How the human visual system determines the lightness of a surface, that is, its whiteness, blackness, or grayness, remains--like vision in general--a mystery. In fact, we have not even been able to create a machine that can determine, through an artificial vision system, whether an object is white, black, or gray. Although the photoreceptors in the eye are driven by light, the light reflected by a surface does not reveal its shade of gray. Depending upon the level of illumination, a surface of any shade of gray can reflect any amount of light.

In Seeing Black and White Alan...

This breakthrough collection, featuring landmark contributions from international experts including accomplished professor Blaise Cronin, offers a forward-looking focus on exciting future trends and developments in information science. There are fifteen chapters that cover a variety of the field's hottest topics, like sociological influences, health and chemical documentation, information policies and informatics - the convergence of information science and information technology. You'll find fresh insight into the rapidly emerging digital domain, with chapters on electronic publishing,...