail. If you are one of the many Outlook users, you know that when your folders reach a certain size, an advanced search can take 15 minutes or more. However, creating a new folder structure isn't likely to do much for you, except cost you the time it takes to reorganize all of your mail.

A must-read for everyone who uses email.......2007-05-28

Getting overloaded with emails over the last 3-4 years. So decided to buy some books on the subject to improve. Bought 3 books from Amazon - Emails, Conquer Your Email Overload and Hamster Revolution. Find Hamster Revolution the best. I can see Hamster in me with over 500 emails in my in-box and having problems in relocating some of the infor later. This book is NOT about how to use Outlook. What I like is the story-telling method the authors used to bring across, otherwise a dry and technical subject, with interesting, lively and useful ideas. Strategy 1 is an eye opener for me. So simple and yet so useful ! Find it so enlightening and useful that I am thinking of asking the company to engage them for an in-house workshop ! Well done, guys !

It's a parable for a practical email management course which really works.......2007-05-19

If email is demanding more and more of your business time, it's time to take in THE HAMSTER REVOLUTION, which tells of an HR director who meets an efficiency coach and learns a simple management system. It's a parable for a practical email management course which really works, includes a case study showing how over 2,000 Capital One associates cut their email time by 23 percent, and tells how to add quality into email management strategy for optimum results. Busy managers in particular will relish its advice, making THE HAMSTER REVOLUTION especially recommended for business libraries.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

A Fresh View Over Email Management.......2007-05-17

Most of the text in the book are good practices that have been already beaten to death in many other publications, online or in physical media. Nevertheless, the method to organize the emails in folders (C.O.A.T.) according to priority and how everything comes together is an invaluable advice. I was reluctant at the beginning, but as soon as I started applying the recommendations, my email productivity started to improve immediately. If you're spending more than 45min to 1hr a day on email, you must read this book.

Business Data Communications (5th Edition)

Average customer rating:

Very very technical
Priceless - or should be
Business Data Communications
Not an Appropriate Introductory Textbook
Good Book for CIS Majors

Business Data Communications (5th Edition)
William Stallings
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0131442570

Book Description

The fifth edition of this popular book presents the fundamental concepts of data communications, networking, distributed applications, and network management and security; and uses real world case studies to explicate business environment and business management and staff issues. Up-to-date coverage of key issues-the use of the Internet, intranets, and extranets support business objectives, LANs, WANs, high-speed networks, asychronous transfer mode (ATM) and TCP/IP. Accessible presentation for information systems managers, telecommunications managers, product marketing personnel, and system support specialists.

Customer Reviews:

Very very technical.......2007-03-07

Having read reviews prior to purchasing the book, I thought, it can't be that bad. I was wrong. All of the reviews are accurate and true descriptions of the book. I purchased the book as required text for a graduate introductory course in data communications. What can you do if you're stuck with this book and you must read it " for class"? Read the summary at the end of each chapter FIRST. This might help you grasp what the author is trying to say in a long, extended, technical and scientific way.

The book includes scientific descriptions of data communication. Perhaps the book is extremely on point for engineering students or someone with interest in creating a data communications or telecommunications system from scratch for an organization. However, addressing the issues from a business perspective is not the primary focus of the book. Reading the chapter demands utmost concentration and the ability to extract key concepts about the subject under discussion. It is not clear why this book seems to pop up so often as the required text. There are many books that address data communications from a business perspective. It is an arcane academic selection as required text for a non-engineering data communications course.

Priceless - or should be.......2005-12-14

I am completing my MSIS degree. I was required to use this textbook for one of my classes. I felt the book was possibly appropriate for an engineering computer science program on a "how things work" level but a terrible waste of time for business students. If I want to buy a cell phone I don't care HOW the cell phone works. I only care that it DOES work, and that it is dependable, accurate, reliable, and cost effective. Stop putting the OSI model in these textbooks. Just teach TCP/IP because that's what is used. If you're going to put problems at the end of the chapters, provide solutions to the students. Otherwise, you're just wasting paper because nobody will ever use them. Why work on them if you don't have a solution to compare your answers to? I have spoken to nearly half the people in my class. All agree. This textbook was a terrible choice for our class in the business program. None of us feel we learned anything of value from studying from this book.

I sincerely hope our instructor and program director will find a different book to use for future classes.

Business Data Communications.......2005-10-04

This book arrived in a timely manner and in excellent condition. I would purchase fromthis seller again.

Not an Appropriate Introductory Textbook.......2004-08-26

A course I took earlier this year used this textbook, and I wasn't too fond of it. The book's explanations were very clinical, and other reviewers are correct in observing that it has many typographical errors (which are very frustrating when trying to solve mathematically inclined equations).

The professor deviated substantially from the text, supplying us with several real-world examples and more on the theory behind the examples given in the book. If he had not done that, I do not think I would have been able to learn the material from the book alone. Many of its explanations are too brief and lack depth or supporting examples.

If you are teaching an information systems course and intend to use this textbook, be prepared to supplement it with substantial cases or lose the interest and comprehension of your students.

Good Book for CIS Majors.......2004-07-02

I bought this book for an online course on Network Communications which I took as a Computer Science major. This book is riddled with technical information and looks at things from an 'implementation cost' perspective (the case studies at the end of almost every chapter are good examples of this) which is good for Computer Information Systems (CIS) majors since they tend to focus more on the business aspect of the 'field'.

The majority of the chapters are easy reading (if you like reading technical info.). I found some of the problems at the end of some chapters to be quite challenging (which was a treat being the geek that I am). I've also used this book as reference for TCP/IP when doing low-level network programming.

Conclusion: if you're a CIS major or a business major focusing on IT, then I recommend this book for you.

Average customer rating:

Crystal Reports 10- Yay!
The For Dummies Approach applied to Crystal Reports
Crystal Reports 10 for Dummies
Dummies and Crystal Report

Crystal Reports 10 For Dummies
Allen G. Taylor
Manufacturer: For Dummies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764571370

Book Description

Would
you
read
information
presented
like
this?

No. It’s just not natural. Sometimes presentation is almost as important as content. When you create a report, the goal is to provide information for readers in a format they can readily understand.

Crystal Reports 10 For Dummies, the latest version of the most popular report writer in the world, shows you how to create simple or sophisticated reports, turning data into interactive, actionable reports that convey what’s happening in your business. You can progress cover-to-cover or use the index to find out how to:

Give your reports more pizzazz by using the correct fonts, color, drop shadows, graphic elements, and more
Integrate elements from multiple, non-database sources
Group sort, total result sets, cross-tab reports, and add formulas, charts, or maps
Print reports
Use customized Business Views gleaned from the same information to provide each reader with information he or she needs to know without spilling all the beans, sales figures, marketing information, or whatever
Present multi-dimensional data in OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) cubes
Get ideas from sample reports on the companion Web site

Written by Allen G. Taylor, nationally known lecturer, teacher, and author of over 20 books, including Database Development for Dummies, Crystal Reports 10 For Dummies makes it crystal clear how to:

Store your information securely in Crystal Repository
Use Crystal Analysis 10 to display OLAP data so you and your report’s readers can analyze the information in an online environment
Use Crystal Enterprise to put Crystal Reports online for viewing by hundreds or thousands of people in your organization

Whether you want to dazzle your company’s CEO and shareholders, motivate the sales force, or simply share database information cogently, with Crystal Reports 10 For Dummies you not only make your point, you an impression. When your reports look professional, you look professional.

Download Description

ated to reflect the latest version of the Crystal Reports reporting tool
* Explains how to use Crystal Reports to quickly transform almost any data into interactive content
* Features a jump-start chapter on creating a simple report
* Covers basic and advanced reporting features, such as retrieving data from databases; sorting, grouping, and totaling result sets; using report templates; making correlations with cross-tab reports; working with formulas; adding geographic detail with maps; publishing reports; and much more
* Includes a new section that explains how to use the new time-saving and data-sharing features available when Crystal Reports is integrated with the other components in the product suite: Crystal Enterprise and Crystal Analysis
* Companion Web site includes sample reports from the book

Customer Reviews:

Crystal Reports 10- Yay!.......2007-06-14

This is not an intuitive program for me to use for reports and documents, but the book gave me some good pointers.

The For Dummies Approach applied to Crystal Reports.......2007-03-11

The computer was going to eliminate paperwork. That's why Crystal Reports has sold about 13 million copies. Simply put, Crystal Reports is a database report writer.

Most of the data a business wants to look at is maintained in a database. How to produce a report that is customized for what you (or your boss) want to see can be done by going directly to the database, executing a query and then printing it out in a format that you want to see -- bah humbug. Who wants to go program all that stuff?

Hence Crystal Reports. Here is a program that allows you to basically point and click and produce the report you want. It's rather simple to use for a simple straight forward report. That's why Crystal Reports is included in some 200 software packages.

Now, why buy a book on it, and why this book in particular. First, if you've looked at the documentation provided by Crystal Reports you've probably thrown up your hands in disgust. Second, because you've gotten to this page means you probably searched for something on Crystal Reports and found that you didn't have all that many choices that cover Version 10. Third, this is a 'For Dummies' book. It is written in a style that most of use can read and get some sense out of it.

If you're just getting started, this is a good place. If you're already an expert, this will tell you about what's possible in the newest version.

Crystal Reports 10 for Dummies.......2007-02-20

This book is pretty good for a quick tour of the software and it's capabilities.

Dummies and Crystal Report.......2007-01-11

Crystal Reports has more features than can one book can explain, but this one gives a great mini overview of lots of items available. Well worth the expense.

Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy

Average customer rating:

An excellent starting point for tech writers making the move to single sourcing.
Content reuse, not Enterprise Content Management...,
Review of Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Str
A must for Content Management projects
Misleading title...really unifed content creation

Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy
Ann Rockley
Manufacturer: New Riders Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Content Management Bible
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ASIN: 0735713065

Book Description

Today's businesses are overwhelmed with the need to create more content, faster, cutomized for more customers, and for more media than ever before. Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy provides the concepts, strategies, guidelines, processes, and technological options that will prepare enterprise content managers and authors to meet the increasing demands of creating, managing, and distributing content.

Author Ann Rockley, along with the Rockley Group team, provides techniques that will help you define your content management requirements, build your vision, design your content architecture, pick the right tools, and overcome the hurdles of managing enterprise content. This book will help you visualize the broad spectrum of enterprise content, the requirements for effectively creating, managing, and delivering content, and the value of developing a unified content strategy for your organization.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent starting point for tech writers making the move to single sourcing........2007-05-25

I came to this book from a very different direction than many (all?) of the other reviewers. I'm a technical writer ("content developer") researching methods and tools for single-sourcing technical documentation. For my purposes, this book was an excellent starting point in recognizing and understanding the considerations that must be taken into account when migrating to a single-source solution (i.e., one tool and set of practices for developing documentation to be delivered in multiple media), defining a new set of practices, and evaluating an authoring tool. I recommend this book strongly to any tech writer/manager who needs help understanding the basics of single-sourcing.

Content reuse, not Enterprise Content Management...,.......2006-11-05

This book's title has probably attracted those interested in Enterprise Content Management. ECM has increasingly become a major buzz in business strategy circles as the information age tidal wave spills over into organizations and floods them with content. We're literally drowning. "Managing Enterprise Content" does not discuss ECM in broad terms, such as structured and unstructured content, email, scanned documents, OCR, ICR, etc. Instead, it focuses on content reuse. To take a simple example, a product brochure, a website, and a press release all include descriptions of a product. Why, the book argues, rewrite that description three separate times for each medium? Why not write it just once, store it in a content management system, and then reuse it over and over again? "Content Modularization" or "Content Reuse" probably describe the goals of this book less confusingly than "Managing Enterprise Content." But, in fairness to the authors, the current title isn't inaccurate, it just lends itself easily to misunderstanding. To reiterate: those looking for a course in Enterprise Content Management conforming to the Association for Information and Image Management's (AIIM) guidelines should look elsewhere.

Nonetheless, those looking for a strategy to manage distributable content throughout an organization should take a look at "Managing Enterprise Content." The focus remains on implementing a "unified content strategy," which translates essentially to an efficient reuse of content. Here the word "content" has a specific sense relating to verbiage authored for a specific use. Product descriptions, mission and vision statements, disclaimers, compliance and regulatory announcements, anything widely distributable qualifies. How does one efficiently manage the creation and the evolution of such content across an organization? This obviously implies some form of centralization (although this pregnant term gets strategically avoided for obvious reasons). And this further implies a software system. But prior to purchasing an expensive application, the business must align itself process-wise to enable content reuse. Otherwise the costly program will sit and rot. The first three parts of the book (I - III), comprising its first twelve chapters, discuss these necessary preparations and walk the reader through to implementation. This progression mirrors, for good reasons, the project management and software development life cycle processes. First, determine the concept or the "why?" of the project (Chapters 1 & 2). Then perform cost benefit analysis (Chapter 3 discusses ROI for content reuse), analyze and prioritize the current content infrastructure, the "As-Is" (Chapters 4 through 6), look to the future by modeling and designing the elements of the system the "To-Be" (Chapters 7 through 11), and finally implement the reusable content infrastructure (Chapter 12). Evaluation of software tools and technology should come before implementation, but the book instead covers these topics in Part IV (Chapters 13 to 18). So it's that easy to implement a unified content strategy? Well, no, not really.

Part V, the book's final section, outlines the inevitable issues that face organizational restructuring. Implementation of a unified content strategy will probably necessitate fundamental changes. Roles will get changes, people moved around, departments will get realigned or reorganized. All of this can sap morale or cause anxiety amongst employees. The author is not an authority on such issues, so this section of the book remains somewhat cursory and high-level. Conflict management gets deferred to a website (the book contains an out of date URL, but the book's website[...] has an updated address), and the advice presented here will probably not surprise anyone. Still, managing change remains an important part of any new implementation and this section, though rudimentary, will at least raise awareness.

Lastly, the appendices contain a grab bag of information. Appendix C, on vendors, has probably suffered from age (these days, a lot can happen in three years), but it may provide some good leads. Appendix B, "Writing for Multiple Media," probably could have appeared in the main body of the book; it contains important details not covered elsewhere.

Overall, the book does give a plausible outline for implementing the proposed strategy. Some of the chapters may seem overly simplistic or overlong to those experienced with system implementations or business process management. At the very least, "Managing Enterprise Content" may introduce some readers to the concept of enterprise content reuse. That concept remains a challenging one that will likely mean different things to different organizations. So this book does not provide the final word on the subject, nor does it intend to. An organization can only use this book as a blueprint or a guidepost for implementing its own unified content strategy.

Review of Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Str.......2004-05-21

Are you overwhelmed with the need to create more content, faster, customized for more customers, and for more media than ever before? Do you consider storing documentation on a server as an effective a content management system? Do you want to learn how content management will empower your organization? The answer to these questions and many more is covered in Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy by Ann Rockley with Pamela Kostur and Steve Manning of The Rockley Group. The Rockley Group is one of the leading providers of content management methodologies.

Managing Enterprise Content provides concepts, strategies, guidelines, processes, and technical options that will prepare you to meet the increasing demands of creating, managing, and distributing content. It describes techniques that will help you define your content management requirements, build your vision, design your content architecture, select tools, and overcome obstacles of managing enterprise content. It will help you to visualize the spectrum of enterprise content, the requirements for effectively creating, managing, and delivering content, and the value of developing a content strategy for your organization. That¡¦s a lot of information for one person to understand. That¡¦s why the book is written for three audiences: content managers, information architects, and authors. Managing Enterprise Content follows the same methodical approach that Rockley uses to teach content management in seminars and workshops.

I was expecting the book to jump into the technologies to implement a content management system. But that¡¦s not how Rockley presents content management. She begins with The basis of a unified content strategy and describes how content is created, who creates it, why authors work in isolation, and the consequences of isolation and centralizing content. The solution is to consolidate content in a definitive source, and a process that encourage authors to work collaboratively. The next step is to assess opportunities for content reuse. If you have never heard the term ¡¥reusing content,¡¦ you may know it as single sourcing. You probably already reuse content (i.e. copy and paste), which works well until the information, and everywhere that it appears, must be updated. Content reuse involves using existing content components (e.g. paragraphs, sections, and chapters) to develop new documents. Implementing a unified content strategy is a costly investment: tools, technologies, and training are not cheap. Investment costs are incurred in technology, training and consulting, and lost productivity.

Examples are given to calculate the cost of authoring tools, content management systems, training and consulting¡Xa content management system is not a plug and play, one size fits all solution. The return on investment is achieved by reduced time to market, reduced cost of product content development, improved accuracy and quality of content, and reduced manufacturing defects. The examples are especially helpful because you will need to create a proposal to convince budget holders and management on the return on investment of a content management solution.

Are you ready to buy a content management system? Not yet, read further. ¡§Performing a substantive audit: Determining business requirements¡¨ begins with an introduction on how to determine goals that you want a unified content strategy to solve, for example:
h Reduce the time to plan, write, review, approve, and publish
h Create flexible content that is easily reused to create information products for multiple products and multiple media
h Reduce the cost of translation by reusing existing translations.
h Make content more accessible; separating content from format makes it possible for content to be displayed automatically in a format appropriate to the disability.
Rockley describes how to identify opportunities where a unified approach of content management (i.e. planning, design, authoring and revision, version control, access control, publication and delivery to its audiences) is beneficial.

You are probably wondering how this all fits together, and Rockley explains how. ¡§Design¡¨ describes information modeling and metadata, how to personalize content, how to design a workflow, and how to implement your design.

An information model is critical for a unified content strategy because it provides a framework for documentation. It's the 80/20 rule: 80% of your effort is planning and analysis, and 20% of your effort is implementing the solution with whatever tools are selected to accomplish the goals the organization has set for itself. The level of detail of your information model depends on the level of reuse you want to achieve.

Many desktop publishing tools can dynamically publish personalized letters and forms by matching elements such as names and address¡Xa content management system can do the same. I was confused why design is given so much attention. Why not conduct the audit, buy the tools, and worry about design later? You can¡¦t. The design of information, reuse models/maps, meta data and workflow are all tool independent tasks. Regardless of the tools selected, you must first analyse and then design a content or information model so that it can be presented to IT staff and software vendors. Doing this in advance makes it possible for you to ask vendors to respond to a request for proposal and document how their tools can help you satisfy your specific challenges. Analysis provides an opportunity to collect metrics. From your information models, you can identify how much of your content could be reusable and where.

Educated on how content is used, where and how, you are better prepared to match the tools and technology to the origination¡¦s goals to deliver a unified content management solution. ¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ offers guidelines for evaluating tools. With so many tools and technologies to choose from, selecting the one that best satisfies your goals and budget is a challenge. Your best advantage is to be an educated consumer before you shop around. Rockley recommends that you identify your needs, and criteria for evaluating product options in terms of usability, training provided, supporting documentation provided, technical support, upgrades and enhancements, implementation time, cost, vendor viability, partnerships the vendor has to provide an expanded solution, and references. Where do you being looking?

Some good sources are conferences where vendors present authoring solutions such as the annual STC conference, electronic mailing lists, technology magazines, Web sites and online discussion boards and newsgroups. A supplement to ¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ is Appendix C, ¡§Vendors,¡¨ which is an overview of products, features and vendors. Appendix D, ¡§Tools Checklist,¡¨ which lists sample questions to ask a vendor. When you have narrowed your list of potential vendors, Rockley suggests that you either contact the vendors and request onsite demonstrations or send vendors an RFP (request for proposal).

¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ covers XML because it provides interoperability between applications. XML is not a set of tags that you apply to documents; it is a specification that sets rules for the creation of tag sets that you apply to documents. For instance, if you selected tools first and then designed your content, you might find that some of the content does not behave the way you expect it to. One solution would be to use XSLT to transform the content and move it around where you want it. While this may be an acceptable solution, it¡¦s not. The conversion costs time, money, and resources. There is no need to convert or transform content if it¡¦s modelled in XML from the start.

Rockley describes strategies for collaborative authoring, how to separate content from format, how to manage change and transition. An example is given to illustrate how the same product description is reused effectively to create a show catalog, brochure, press release and Web site. It¡¦s easy to understand that people find it hard to believe that content somebody else created could possibly meet their needs. After all, Rockley notes, it was written for a different purpose and media, and the author could not have known their customers/audience/requirements. However, if content is written for a different purpose, audience, or media without considering how the content can be reused, it¡¦ won¡¦t work.

Don¡¦t be optimistic that everybody will be willing to convert to a better way of authoring and managing content. Rockley presents issues to consider when planning your change management strategy such as overcoming resistance from opponents and descriptions of new and modified roles. She recommends creating a role for an enterprise project coordinator and information technologist; a change to existing roles business owners or analysts and information architects; and new skill sets (p. 413-415). Unintentionally overlooked are system administrators to maintain the content management system and to ensure that users adhere to standards.

Don¡¦t be overly optimistic that everybody will want morph into new roles and change their authoring habits. An XML system is best suited and ideal for a large documentation department for all content authoring or an organization where every author uses the XML authoring tool. A team of ten or fewer will be constrained to balance XML implementation and documentation project duties, and learn how to use the (new) content management system. Even if you assign the complex task of XML implementation and creation of information models, workflows and DTDs to a consultant, the consultant will require guidance from the team. These are only a few of the constraints to overcome to assure a successful unified content strategy that Rockley expertly describes how to overcome.

Managing Enterprise Content concludes with a checklist for implementing a unified content strategy, suggestions for writing for multiple media, sample questions to ask vendors, a checklist for the tools required to implement a unified content strategy, and the importance of content relationships in version control. Pay close attention to usability. The rollout of a content management system, authoring tools, and authoring standards affects every member of the organization. If it¡¦s not easy to learn, easy to use, easy to support, and easy to maintain, authors will revert to the traditional way of writing and managing content.

Read Managing Enterprise Content before you invest in a content management system and consulting fees. You will be an educated and informed customer and user when you begin shopping for a content management solution of your own.

A must for Content Management projects.......2004-02-02

This book is an absolute must for Content Management projects. It touches all of the important aspects: Technical, functional and process. There is something for all stakeholders in a EMS/CMS project.

Especially good about this book is that the parts that are not your direct job are still very readable, understandable and interesting. It provides valuable insights in other peoples jobs and reasoning.

Coming from the technical side and with a lot of experience in setting up systems and also information architecture and DTD design, for me this book contained several new insights and some very helpfull checklists.

I am in the middel of a CMS project now, but I wish I had read it sooner.

Misleading title...really unifed content creation.......2003-11-27

I was disappointed that the book was really focused on how to create reusable elements that go into product information such as data sheets, marketing collateral, technical support, etc. It focused on auditing the content, finding the reusability elements across departments, then designing an appropriate hierarchy on top of a content management system. It assumed that content drives the information architecture when in most applications it is the business processes that drive the architecture. It ignored the majority of enterprise content like email, word docs, design specs, forms, etc. that make up the real information content of the enterprise.

If you are someone who creates lots of documentation deliverables in paper, electronic and web formats and need to get costs under control, this is probably a good book. If you are considering a Content Management System to better manage a number of business processes and all the documents that make them go, this is a poor choice for those efforts.

Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home

Average customer rating:

A great gift
Tips & Some Good Common Sense
A Modest Success
Things your grandma could've told you . . . assuming your grandma has e-mail!
Simple and Easy

Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home
David Shipley , and Will Schwalbe
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better And/Or Worse
E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide--How to Write and Manage E-Mail in the Workplace
Then We Came to the End: A Novel
Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
How Doctors Think

ASIN: 0307263649
Release Date: 2007-04-10

Amazon.com

An April 2007 Significant 7 Editors' Pick: Funny, engaging, and oh-so-practical, Send is the ultimate etiquette handbook for email, making David Shipley and Will Schwalbe the "Miss Manners" resource for the digital age. Full of practical insights, Send is an invaluable resource for anyone who uses email, and is guaranteed to help you "think before you click." We are not the only fans of this important book. We asked psychologist, science journalist, and bestselling author Daniel Goleman to read Send and give us his take. Check out his exclusive guest review below. --Daphne Durham

Guest Reviewer: Daniel Goleman

Daniel Goleman is an internationally known psychologist who lectures frequently to professional groups, business audiences, and on college campuses, and is the author of many bestselling books, including Emotional Intelligence and most recently, Social Intelligence.

Poor Michael Brown. During the darkest days of the Hurricane Katrina debacle, Brown, then director of FEMA, the agency that so badly bungled the rescue efforts, sent this email: "Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?"

Emails can come back to haunt us--any of us. Few among us have mastered this medium, and only slowly are we realizing its dangers.

From the earliest days of email people "flamed", sending off irritating or otherwise annoying messages. One explanation for the failure to inhibit our more unruly impulses online is a mismatch between the screen we stare at as we email, and the cues the social circuits of the brain use to navigate us through an interaction effectively: on email there is no tone of voice, no facial expression. When we talk to someone on the phone or face-to-face these circuits would ordinarily squelch impulses that will seem "off." Lacking these crucial cues, flaming occurs.

It's not just flaming--I've sent my fair share of emails that were, in retrospect, embarrassing, too familiar or formal, or otherwise wrong in tone. Email invites these lapses in social intelligence in part because the social brain flies blind. In the absence of the other person's real-time emotional signals we need to take a moment to shift from focusing on our own feelings and thoughts, and intentionally focus on the other person, even in absentia, and consider, How might this message come across?

The peril of being off-key is amplified by the temptation to hit SEND prematurely: before we've thought it over and had a chance to ease up on that too-stiff tone, drop that bit of sarcasm, and remember to ask about the kids.

In the old days of letter writing--a dying art--we had plenty of time to rewrite before sealing the envelope, and so flaming letters were far more rare than red-hot emails. And so the brave new world of email could benefit from a civilizing force, a voice that articulates the ground rules online.

Enter Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home, a new book by David Shipley (an old friend of mine) and Will Schwalbe. Send not only articulates the way to win--or keep--friends online, but offers practical tips on both email etiquette and on the writing style most suitable.

In this witty and wise book Shipley and Schwalbe give essential guidance on vital matters like the politics of using Cc (nobody likes to be left out); when to just reply and when to "Reply All"; the danger of the URGENT subject (too many and you cry wolf); fine-tuning your greetings to fit the relationship (if you use the wrong one, you can lose them at hello); how best to apologize online (put the word 'sorry' in the subject or else the email may never be read).

But Send is far more than Miss Manners for the Web; it's brimming with fascinating insights. For example, now that email has become the way we talk, showing up in person has added impact as the ultimate compliment, signifying that the person, meeting or project has special importance for you.

Years ago a slim volume by Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, laid out the ground rules for good writing; the book became a bible for authors, widely known just as "Strunk and White." Send should make Shipley and Schwalbe the "Strunk and White" for the Web. --Daniel Goleman (www.danielgoleman.info)

Book Description

When should you email, and when should you call, fax, or just show up?

What is the crucial—and most often overlooked—line in an email?

What is the best strategy when you send (in anger or error) a potentially career-ending electronic bombshell?

Enter Send. Whether you email just a little or never stop, use a desktop or a handheld, here, at last, is an authoritative and delightful book that shows how to write the perfect email—at work, at school, or anywhere. Send also points out the numerous (but not always obvious) times when email can be the worst option and might land you in hot water (or even jail!).

The secret is, of course, to think before you click. Send is nothing short of a survival guide for the digital age—wise, brimming with good humor, and filled with helpful lessons from the authors’ own email experiences (and mistakes). In short: absolutely e-ssential.

Customer Reviews:

A great gift.......2007-06-15

This book is an invaluable resource. It will be especially useful to young people who are entering the working world, to help them avoid the e-mail pitfalls that so many of us have experienced. I plan to make this a graduation gift to all of the young people I know. Considering that e-mail is now the standard form of communication in the office, I can't think of a better way to help them in their careers.

Tips & Some Good Common Sense.......2007-06-12

Simple, simple book done with wit providing useful tips with heaps of common sense interspersed with interesting real life experiences. A great beginners guide and useful for those who just don't get the "how to's and why's of good communication ... email or not.

A Modest Success.......2007-06-09

Shipley and Schwalbe focus on tone. They remind us that communication in person, and to a lesser degree on the telephone, carries with it far more information than words on a screen. Tedious volumes have been written on nuance conveyed by the angle of the speaker's eyebrows, and most people seem to have picked up the concept somewhere. To counteract email's lack of tone, though, Shipley recommends inserting emoticons, those annoying little graphics meant to suggest smiley faces or winks.

Perhaps more helpful are the suggestions to stop, read, and think before hitting the "Send" command: Check your spelling, punctuation and word choice - is your meaning clear? Cut the fluff. Consider your position in relation to the recipient. Avoid frivolous requests or demands. Understand that everything you write can be permanently saved, searched, and sent to others. Learn how to clean up your hard drive, but understand that corporate backups retain copies of every document and porno pic you've ever sent or received -- except for that one essential document you need.

S & S give much attention to the "To," "Cc" and "Bcc" lines. Here's a helpful suggestion: "Never forward anything without permission, and assume everything you write will be forwarded." When responding to an email addressed and/or copied to a group, should you "Reply" or "Reply all"? The social and political ramifications of such questions get quite a few pages.

The emotional content of email gets some ink too. Flame wars are discussed, as well as the wisdom of using email to fire employees or initiate divorce proceedings. The authors argue convincingly that some messages are best delivered in person, despite the personal risk.

They touch less convincingly on security: An "independent" business leader, subpoened to offer Congressional testimony, was discovered through Word tracking in a document file to have permitted a Bush official to edit his statement. When confronted with the truth, he said, "The real scandal here is that after 15 years of using Microsoft Word, I don't know how to turn off 'Track Changes.' " Scandalous indeed. Unfortunately, S & S go on to instruct their reader on how to turn off tracking and they get it wrong.

The book does discuss some interesting issues. Trouble is, the issues have been endlessly discussed, published, flamed and forwarded online for the past 20 years. Most corporations publish their own email guidelines, often reflecting their distinct corporate culture. I've been using email since it was first available to civilians-1980 I think it was -and for as many years have shared in the online debate. My teenaged daughter, when I asked her about email, said, "I don't know much of a world without email." I reminded her that, as a Waldorf student, she had in fact been protected from the evil influence of computers almost until high school.

She came back with a story published in Reed College's student newspaper, "The Quest": A San Francisco high school, trying to take the edge off college rejections, offered prizes to students with the most rejection letters and the worst letter. Harvard was honored with "most obsequious," Cornell with "most emphatic," but it was an email from Reed College that took "worst overall." The winner had emailed Reed's admissions office to check that all his documentation had been received. In response he got a misdirected interoffice memo that said, "He's a Deny."

So there's no doubt that Shipley and Schwalbe's recommendations remain valuable. As a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, and a book that received critical attention from heavy-hitters like Dave Barry, "Send" will find its way to many hands. I bristle at the suggestion that it equals the stature and grace of Strunk and White's "Elements of Style," which will occupy space on my bookshelf till my demise and beyond. But "Send" promises to reach an audience that doesn't know Usenet from fishnet. And that's a good thing.

Things your grandma could've told you . . . assuming your grandma has e-mail!.......2007-06-09

No flaggergasting revelations in this book . . . but some good rules for making your e-mails clearer and easier to access. One impressive (and needed) section is about when NOT to use e-mail.

Simple and Easy.......2007-06-01

In a simple and easy way with often hysterically funny examples, this book just gives you the plain, common sense truth about all aspects of emailing. A must have!!

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Inside Out

Average customer rating:

Very useful.... a total package
Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Inside Out
micro office outlook
Comprehensive, but still some holes
Most comprehensive

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Inside Out
Jim Boyce
Manufacturer: Microsoft Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Microsoft Office Word 2003 Inside Out
Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Inside Out
Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Step by Step
Microsoft Office 2003 Inside Out
Outlook 2003 for Dummies

ASIN: 0735615144

Product Description

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 - Inside Out - reference book - CD

Customer Reviews:

Very useful.... a total package.......2007-06-27

I found myself as the Outlook support for a new small business and I had only used Outlook for e-mail and contacts previously. This book has quickly become my total reference guide. It has helped me solve several problems. It's easy to read, well organized and very complete.
I recommend it to anyone who needs to support an Outlook installation or an Exchange Server installation.

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Inside Out.......2007-03-08

Comprehensive and approachable. Good index and highly illustrated.

micro office outlook.......2007-01-10

Too much said about the various steps. Not brief and to the point. Found it difficult to go step by step without reading, and reading, and reading.

Comprehensive, but still some holes.......2005-11-22

Previous reviewer's comments are noted well, but I was somewhat disappointed in the coverage of forms development. I really wanted to learn to move/place fields on a contact form and designate them drop-down, etc. Simple enough, I thought, for a book of this coverage. But even though the author talked about the abilitiy to do this, there were no directions, no examples, and no description of the 'Controls' options required to do it. For a book of this size and price, I had hoped for more meat. No, not to the detail of VB scripting, but certainly more detailed coverage of Outlook's powerful forms and macro abilities. To my chagrin, I'm finding my answers under the Outlook 'Help' section in the program itself!

Most comprehensive.......2005-09-04

A most comprehensive treatment of Outlook. Extremely well suited for an experienced Outlook user, with many details on the use in a server/business environment. Describes the interrelationship with Windows Outlook Express. Probably a little too comprehensive for the single system user just trying to read and write a few email messages. Subject matter is exceptionally well presented and thorough.

Strategic Planning for Information Systems

Average customer rating:

A business led approach to Information Systems Planning
Poorly written.
Apply business consulting technique to IS/IT
Rich resource for experienced strategic planners
Excellent Reference

Strategic Planning for Information Systems
John Ward , and Joe Peppard
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Practical Steps for Aligning Information Technology with Business Strategies: How to Achieve a Competitive Advantage
A Practical Guide to Information Systems Strategic Planning, Second Edition
From Business Strategy to IT Action: Right Decisions for a Better Bottom Line
Modern Systems Analysis and Design (4th Edition) (World Student)
IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results

ASIN: 0470841478

Book Description

"Accessibility and clarity of purpose maintained throughout."
Journal of Information Technology

"Clear, practical, comprehensive."
Output

"A clear exposition of the impact that IS has had on business performance."
Long Range Planning

"Lucid analysis."
Computer Weekly

Strategic Planning for Information Systems (3rd Edition) explores the impact that Information Systems (IS) have on business performance and the contribution IS makes to the strategic development of organizations. It describes IS tools, techniques and management frameworks - all of which identify opportunities for strategic thinking, and shows how IS is an indispensable component in the implementation of a strategic plan.

Since the earlier edition of Strategic Planning for Information Systems, much has changed in the way business is organized. However, the essence of the book remains the same - it is a practical and comprehensive book written in a clear and straightforward way. This new edition focuses more on strategic management of IS than on the progress made in recent years in either technology or business processes. This 3rd edition is substantially updated and illustrated with new cases material and examples. Additional material will cover the role of ecommerce, knowledge management and benefits management systems. This book will also show why Information Systems and Information Technology investment works for some organizations and not for others.

Download Description

Strategic Planning for Information Systems explores the impact that information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) have on business performance and the contribution that they make to the strategic options of organisations. It describes tools, techniques and management frameworks to both align strategies for IS and IT with business strategy, as well as seek out new opportunities through innovative deployment of technology. This book demonstrates why strategic planning for information systems is essential to organisational success, especially in times of increasingly rapid change. Over the long term any organisation will get the information systems it deserves, according to the approach adopted to the use and management of IS/IT. To obtain the whole range of benefits available from IS/IT and avoid the potential pitfalls, every organisation must establish the means to manage IS/IT as an integral part of its approach to strategic management. In the six years since the second edition of Strategic Planning for Information Systems, much has changed in the way business is organised and in the importance of IS for competitive strategies. However, the essence of the book remains the same - it is a practical and comprehensive book written in a clear and straightforward way. The new edition introduces more approaches and techniques to aid in developing and implementing strategies - to enable management and IS/IT professionals to identify what needs to be done and how best to do it.

Customer Reviews:

A business led approach to Information Systems Planning.......2004-06-24

The latest edition of Strategic Planning for Information Systems provides vital guidance for anyone working in this area - in business or in academia. There are no easy answers and the authors provide readers with the concepts and tools they need to tackle the key challenges and develop an IS Strategy for their organisation.

The introduction of a section on Benefits Managment is particularly useful.

Poorly written........2003-11-21

The text is poorly written and rife with grammatical errors. It reads like the author(s) were producing a thesis and were being graded on word-count. They refer to their own research to justify their position. Other statements have no citations to refer to. I doubt if many organizations utilize even a forth of the practices the text suggest. What organization has the time and/or resources to expend on these ideas? I would rather read CIO magazine as it reads better and gets to the point.

If I could, I would get my money back because it is definitely not worth $100+. At best, $20.

Apply business consulting technique to IS/IT.......2002-03-21

Run IS/IT as a service business? Then you need this book which apply popular business consulting world technique to IS/IT. Value chain by M. Porter and 2x2 portfolio adapted from BCG are the two most important techniques to explore.

And you need to know where you are now and where you are going to in order to obtain a really useful strategy. The 3-era-5-stage reference model introduced here is a very powerful tool to position yourself right.

The authors also explored 4 important strategy subject areas for IS/IT: information, application, technology and resource. Which provide useful insight for us.

Rich resource for experienced strategic planners.......2001-09-13

In one respect this book is a classic because it is frequently referenced in the body of literature on IS/IT management and IS/IT strategic planning. Out of the past 50 or so articles on the topic (including corporate and city/state/Federal government strategic plans, PHd dissertations and white papers) over 75% have cited this book.

This is not, however, a "how-to" book that describes a coherent strategic planning process. It's a collection of standalone chapters on each key element of strategic planning. The material is presented in sequential order, but no single chapter depends on another. Moreover, there is no smooth continuity between the chapters or a master chapter that ties it all together. That said, this book is valuable from two perspectives:

(1) Each chapter is highly focused and contains a wealth of information on its topic.

(2) Used as a collection of mature techniques this book could be used to support an effective strategic planning process.

The main value is the fact that each element of strategic planning is thoroughly covered. I frequently use this book as a catalog of procedures and techniques for numerous projects, including strategic planning, assessment, process improvement and IS/IT organizational improvement.

If you are seeking a book that shows step-by-step how to perform IS/IT strategic planning you may not like this book. However, if you are an experienced practitioner this book is a wonderful resource to which you'll find yourself frequently referring.

Excellent Reference.......2001-05-08

I've just finished using this as a text book in my Bsc final year. It is somewhat difficult to read as the writing is not in a flowing manner but it is an axcellent reference with a multitude of tables, charts, lists and diagrams which describe the essentials of strategic IS/IT planning.

Each chapter brings a succinct set of guidelines for the strategic planning novice. A lot of work has gone into compiling this book, it is a work which I will reference again and again.

Buy it if you're into this stuff at all, you won't regret it.

Business Data Networks and Telecommunications (6th Edition)

Average customer rating:

Terrible Book
Six Stars!
Great Book, using in my PSU networking class
Great Book, but Check Author's Web Site for Corrections
Great Overview of Data Communications

Business Data Networks and Telecommunications (6th Edition)
Raymond R. Panko
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Modern Database Management (8th Edition)
Network Service Investment Guide: Maximizing ROI in Uncertain Times (Networking Council)
Systems Architecture
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Systems Analysis and Design Methods

ASIN: 0132214415

Book Description

This book has 11 core chapters that form a complete introduction to networking. Mini chapters follow 4 of the chapters (ch. 1, 3, and 8, and 9) with case studies or hands-on exercises reinforcing material in the previous core chapter. In addition, three advanced modules at the end of the book (Module A, B, and C) contain material teachers may wish to cover selectively for emphasis

Customer Reviews:

Terrible Book.......2005-01-22

This book is awful. The revisions to it are updated, but to follow the book in order is nearly impossible. This is a text book being used at a college. The information in this book is scattered and makes learning the concepts difficult. I do not recommend this book for use at colleges/universities. There has to be another book out there that allows users to learn the concepts and terminology in an easier fashion.

Six Stars!.......2004-03-03

I've recently completed a course using this textbook. Excellent!!! It has been a long time (if ever) since I have actually enjoyed reading a textbook. I feel it should be mandatory reading for all authors and potential authors who will ever feel the need to publish a textbook for undergraduate level work in a technical field.

Most of the many corrections on the online corrections page are minor and insignificant (i.e. typos) and would probably go unnoticed by the reader. With press deadlines in technologies being what they are, it is fully understandable. The choice to include those corrections (a) gave me a sense of security in that it demonstrated the author's thoroughness and (b) proves that you don't have to cut a new edition of your work every six months (which can be quite annoying for anyone who is looking to get a specific edition for class).

I was pretty much convinced that it was impossible to design and publish a textbook in a technical field of a caliber such as this. In general, technical authors either confuse the reader by over complicating the layout and material or they put the reader to sleep by being overly shallow and overly redundant. This is not the case for this book. In the words of Goldilocks, this one is "just right". I strongly recommend it to anyone, whether they have a class requirement for it or not.

Great Book, using in my PSU networking class.......2003-03-02

This book is great, it starts from the beginning of the networking age and goes through all the newest technologies and ideas about networking. Covers the business aspects of networking, wireless, how TCP/IP works and pretty muct the 802 standars. Book covers everything, this is one book I won't be selling back. A really good reference book for the basics of networking and rules to follow as well when getting into the networking field.

Great Book, but Check Author's Web Site for Corrections.......2002-12-24

I just finished a semester with this book. Loved it! I didn't think I'd every say that about a textbook, but this one really makes it easy to remember the material. It does so by quizzing you at the end of every section instead of just waiting until the end of the chapter. I found that it significantly improved my retention rate.

I will however caution you that there are errors present in many of the chapters. The errors I came across looked like they were mainly due to poor editing and validation of the technical material. I STRONGLY recommend that you go to the author's web site as he quickly posts any and all corrections by chapter.

For ... dollars, you'd think that the book's publisher, Prentice Hall, would have reviewed the book a bit more thoroughly before publication.

Errors aside, this is a great book that will mostly likely improve further with the next edition.

Great Overview of Data Communications.......2000-12-05

We used this book in my graduate MIS course, and it was a great tool for learning the basics about data communications and networking. Many of my classmates thought that Panko did a great job of explaining data comm concepts, whether it was something as simple as an ethernet LAN, or as complex as an ATM network. Everyone in my class seemed to enjoy the text (both highly technical students with a background in data comms, and students who were learning the material for the first time).

The book is designed to give readers a general overview of a subject, then drill down into the details in later chapters. He starts with the basics (layers, encapsulation, protocols, etc), and then gets into how networks are built from the ground up. Panko has included numerous modules at the end of the book if you want to learn even more about a specific topic.

The author has also put together slides for each chapter which were very helpful in explaining difficult concepts, or emphasizing certain chapters in the text. If you can get a copy of them, I highly recommend using them.

I recommend this book for anyone looking for a way to learn a lot about data communications and networking. This book covers the gamut from LAN to WAN technology, packet switching, ATM networks, frames, IP addresses, etc. It can also serve as a tremendous reference if you need to review a topic later on down the road.

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Inside Out

Average customer rating:

MS Inside Out series
All around guide

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Inside Out
Jim Boyce , Beth Sheresh , and Doug Sheresh
Manufacturer: Microsoft Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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