Implications (Shneiderman and Plaisant, Afterword)

Future Interfaces 1. Future innovations emerge from advanced technology development Moore’s Law rules New devices – smaller, cheaper, ubiquitous, and pervasive Wearable, mobile, personal, and portable –Carried at all times Embedded, context-aware, and ambient –Built into environment, and so invisible –Available when needed, responsive to user needs Perceptive and multimodal –Perceive user needs and allow interaction by visual, aural, tactile, haptic, and gesture –E.g., medical devices

2. Focus on universal usability Spread early successes to broader community of users –Measured by percentage of world population access to Internet and communic. Can stimulate innovative advances, e.g., cell phones for all Should consider literacy skills, transient lifestyles 3. Shift of user community from “solitary” to “social” user Facebook, Twitter, blogs, wiki, etc. Often genuinely new content and needs new means to access and create

4. Development of more appropriate socio-technical innovations for individual and societal needs Would consider values, privacy, trust, empathy, responsibility Raise ethical issues of bias, disruption, harmful side effects Interdisciplinary focus blending natural sciences, social sciences, ethics, policy study E.g., e-town-hall, support Strength of human computer interaction lies in its integrative approach (recall, ch. 1) Combines rigorous science, sophisticated technology, and sensitivity to human needs This approach required for complex socio-technical systems such as the following: Terror prevention Disaster response International development Medical informatics –98,000 deaths in US due to medical errors –37,261 traffic fatalities, 11,773 in drunk driving crashes (2008 data, NHTSA 2009) Environmental protection and sustainable energy E-commerce Government services Creativity support

Ten Plagues of the Information Age Fact is, any technology brings both positive and negative (or, good and bad) Anxiety Alienation Information-poor minority Impotence of the individual Bewildering complexity and speed –E.g., financial derivatives Organizational fragility Invasion of privacy –E.g., Google tracking, cell phone tracking Unemployment and displacement Lack of professional responsibility Deteriorating image of people

Strategies for preventing the plagues Human-centered participatory design Organizational support Job design Education Feedback, recognition, and rewards Public consciousness raising Legislation Advanced research

Continuing Controversies Often researchers (whether academic or industrial) and those who design that which is built have different views …, or visions Machine automation versus user control Speech recognition versus visual interaction Natural-language interaction versus direct manipulation Anthropomorphic partners versus human operation –“obstacle of animism”, Lewis Mumford, 1934 Adaptive versus adaptable interfaces Media richness versus lean design 3D versus 2D interfaces Data gathering versus privacy

Summaries Marshall McLuhan, “The medium is the message”, and the interface is the medium “Interface designers can work towards furthering such high-level goals as world- peace, excellent health care, energy efficiency, adequate nutrition

End.