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Take Control of Your Online Privacy
by Joe KissellLearn what's private online (not much)--and what to do about it!Do you have anything to hide? Whether or not you think you do, your online activities are certainly tracked -- and not just by well-meaning sites who want to keep you logged in or by marketing firms who want to show you targeted ads for products that you likely want to buy.In the full book, Joe helps you gain perspective on what is reasonable to expect about online privacy and develop a sensible online privacy strategy, customized for your needs. He then explains how to enhance the privacy of your Internet connection, Web browsing, email messages, online chatting, social media interactions, and file sharing. To bring home the most important privacy no-nos, Joe also encourages you to take The Pledge (OK, it's tongue-in-cheek, though it would have saved numerous politicians from ridicule and career-ending gaffes). Plus, parents will find important riinders about how your online actions can affect your children, far into the future.Teach This Book! Once you're satisfied with your own online privacy strategy, you may want to help friends or colleagues improve theirs. To that end, Take Control of Your Online Privacy includes links to a downloadable one-page PDF handout and to a PDF-based slide deck that you can show on any computer or mobile device screen.Whether you have a Mac or PC, iOS or Android device, set-top box, cell phone, or some other network-enabled gadget, Take Control of Your Online Privacy has the advice that ordinary people need to handle common privacy needs (secret agents should really look elsewhere). You'll receive savvy advice about:Why worry? Learn about who wants your private data, and, more important, why they want it. Even if you don't believe you have anything to hide, you almost certainly do, in the right context. Would you give just anyone your financial records or medical history? Didn't think so.Set your privacy meter: Develop your own set of personal privacy rules -- everyone has different privacy buttons, and it's important to figure out which are important to you.Manage your Internet connection: Understand privacy risks, prevent snoops, and take key precautions to keep your data from leaking out.Browse and search the Web: Learn what information is revealed about you when you use the Web. Avoid bogus Web sites, connect securely where possible, control your cookies and history, block ads, browse and search anonymously, and find out who is tracking you. Also, learn how to protect your passwords and credit card data.Send and receive email: Find out how your email could be intercepted, consider when you want email to be extra private (such as when communicating with a doctor or lawyer), find out why Joe doesn't recommend email encryption as a solution to ordinary privacy needs (but find pointers for how to get started if you want to try it -- or just encrypt an attachment, which is easier), get tips for sending email anonymously, and read ideas for alternatives to email.Talk and chat online: Consider to what extent any phone call, text message, or online chat is private and find tips for enhancing your privacy when using these channels.Watch your social media sharing: Social media is by definition social, so there's a limit to how private it can be. Understand the risks and benefits of sharing personal information online, tweak your settings, and consider common-sense precautions.Share files: What if you want to share (or collaborate on) a contract, form, or other document that contains confidential or personal information? Find out about the best ways to share files via file server, email attachment, cloud-based file sharing service, peer-to-peer file sharing, or private cloud.Help your children: As a parent, you know a lot about your children and you have access to lots of photos of thi. But that doesn't mean you should share everything without a thought to your children's privacy needs, either now or in the future, since data never disappears from the Internet. Find a few key tips to keep in mind before you tell all.If I don't li...
Take Control of Your Online Privacy
by Joe KissellLearn what's private online (not much)--and what to do about it!Nowadays, it can be difficult to complete ordinary activities without placing your personal data online, but having your data online puts you at risk for theft, embarrassment, and all manner of trouble. In this book, Joe Kissell helps you to develop a sensible online privacy strategy, customized for your needs. Whether you have a Mac or PC, iOS or Android device, set-top box, cell phone, or some other network-enabled gadget, you'll find practical advice that ordinary people need to handle common privacy needs (secret agents should look elsewhere).You'll learn how to enhance the privacy of your Internet connection, Web browsing, email messages, online chatting, social media interactions, and file sharing, as well as your mobile phone or tablet, and Internet of Things devices like webcams and thermostats. Parents will find important reminders about protecting a child's privacy. The book also includes Joe's carefully researched VPN recommendations.The book is packed with sidebars that help you get a handle on current topics in online privacy, including international travel, quantum computing, why you should beware of VPN reviews online, two-factor authentication, privacy and your ISP, understanding Gmail ads, and more.You'll receive savvy advice about:Why worry? Learn who wants your private data, and why they want it. Even if you don't believe you have anything to hide, you almost certainly do, in the right context. Would you give just anyone your financial records or medical history? Didn't think so.Set your privacy meter: Develop your own personal privacy rules--everyone has different privacy buttons, and it's important to figure out which matter to you.Manage your Internet connection: Understand privacy risks, prevent snoops by securing your Wi-Fi network, and take key precautions to keep your data from leaking out. Also find advice on using a VPN, plus why you should never believe a VPN review that you read on the Internet--even if it seems like it was written by Joe!Browse and search the Web: Learn what is revealed about you when you use the Web. Avoid bogus Web sites, connect securely where possible, control your cookies and history, block ads, browse and search anonymously, and find out who is tracking you. Also, take steps to protect passwords and credit card data.Send and receive email: Find out how your email could be intercepted, consider when you want email to be extra private (such as when communicating with a lawyer), find out why Joe doesn't recommend email encryption as a solution to ordinary privacy needs (but find pointers for how to get started if you want to try it--or just encrypt an attachment, which is easier), get tips for sending email anonymously, and read ideas for alternatives to email.Talk and chat online: Consider to what extent any phone call, text message, or online chat is private, and find tips for enhancing privacy when using these channels.Watch your social media sharing: Understand the risks and benefits of sharing personal information online, tweak your settings, and consider common-sense precautions.Share files: What if you want to share (or collaborate on) a contract, form, or other document that contains confidential information? Find out about the best ways to share files via file server, email attachment, cloud-based file sharing service, peer-to-peer file sharing, or private cloud.Check your electronics: All sorts of gizmos can connect to the Internet these days, so everything from a nannycam to smart light bulbs should be considered in your online privacy strategy.Think mobile: Ponder topics like SIM card encryption keys, supercookies, location reporting, photo storage, and more as you decide how to handle privacy for a mobile phone or tablet.
Take Control of Your Online Privacy
by Joe KissellLearn what's private online (not much)--and what to do about it!Nowadays, it can be difficult to complete ordinary activities without placing your personal data online, but having your data online puts you at risk for theft, embarrassment, and all manner of trouble. In this book, Joe Kissell helps you to develop a sensible online privacy strategy, customized for your needs. Whether you have a Mac or PC, iOS or Android device, set-top box, or some other network-enabled gadget, you'll find practical advice that ordinary people need to handle common privacy needs (secret agents should look elsewhere). You'll learn how to enhance the privacy of your internet connection, web browsing, email messages, online chatting, social media interactions, and file sharing, as well as your mobile phone or tablet, and Internet of Things devices like webcams and thermostats. Parents will find important reminders about protecting a child's privacy. The book also includes Joe's carefully researched VPN recommendations.The book is packed with sidebars that help you get a handle on current topics in online privacy, including international travel, quantum computing, why you should beware of VPN reviews online, two-factor authentication, privacy and your ISP, understanding how ads can track you, and more.You'll receive savvy advice about topics such as these:Why worry? Learn who wants your private data, and why they want it. Even if you don't believe you have anything to hide, you almost certainly do, in the right context. Would you give just anyone your financial records or medical history? Didn't think so.Manage your Internet connection: Understand privacy risks, prevent snoops by securing your Wi-Fi network, and take key precautions to keep your data from leaking out. Also find advice on using a VPN, plus why you should never believe a VPN review that you read on the Internet--even if it seems like it was written by Joe!Browse and search the web: Learn what is revealed about you when you use the web. Avoid bogus websites, connect securely where possible, control your cookies and history, block ads, browse and search anonymously, and find out who is tracking you. Also, take steps to protect passwords and credit card data.Send and receive email: Find out how your email could be intercepted, consider when you want email to be extra private (such as when communicating with a lawyer), find out why Joe doesn't recommend email encryption as a solution to ordinary privacy needs (but find pointers for how to get started if you want to try it--or just encrypt an attachment, which is easier), get tips for sending email anonymously, and read ideas for alternatives to email.Talk and chat online: Consider to what extent any phone call, text message, or online chat is private, and find tips for enhancing privacy when using these channels.Watch your social media sharing: Understand the risks and benefits of sharing personal information online (especially on Facebook!), tweak your settings, and consider common-sense precautions.Share files: What if you want to share (or collaborate on) a contract, form, or other document that contains confidential information? Find out about the best ways to share files via file server, email attachment, cloud-based file sharing service, peer-to-peer file sharing, or private cloud.Check your electronics: All sorts of gizmos can connect to the Internet these days, so everything from a nannycam to smart light bulbs should be considered in your online privacy strategy.Think mobile: Ponder topics like SIM card encryption keys, supercookies, location reporting, photo storage, and more as you decide how to handle privacy for a mobile phone or tablet.
Take Control of Your Online Privacy
by Joe KissellNowadays, it can be difficult to complete ordinary activities without placing your personal data online, but having your data online puts you at risk for theft, embarrassment, and all manner of trouble. Read this book to find practical advice that ordinary people need to handle common online privacy problems and to develop a sensible online privacy strategy, customized for your needs.
Take Control of Your Online Privacy (5.1)
by Joe KissellLearn what's private online (not much)—and what to do about it! Version 5.1, updated January 30, 2025 Nearly everything you do say or do online can be recorded and scrutinized by advertisers, data brokers, and a long list of other people and organizations---often without your knowledge or consent. When your personal data falls into the wrong hands, you risk theft, embarrassment, and worse. But you can take steps to greatly improve your online privacy without sacrificing all your convenience. Nowadays, online privacy is extremely hard to come by. Corporations, governments, and scammers alike go out of their way to gather up massive amounts of your personal data. The situation feels bleak, but you have more control than you may realize. In this book, Joe Kissell helps you to develop a sensible, customized online privacy strategy. No matter what devices or operating systems you use, you’ll find practical advice that ordinary people need to handle common privacy needs. The massively revised fifth edition of Take Control of Your Online Privacy is packed with information that helps you get a handle on current topics in online privacy, including data breaches, hardware bugs, quantum computing, two-factor authentication, how ads can track you, and much more. You’ll receive savvy advice about topics such as these: Why worry? Find out who wants your private data, why they want it, and what that means to you. Determine your personal risk level, learn which privacy factors are most important to you, what you can and can't control, and what extra steps you can take if you're at a high risk of being personally targeted. Hear some good news (five steps you could take that would massively increase your online privacy)…and some bad news (why some of those steps may be difficult or infeasible). Remove personal information from Google and data brokers, though the process comes with limitations and gotchas. Discover Apple-Specific Privacy Features for users of Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Manage your internet connection: Secure your Wi-Fi network and keep your data from leaking out. Find advice on why and when to use a VPN or a network-connected privacy appliance, plus why you should be skeptical of VPN reviews. Browse and search the web: Avoid bogus websites, control your cookies and history, block ads, browse and search anonymously, and find out who is tracking you. Send and receive email: Find out how your email could be intercepted, learn techniques for encrypting email when necessary, get tips for sending email anonymously, and know when email is not the best way to communicate. Watch your social media: Understand the risks of sharing personal information online (especially on Facebook!), tweak your settings, and consider common-sense precautions. Talk and chat online: Consider to what extent any phone call, text message, or online chat is private, and find tips for enhancing privacy when using these channels. Protect your smart devices: Address privacy issues with "Internet of Things" devices like smart TVs, smart speakers, and home automation gear. Think mobile: Ponder topics like supercookies, location reporting, photo storage, spear phishing, and more as you decide how to handle privacy for a mobile phone or tablet. Help your children: As a parent, you may want to take extra steps to protect your children's privacy. Find a few key tips to keep in mind.
Take Control of Your Paperless Office
by Joe KissellDigitize your documents while reducing incoming and outgoing paper!Join Joe Kissell as he helps you clear the chaos of an office overflowing with paper. With Joe's guidance you can develop a personal clean-up strategy and choose your Mac-compatible tools—a scanner and the software you need to perform OCR (optical character recognition)—plus devices and services for storing your digitized documents and tools to categorize, locate, and view your digital document collections.Once you have your gear in hand, Joe shows you how to convert your paper documents to digitized files and gives you ideas for how to organize your office workflow, explaining how to develop day-to-day techniques that reduce the amount of time you spend pressing buttons, launching software, and managing documents.Bonus! The book also comes with downloadable “folder action” AppleScripts that simplify the process of OCR-ing PDFs in Adobe Acrobat, ABBYY FineReader Express, PDFpen/PDFpenPro, and Readiris. Save or move a PDF in the appropriate folder, and the script does the rest!You’ll master these paper-reducing skills:Scanning or photographing documents you find while out and about—business cards, receipts, menus, flyers, and more—so you keep only digitized versions. Joe discusses a variety of mobile scanning options, with an emphasis on using a camera-equipped iOS device, but with mention of a few options for Android smartphones.Creating a digitized image of your signature so you can sign and share documents digitally, rather than printing them for the sole purpose of signing them with a pen.Setting up your computer to send and receive faxes so you can avoid using a physical fax machine with paper input and output. Joe describes online fax services and using a fax modem (note that fax modem support is not available in macOS 10.12 Sierra).Joe also discusses standard techniques for reducing paper—paperless billing, online bank statements, reducing unwanted catalogs and junk mail, and more, as well as less common practices, such as paperless postal mail services and check depositing services.You’ll find answers to numerous questions, including:What is a "searchable PDF," and why is it key to a paperless office?What differentiates "document scanners" from other types of scanners?What’s a book scanner?What if I need a mobile, portable scanner?What does TWAIN stand for, and should my scanner support it?Why do I need OCR software, and what features should I look for?What scanners and OCR products does Joe recommend?How can I automate my workflow for scanning documents?How should I name and file my digitized documents?What paper documents should I keep in physical form?How do I use common tools to add a signature to a PDF? How can I access my digital documents remotely?How should I back up my important digital documents?
Take Control of Your Paperless Office
by Joe KissellThe paperless office doesn't have to be a myth! Turn paper into usable digital files, reducing clutter and increasing convenience. This book helps you assess your situation, develop a strategy, and learn clever techniques for keeping more paper at bay—with detailed discussion of the hardware, software, and processes needed to get the job done.
Take Control of Your Paperless Office
by Joe KissellIn addition to all of the above, Joe clues you in to these paper-reducing tasks and skills: How to scan or photograph documents you find while out and about--business cards, receipts, menus, flyers, and labels--so that you keep only digitized versions. Joe discusses a variety of mobile scanner options, with particular emphasis on using a camera-equipped iOS device, and lists similar options for employing Android and BlackBerry smartphones. How to create a digitized image of your signature so that you can create, sign, and share documents digitally, rather than printing them for the sole purpose of signing them with a pen. How to set up your computer to send and receive faxes so that you can avoid using a physical fax machine with paper input and output. Joe describes both using a fax modem and taking advantage of various online fax services. How to use common techniques for reducing paper--paperless billing, online bank statements, and more--and less common practices, such as using paperless postal mail services and check depositing services. Joe also gives effective tips for reducing the amount of catalogs, junk mail, and paper that you receive. Questions answered in the ebook include: What is a "searchable PDF" and why is it key to a paperless office? How should I back up my important digital documents? What differentiates "document scanners" from other types of scanners? What's available in the way of mobile document scanners? What, if anything, does TWAIN stand for, and should my scanner support it? What will OCR software do for me, and what special features should I look for? What scanners and OCR products does Joe recommend? How can I use AppleScript to automate my workflow for scanning documents? What paper documents should I keep in physical form? How can I use PDFpen or Acrobat Pro to add a signature to a PDF? What naming and categorization schemes should I use for my documents? Where should I store my digital documents? What should I keep in mind if I want to share my documents with others? How can I access my digital documents remotely? How can an iPad, iPhone, or other device help me reduce the use of paper? Is it better to use a fax modem or a fax-to-email gateway?
Take Control of Your Passwords
by Joe KissellPasswords are an irritating fact of modern life. It’s tricky to create and remember good ones, but dangerous to use simple ones (or reuse a password in multiple places). This book helps you overcome these problems with a sensible, stress-free strategy for password security.
Take Control of Your Passwords
by Joe KissellPassword overload has driven many of us to take dangerous shortcuts. If you think ZombieCat12 is a secure password, that you can safely reuse a password, or that no one would try to steal your password, think again! Overcome password frustration with expert advice from Joe Kissell!
Take Control of Your Passwords
by Joe KissellPassword overload has driven many of us to take dangerous shortcuts. If you think ZombieCat12 is a secure password, that you can safely reuse a password, or that no one would try to steal your password, think again! Overcome password frustration with expert advice from Joe Kissell!
Take Control of Your Passwords (2.0)
by Joe KissellImprove your passwords without losing your cool, thanks to Joe Kissell's expert advice. Start on the path to modern password security by watching Joe's intro video and by checking out our Joe of Tech comic in the Contents & Intro tab below (scroll down!). Read the book to understand the problems and apply a real-world strategy that includes choosing a password manager, auditing your existing passwords, and dealing with situations where automated tools can't help. "Awesome. You did an amazing job breaking it down. This should be mandatory reading." --Rich Mogull, CEO at Securosis</p>\n\n<p>This ebook helps you overcome frustrations that arise when attempting to design a strategy for dealing with the following password problems:</p>\n\n<ul><li><p>9-character passwords with upper- and lowercase letters, digits, and punctuation are NOT strong enough.</p></li>\n<li><p>You CANNOT turn a so-so password into a great one by tacking a punctuation character and number on the end.</p></li>\n<li><p>It is NOT safe to use the same password everywhere, even if it's a great password.</p></li>\n<li><p>A password is NOT immune to automated cracking because there's a delay between login attempts.</p></li>\n<li><p>Even if you're an ordinary person without valuable data, your account may STILL be hacked, causing you problems.</p></li>\n<li><p>You can NOT manually devise "random" passwords that will defeat potential attackers.</p></li>\n<li><p>Just because a password doesn't appear in a dictionary, that does NOT necessarily mean that it's adequate.</p></li>\n<li><p>It is NOT a smart idea to change your passwords every month.</p></li>\n<li><p>Truthfully answering security questions like "What is your mother's maiden name?" does NOT keep your data more secure.</p></li>\n<li><p>Adding a character to a 10-character password does NOT make it 10 percent stronger.</p></li>\n<li><p>Easy-to-remember passwords like "correct horse battery staple" will NOT solve all your password problems.</p></li>\n<li><p>All password managers are NOT pretty much the same.</p></li>\n<li><p>Your passwords will NOT be safest if you never write them down and keep them only in your head.</p></li>\n</ul><p class="quote">"Joe handles a confusing and scary subject more clearly and calmly than I would have thought possible. I'll be recommending this book to just about everybody I know." --William Porter, database developer, author, photographer</p></div>
Take Control of Your Passwords (3.0)
by Joe KissellPasswords are an irritating fact of modern life. It’s tricky to create and remember good ones, but dangerous to use simple ones (or reuse a password in multiple places). This book helps you overcome these problems with a sensible, stress-free strategy for password security.
Take Control of Your Productivity
by Jeff PortenIncrease Productivity and Reduce Stress!Being productive is never as simple as putting items on a calendar or to do list and checking them off. Most of us struggle with too much to do, too little time, and only a vague idea of how to plan each day so we can achieve the best results with the least stress. If that sounds like you (and especially if you've tried a bunch of productivity systems and found them lacking), Jeff Porten's expert guidance may be just what you need.As a professional technology consultant and an early adopter of both hardware and software, Jeff has tried nearly every productivity management system out there, and experimented with dozens of implementation styles. He brings his decades of experience to this book, helping you create a customized strategy that's ideal for your needs, and--crucially--avoid common mistakes. Whether you're a productivity junkie or someone who has struggled for years with a cobbled-together, informal task-management system, this book will help you get a much better grip on your personal and business time.In this book, you'll:Review the principles of successful planning--whether for immediate projects or for long-term and "someday" goals.Understand your natural working style and preferences, including comfortable habits that may not be productive but that you don't want to change, and create a more effective workflow that fits you.Discover the best ways to think about projects, tasks, events, due dates, flags, contexts, and more.Choose a task-management app that's appropriate for your needs, no matter what devices and operating systems you use, and that integrates with your calendar, reminders, notes, and the apps you use to actually do things.Develop a step-by-step process for tracking all your events and tasks and ensuring that everything happens in the right order.Transition from an old system to your new system without worrying that anything will fall through the cracks.Learn exactly how to keep track of all the things you need to remember throughout the day.Improve your time-estimation skills when planning how long future tasks and projects will take.Solve the problem of "10-minute tasks" that become all-day projects because they have a dozen things you discover you need to do first.Get better at managing other people (and their expectations of you).Review how well your productivity system has worked over time, using feedback loops and suggested best practices to continually improve your workflow.Fail successfully! If something goes wrong--from a derailing large project to a life-changing crisis--learn how to recover gracefully and improve your system the next time around.Know when and how to make changes to meet any new needs you have, and to ensure that what you do every Tuesday at 2 PM contributes to your overarching goals and most important roles in life.Although many of the examples in the book refer to Mac productivity tools, the advice is platform-neutral. The book contains tips applicable to any combination of operating systems, and a companion webpage provides additional details on apps running on Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and the web.
Take Control of Your Productivity
by Jeff PortenSimple to-do lists and calendars are no match for today's complex productivity needs. Productivity expert Jeff Porten walks you step by step through a system that helps you manage personal and business tasks fluidly, without having to worry that something might fall through the cracks.
Take Control of Zoom
by Glenn FleishmanThis book explains how to use the Zoom videoconferencing service from start to finish. It offers detailed instructions, warnings, and tips from installing and configuration of Zoom software, through set up and participation, and how to host meetings.
Take Control of Zoom
by Glenn FleishmanThis book explains how to use the Zoom videoconferencing service from start to finish. It offers detailed instructions, warnings, and tips from installing and configuration of Zoom software, through set up and participation, and how to host meetings.
Take Control of Zoom
by Glenn FleishmanThis book explains how to use the Zoom videoconferencing service from start to finish. It offers detailed instructions, warnings, and tips from installing and configuration of Zoom software, through set up and participation, and how to host meetings.
Take Control of Zoom
by Glenn FleishmanThis book explains how to use the Zoom videoconferencing service from start to finish. It offers detailed instructions, warnings, and tips from installing and configuration of Zoom software, through set up and participation, and how to host meetings.
Take Control of Zoom Essentials (1.0)
by Glenn FleishmanZoom became the online tool that everyone suddenly needed to master for school, work, and social life. This free Take Control book is here to help. Take Control of Zoom Essentials gets you quickly up to speed, including installing a Zoom app or using Zoom in a browser if you haven’t yet done so. It takes you through setup of your hardware, physical space, and Zoom apps, and teaches you to be an effective participant in meetings, including sharing your screen. This short, free book will make you an intermediate Zoom user in hours, without frustration.
Take My Money: Accepting Payments on the Web
by Noel RappinGetting paid using Stripe or PayPal is only the beginning of creating a fully-functional e-commerce application. You also need to handle failure cases, inventory management, administration, security, reporting, and be compliant with legal issues. Manage one-time transactions and recurring subscriptions, handle inventory management, issue discounts and refunds, mitigate administration and compliance issues, and test your code to ensure your customers have a smooth, hassle-free experience.An e-commerce payment application is literally rewarding to build--you can see the return on investment as genuine money is added to your account. But it can be stressful to manage, with security and compliance concerns and administration issues. And your entire business may depend on these features working smoothly. Let Noel Rappin guide you through the setup and complications of dealing with online financial transactions. Go beyond just the interaction with the gateway service and build an application that will be robust and useful over time. Set up a Stripe and PayPal payment gateway and accept credit card payments. Use the Stripe API to improve security by validating credit card data without sending it through your own server. Design your application for maximum flexibility against the inevitable complexities of business logic, including handling discounts. Manage the multiple failure points of dealing with payment gateways and test for failure cases. Use background jobs to simplify third-party interactions. Handle administrative tasks such as issuing refunds and discounts while maintaining data integrity and security. Create subscription plans and manage recurring payments, and stay on top of legal issues regarding taxes, reporting, and compliance. Pay affiliates or contributors from your application. By the end, you will know how to create a fully-functional web payment-taking machine.What You Need:The code in this book works with Ruby 2.3.1 and Rails 5, though nearly all of the code will run with earlier versions of Ruby and Rails.
Taking [A]part: The Politics and Aesthetics of Participation in Experience-Centered Design (Design Thinking, Design Theory)
by Peter Wright John McCarthyA critical inquiry into the value and experience of participation in design research.In Taking [A]part, John McCarthy and Peter Wright consider a series of boundary-pushing research projects in human-computer interaction (HCI) in which the design of digital technology is used to inquire into participative experience. McCarthy and Wright view all of these projects—which range from the public and performative to the private and interpersonal—through the critical lens of participation. Taking participation, in all its variety, as the generative and critical concept allows them to examine the projects as a part of a coherent, responsive movement, allied with other emerging movements in DIY culture and participatory art. Their investigation leads them to rethink such traditional HCI categories as designer and user, maker and developer, researcher and participant, characterizing these relationships instead as mutually responsive and dialogical.McCarthy and Wright explore four genres of participation—understanding the other, building relationships, belonging in community, and participating in publics—and they examine participatory projects that exemplify each genre. These include the Humanaquarium, a participatory musical performance; the Personhood project, in which a researcher and a couple explored the experience of living with dementia; the Prayer Companion project, which developed a technology to inform the prayer life of cloistered nuns; and the development of social media to support participatory publics in settings that range from reality game show fans to on-line deliberative democracies.
Taking AIMS at Digital Design: Analysis, Improvement, Modeling, and Synthesis
by Axel JantschThis is an introductory textbook for courses in Synchronous Digital Design that enables students to develop useful intuitions for all of the key concepts of digital design. The author focuses this tutorial on the design flow, which is introduced as an iterative cycle of Analysis, Improvement, Modeling, and Synthesis. All the basic elements of digital design are covered, starting with the CMOS transistor to provide an abstraction upon which everything else is built. The other main foundational concepts introduced are clocked synchronous register-transfer level design, datapath, finite state machines and communication between clock domains.
Taking Blender to the Next Level: Implement advanced workflows such as geometry nodes, simulations, and motion tracking for Blender production pipelines
by Ruan LotterA comprehensive guide with key images printed in color to learning motion graphics, character modeling and rigging, creating dynamic hair and clothes, 3D scanning using photogrammetry, and moreKey FeaturesLearn how to use geometry nodes to create motion graphics and dynamic scenesUnderstand organic 3D modeling and how to create and animate your own 3D charactersUse physics simulations to create clothing and hair for characters that interact with forces like windBook DescriptionIf you're ready to start exploring the more advanced workflows and processes in Blender to create intricate 3D models, then Taking Blender to the Next Level is for you.This book focuses on a few different VFX-related workflows such as geometry nodes, organic modeling, 3D camera tracking, photogrammetry, sculpting, compositing, and physics simulations. You'll learn how to use geometry nodes to create dynamic motion graphic scenes as well as perform 3D scanning of real-world objects using photogrammetry. You'll also find out how to model, rig, and animate your own 3D characters from scratch. Next, you'll progress to using simulations to break objects apart and then use cloth and hair simulations to add realism to your 3D creations. Finally, you'll go over the final render settings and export your 3D animation masterpiece as a video.By the end of this Blender book, you'll be able to model your own 3D characters, objects, and landscapes; rig, animate, and texture your characters; 3D track live-action footage; and composite your 3D characters into live-action scenes.What you will learnUse geometry nodes to quickly create complex 3D scenes and motion graphics rendersCreate realistic textures using physically based rendering materials3D scan real-life objects using a normal camera and clean up the model using BlenderUnderstand how to model, rig, and animate your own 3D charactersUse rigid body simulations to create dynamic scenesUnderstand how to perform 3D tracking within BlenderBecome well-versed with compositing 3D renders into live-action footageWho this book is forThis Blender 3D book is for 3D modelers, texture artists, character and technical animators, matchmove artists, compositors, and anyone interested in learning advanced concepts in Blender. Motion graphics artists will also benefit from this book. A solid understanding of 3D concepts and the Blender UI is needed to grasp the concepts present in this book.