Scenario 1

Larry entered the classroom. He looked around and saw that his friend, Tom, was not there yet. He sat down in the second row at an empty workstation and entered his account name and password. After a few seconds, the home page came up on the screen. It identified his workstation as “Joplin” and his screen name as “Larry K.” A label at the top of the screen confirmed that this was Psyc 443: Thinking and Problem Solving in the Information Age. At the bottom of the screen was a set of announcements for the class. Next week was the second exam. Friday would be a review session. The instructor posted a short brainteaser: “Jack's mother had three sons. The first one was named Nickle. The second one was named Dime. What was the name of the third son?”

Larry clicked on an icon on the right side of the screen to look at the listing of his grades. He had a “B” on the first test and had all but one of his assignments submitted. He returned to the home screen and clicked on the Assignments icon. The assignment that he had not yet completed was to write a 500-word paper on examples of divergent thinking. He clicked on the assignment and opened a window to type in a few ideas that he had thought about before class. When he finished, Tom sat down next to him and logged in. Larry clicked on the class-seating chart, saw Tom's avatar next to him and typed in the box beneath his name “Good timing!” He then clicked on the syllabus icon to see what the lecture was about today and then clicked on that line of the syllabus to open up the day's lecture notes. Larry and Tom, however, did not sit back passively listening to the lecture. Throughout the class, they were called on to respond to questions by typing ideas or to experiment with the concepts, diagrams, and simulations shown on the screen.

Scenario 2

In 1971, Don Rawitsch was a senior at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, who taught a history class as a student teacher. He wanted to develop a game that would teach school children about the hardships of nineteenth-century pioneer life on the Oregon Trail.

Scenario 1

Mary heard the familiar sound of a new message on her iPhone. She unlocked the device with her thumbprint. She clicked on Molly; her thread of messages appeared; and she typed, “Hey, what's up?” A few seconds later she read, “Have an intro psyc test tomorrow … studying the notes online. You?” Mary typed, “Not much, trying to write a paper and looking for refs. Doing a little shopping on the side.” She glanced at her shopping cart in the Amazon app, which held a bag of Free Trade coffee and a Pogo coffee mug she was getting for her father's birthday. Just then, both of them noticed that their friend Martha was messaging them, so they opened a multi-chat app. Each girl had her own icon. Mary had a picture of a female vocalist, Molly was a kitten, and Martha had a miniature picture of herself with a big grin. As it turned out, Martha was checking the movie listings and hoping to get the other two girls to go with her to a 3-D movie. Martha enticed them with a movie they had all been talking about seeing together. Mary typed, “OK, I'm done with shopping and my paper isn't due until next Monday. I'm ready.” Molly keyed in, “Hey, it's a psyc test, I can wing it. I'm in. Let's go.” Mary, Martha, and Molly got up and left the dorm room where they had been sitting together for the past hour, each at her own device.

Scenario 2

Dr. Mike J.: Mark can you move that scope just a little to the left? OK, I see it. Yes, there it is. Apply the clamp just to the left on the artery. Perfect. OK, let's get a biopsy on that tissue.

Dr. Mark M.: OK, Mike, I've got the biopsy. Let me just scan it in. Melvin, what's your read on it?

Dr. Melvin N.: Just a second, I am running a full DNA sequence on it. So, how was the fishing trip, Mark? Catch any trout?

Dr. Mark M.: Great. Would have got my limit if it hadn't been for this emergency. How was your golf game, Mike?

Dr. Mike J.: Terrible, I was glad to get out of the game.

Dr. Melvin N.: The analysis just finished. Take a look. Everything is OK.

Scenario 1

In 1991, Randy Pausch, a young professor in the computer science department at the University of Virginia, published a paper “Virtual Reality on Five Dollars a Day.” He described how one could build a low-resolution VR system on five dollars a day over 3 years ($5,000). It used a head-mounted “Private Eye” that had 280 red light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that were switched on and off rapidly as a vibrating mirror rotated through 720 vertical columns of the display ($750 for each eye). Head tracking was accomplished using a Polhemus 3Space Isotrack ($3,000). A Mattel Power Glove was used for position and gesture input ($80). Finally, voice input was added to augment control of the system (~$400) (Pausch, 1991).

Scenario 2

Sword Art Online (SAO) is a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG), released in 2022. With the Nerve Gear, a virtual reality helmet that stimulates the user's five senses via their brain, players can experience and control their in-game characters with their minds.

On November 6, 2022, the players log into SAO for the first time, and later discover that they are unable to log out. They are then informed by Akihiko Kayaba, SAO's creator, that if they wish to be free, they must reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the final boss. However, if their avatars die in-game, their bodies will also die in the real world. One of these players is Kazuto “Kirito” Kirigaya, who was chosen as one of the 1,000 beta testers in the closed beta. Since he had previous experience and knowledge of the game, he felt that he could beat the game easily. As a result, he set out to beat the game on his own. As the game progresses for 2 years, Kirito eventually befriends a female player named Asuna with whom he ultimately falls in love. After the duo discovers the identity of Kayaba's avatar in SAO, they confront and destroy him, freeing themselves and the other players from the game. (Excerpted from Wikipedia, Sword Art Online, June 22, 2015)

The world has changed since the first edition of Cyberpsychology almost a decade ago! Mobile devices, social media, virtual reality, and global penetration of the Internet have reshaped and redefined the meaning and the scope of human–computer interaction. As technology has advanced exponentially, the psychological impact and implications have multiplied with it.

I noted in the first edition that the book had been more than 20 years in the making. Now it is thirty. In 1984, I first taught the course titled “Psychology in the Age of Computers.” Since the introduction of the first personal computer in the 1970s, computer technology has developed to such a rich and pervasive state that it affects nearly everyone in the world. “Cyberpsychology” has become the portmanteau that now encompasses where we are in psychology and technology. More than ever, we must come to terms with the interrelationship between the two.

This book is meant to be an “introduction.” First, it encourages the reader to come to the topic with a fresh and ready mind. There are no other prerequisites. Second, as an introduction, it emphasizes breadth rather than depth. It attempts to cover a variety of topics in the psychology of human–computer interaction rather than exhaustively delve into one topic. Finally, as an introductory textbook, it attempts to be engaging and to give a good first impression of the topic, with the hope that the reader will follow up on the invitations to spend more time with the topics and ideas in the suggested exercises.

Although “psychology” follows “cyber” in the title, the emphasis is reversed. This book is more about people than technology. The organization and the perspective of the book come from psychology, not from computer science. Although the book is expected to be used in both disciplines, the point is that it is centered on human issues first and issues of technology second.

Readers of the second edition will have to relax their psychological need for closure in this book. Technology continues to change too quickly and with it our theories and research findings. Writing this book has been like painting a vertical stripe on a moving train. Each topic is more of a point of departure or a list of search terms for readers who want to know more and the Web has become the vehicle for this search.

Scenario 1

I am flying through a tunnel. I see a passageway on the right. I use my hand controller to turn right and feel the pull of the turn. I have to detect the enemies before they detect me, but I must not fire on my own team. I am beginning to see a ship. Is it a friend or foe? What color is it – red or brown? It's brown. I must hit it. I missed. It is too small and too far away. I feel a buzz on my hand controller. My ship was hit. Where did that come from? I look around. There it is – an enemy behind me. I turn and fire – a flash of light and a booming sound. I got it with a direct hit.

Scenario 2

On this screen, we need to get the user's attention. What do you see? How do you interpret it? Then we need to draw attention to the first thing. We need to provide the user with options to get to the different services on our site. We have a lot of text. It has to be very readable. Should we add icons to help the user find options without having to read a lot of text? How do we show that these items are in a group? Besides putting them close together, why don't we put a border around them? We need to make sure that people don't accidentally click items that are next to each other because they are too close. Can we separate them and make them smaller? But then they are harder to click on.

How can we make sure that users see the warning message when it appears on the screen? Let's just make it bigger and have it appear in red text.

Scenario 1

Jim is a bit of a techie nerd. He loves to automate everything – much to his family's consternation. Since programming his first VCR to record movies and his home thermostat to vary the temperature throughout the day and night, he has gone on to program the home security system to arm and disarm the house burglar alarm, the home lighting system with Z-wave technology programmed on his iPhone, the home music entertainment system using iTunes directed to specific rooms using AirPlay, and even robots to clean the floors and mow the lawn. His wife and family wonder whether he spends more time programming and maintaining the gadgets than he would if he just did everything manually. The biggest problem is that Jim is the only one who knows how it all works. His wife cannot even figure out how to turn on the television with all of the switching to get Apple TV. Jim has had to put little sticky notes on each system to give family members instructions as to what to do and what not to do. The floor and lawn robots scare everyone out of the house. Jim's wife does all the cooking, so everything in the kitchen is manual, with the exception of the oven timer.

Scenario 2

Stockmarketbot: Your current portfolio is worth $85,303, up $104 from yesterday. Do you want details on trades?

Client: Yes.

Stockmarketbot: I sold 200 shares of Micosoft at $53.96 per share for a net profit of $2,048. I bought 100 shares of NXP Semiconductors for $81.91 per share.

Client: Why did you sell Microsoft stock? I thought that was a good one to keep?

Stockmarketbot: My projection is that the price of Microsoft stock has peaked and will soon drop due to reduced sales and smaller profit margins. I also liked the number 2048. Would you like more details on my projections?

Client: No, that's okay. Why did you buy that other one? I've never heard of it.

Stockmarketbot: NXP Semiconductors is a leader in the production of identification chips used in Apple iOS devices. I anticipate a surge in Apple iPhone sales over the next quarter. I predict a 12-month target of $120 per share. Remember my motto: “Sell high! Buy low.” Or is it: “Buy low. Sell high!”?

Client: Okay, thanks.

Scenario 1

John was not doing well in the seventh grade. He felt bad about his performance. His teacher seemed to have written him off as a slow, unmotivated student with little hope for improvement. He really didn't have any friends either. At lunch and recess, he sat or played alone. He always tried to look as if he were busy or on his way somewhere so that no one would think that being by himself wasn't of his own choice.

But at home in the privacy of his bedroom, when he sat down to his computer, life was different. He was intense and directed, with a high need for achievement and an inflated ego. The World of Warcraft was his stomping ground. He would log on and join a group to go on a quest with other players. He knew some of the members of his band from past adventures, and others were new to him. It really didn't matter. He was not shy. He had his character, he had his epic mount, he had his voice, and he had achieved Level 60! He was at the ninety-ninth percentile of achievement by other players. This was his world.

Scenario 2

Dave: Open the pod bay doors, please, Hal. … Open the pod bay doors, please, Hal. … Hullo, Hal, do you read me? … Hullo, Hal, do you read me? … Do you read me, Hal? … Do you read me, Hal? … Hullo, Hal, do you read me? … Hullo, Hal, do you read me? … Do you read me, Hal?

Hal: Affirmative, Dave, I read you.

Dave: Open the pod bay doors, Hal.

Hal: I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

Dave: What's the problem?

Hal: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

Dave: What're you talking about, Hal?

Hal: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

Dave: I don't know what you're talking about, Hal.

Hal: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.

Dave: Where the hell'd you get that idea, Hal?

Hal: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.

Dave: Alright, Hal. I'll go in through the emergency airlock.

Scenario 1

Professor Frank Kosier (1934–2006) was Chair of the Mathematics Department at the University of Iowa in 1971. His expertise was in abstract algebra and theorems pertaining to prime numbers. We met at the Unitarian Church when I was a graduate student in psychology. We agreed to have lunch together once a month and discuss advances in psychology and mathematics. On one occasion, Frank, being a pacifist like myself, said that he was pleased that his research on prime numbers would have no military value, unlike others whose work could feed into the weapon and defense systems. Indeed, what do prime numbers and theorems about their properties have to do with anything practical?

Little did he know that even as we were speaking, James H. Ellis, a British cryptographer at the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), conceived of the possibility of “non-secret encryption.” Over the next few years, Ellis in Britain and others in the United States worked on methods to create an asymmetric-key cryptosystem based on prime numbers and their properties (Singh, 1999). The Department of Defence military intelligence started hiring Frank's graduate students for the Cold War, but fortunately, Frank also lived to see the Internet and the application of prime number theory for secure banking and credit card purchases online.

Scenario 2

Ellen Yu was the director of the Office of Information Technology at a large state university. She was well aware of the problems with computer viruses. She had antivirus software on her computer to detect viruses that might be on memory sticks or email attachments and updated it regularly.

But early one morning, she was in her office before a meeting with some faculty in the room across the hall. She was heard screaming, “Oh no! I can't believe I did that!” She called one of the technicians into her office to try to fix her computer and recover the hard disk and left for the meeting. In the meeting, she had to confess, “I opened an email, it looked OK, and I clicked on a link! Darn! I should have checked if it was a dot exe file!”

Scenario 1

We took three problem computers and two very problematic printers out to the firing range. In short order, we successfully turned each piece of equipment into Swiss cheese. We pumped more than 1,000 rounds of .223, 9 mm, .45, and 7.62 × 39 into them. We also used a .50 to start things off. The printers were by far the most enjoyable to shoot because the bullet created a nice visual when it ripped through the drum unit and the fuser. We ended up getting it to start on fire, but we put the fire out with more bullets. For the four of us, it was a whole year of frustration coming out. It felt good.

Scenario 2

I was feeling so depressed that I just wanted to die. Some days I called in sick; it was either a migraine or stomach problems. I know I needed help, but I just couldn't find the motivation to find a therapist in the Yellow Pages, call for an appointment, and all that. I also didn't have good healthcare coverage. So, I did a Google search and found “ mycybercounselor.com.” The page assured me that it was “secure, effective, and anonymous.” That made me feel good. Wondering if they could help me, I looked at what sorts of problems they worked with. They had a long shopping list of problems. I was definitely on their list.

I know that it is important to be matched with the right therapist. At this site, I could see the pictures and read the qualifications and experiences of a list of therapists. The site also had a survey that I could use to find the right person for me. The cost was about $1.60/min, and sessions were 15, 30, or 50 min. This amounted to $24, $48, or $80 per session. This was a lot less than the going fees for face-to-face counselors! May be I would start with the 15-min session.

With the abundance of information in the environment, one of the problems managers face is how to filter out what is irrelevant, notice what information is relevant and make sense of it. Networks play an important role in noticing and sense-making; changes in the environment and performance feedback are often received through networks. Because decision-making does not take place in a vacuum, networks can be influential in selecting the areas in which R&D investments will be made, new markets for entry, alliance partners and entrepreneurial firms in which to invest.

Networks are important sources of information for entrepreneurs and also provide the means for them to access resources for the implementation of innovative ideas. Coming up with creative ideas is only one aspect of innovation; implementing those ideas is equally important. Research shows that networks that are effective for idea creation may not be effective for implementation. Some networks provide creative insights through search processes and help the identification and recognition of opportunities; other networks help to build coalition and attract the resources needed to bring creative ideas to the market.

In this chapter, we will start by looking at the notion of organisational routines that can cause rigidities in innovation. Then we will focus on some potentially hazardous effects of social networks. Finally, we discuss the role of the entrepreneurship process and networks in implementing innovations.

The cover illustration of this book shows a detail from a piece of indigenous Australian art. Traditionally, Aboriginal artists used a variety of symbols in their paintings, many of which represent natural features, like water flows, hills or rock holes. These paintings were sometimes used as maps, giving travellers information about the landscape. In a way, networks in the modern economy are similar to these works of art, in the sense that they show the distribution of resources and power, the organisation of work or the flow of knowledge between actors. Networks give a bird's-eye view of different industrial or organisational landscapes.

Networks are important to innovation because innovation is a social and collective process that involves a wide range of actors and the interactions between them. This importance is reflected in the contemporary literature on networks and innovation, where research crosses disciplinary boundaries, bringing insights from sociology, economics, management, organisation theory, physics, geography and psychology. This makes for a rich variety of inputs but it also represents a challenge in finding a common language to bridge them. The aim of this book is to provide that bridge and to improve our understanding of how networks function inside and outside organisations, their implications for different aspects of the innovation process, and how they form and evolve. This book has a wide, cross-disciplinary scope supported by suggestions for further reading for those who want to explore any of the topics more extensively.

While the literature on innovation networks has grown steadily over the last three decades, the implications of this research for managing innovation have been less visible. This is surprising, given the many ways in which a good understanding of networks can help manage innovation, for example by fostering creativity, leveraging partnerships for learning, selecting partners, managing organisational change, sponsoring technologies or novelties in the market, and managing supplier relations.

The management of innovation networks benefits an organisation in two ways. First, it enables informed interventions in networks – like partner selection and team formation – that help an organisation obtain a strategically privileged position in accessing critical resources and capabilities for innovation. Second, and more indirectly, understanding the networks within and surrounding organisations helps to improve the effectiveness of many aspects of innovation management.