Hi Barry et al, Thanks very much indeed for the heads-up on the publication and your helpful summary! I'll pester my librarian to order it, no question. Let me also ask the following question for the sake of clarification. Two Finnish colleagues included in their presentation at CATaC'04 a survey of how "culture" is taken up in HCI literature, summarized as follows (the parentheticals are their comments and suggestions): 1. Culture is taken for granted. (There is no exhaustive definition for culture, so we have to choose our definition.) 2. Culture is not defined explicitly. (We should always state clearly our suppositions of culture (or the suppositions of the theories and models we are using) and recognise their effects on our study.) 3. Culture is limited to national cultures. (It is good to remember that culture does not exist at national level only. At least we should avoid assuming that there is one national culture for every country.) 4. Cultures are seen as coherent wholes. (We should give up the idea that cultures are isolated wholes or that we could draw strict borders between them.) 5. Culture is seen in the role of maintenance. (Culture is capable of both resistance and transformation.) (Kampurri, Minna and Markku Tukainen. 2004. Culture in Human-Computer Interaction Studies: A survey of ideas and definitions. In F. Sudweeks and C. Ess (eds.), Proceedings: Cultural Attitudes Towards Communication and Technology 2004, 43-57. Murdoch, Western Australia: Murdoch University.) I didn't immediately see in your a reference to these aspects of culture and HCI, so let me simply ask - [and just to be absolutely clear: this is intended as a collegial question for the sake of information, _not_ a challenge or a criticism (the latter impossible since I've not seen the volumes I'm asking about - smile!)] - Since you've seen the volumes, can you tell me/us how far they include entries, etc., that (a) address issues of culture and HCI along these lines and thus (b) may require a revision of these summary points? Thanks in advance, and cheers - Charles Ess Fall '04: Fulbright Senior Scholar Universität Trier Fachbereich II Fakultäten der Medienwissenschaft, Sinologie Universitätsring 15 54296 Trier (Germany) Office phone: (49) (0)651-201-3744 Sekretariat: (49) (0)651-201-3203 Fax: (49) (0)651-201-3741 Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Co-chair, CATaC: http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/catac/ Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23