1. UCSD and advanced technology
Chapter 10
UCSD and advanced technology

2. By the end of this lecture you should...
Be able to discuss technology and the future...
Based on The Invisible Computer by Don Norman
Understand the life-cycle of technology
Understand when, why and how does a technology change into something useful
Think about what comes after the PC

3. 1911

4. 2006 From: XXXXXX [mailto:XXXXXX@mdx.ac.uk]
Sent: 07 November :42
To:
Subject: Making the screen live
Dear colleagues,
Can I please remind you that if you are looking up a student on the CSS and you are unable to find them you will need to make the screen live. To do this enter a query and then cancel the query, the tool bar will show `query cancelled'. Press F2,F2, 8 and you will get a drop down screen. Highlight the categories of status you think the students may appear under by pressing the enter key and moving down to the next category with the downward arrow. When you have completed this press F4 to commit. You should now be able to track down most of the students.
A little word of warning, sometimes the computer will cancel this command and you will need to repeat the above process.
Regards

5. Emerging human-computer interface technologies
Desktops and laptops are still in, but
Tablet PCs, PDAs, Smart phones (video messaging & internet)
are emerging
Each with its own niche in the market
Tablet PC must support
Use of digital pen and
screen display must be such that the pen does not obscure critical elements
PDA
Relative small screen, no peripherals
Kiosks
Offering dedicated information service to public
Used by people with variety of skill, experience and ability
Each form of hardware has different properties & functions – all need different interface designs to be usable

6. The invisible computer
All the above-mentioned tools try to be everything for everybody = multipurpose information systems
Donald Norman says this is bad
Execution of many functions badly
Inherently difficult to use because it supports a wide variety of functions
Norman predicts the Invisible Computer (1998)
IT embedded in appliance that are not normally viewed as computers at all
E.g. telephone, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, machine – examples of single-function appliances

7. Pervasive / ubiquitous computing (Deurdringend / Alomteenwoordig)
Research in this area
Future computers to be embedded in everyday objects
Other topics in this field
Distributed computing, mobile computing, sensor networks, HCI, AI
IBM’s Planet Blue
Research project to connect existing technologies with a wireless infrastructure
IT, however, not yet dominated by “invisible” information technology
Multi-function systems still very visible

8. Donald Norman An HCI ‘guru’ Founder of Norman Nielsen Group
Edited the book:
User Centred System Design (1985) which is still very important today
Author of lots of popularising texts:
The psychology of everyday things
Things that make us smart
The Invisible Computer

9. Norman’s thesis: Summary
Good products sometimes fail
Because of complexity
PCs are too complex
PCs are fundamentally complex and difficult to use
‘Information appliances’ are the solution
= “something that does the job of a computer (i.e. processes information) but invisibly and in a much more focussed way”
Therefore don’t need new ideas about better designed PCs...
...but something better than PCs
‘Information appliances’

10. What makes a good product?
Good technology
Betamax vs VHS for recording video data
Betamax was the better format but VHS is used because of usability
VHS tapes 2 hours, Betamax 1 hour
More pre-recorded films available on VHS
Good marketing
Boo.com, an e-commerce clothing retailer went out of business despite $30 m advertising campaign
Good looking website but over-complicated and slow to download: it took at least minutes to buy something
Good usability
Good usability does not guarantee success, e.g.
MS Office bad usability but world leader
Successful product needs all three
Explain example of 3-legged stool that has to stand on a solid business case

11. Is the product actually needed?
Product success…
Product
Business case
Is the product actually needed?
Good
technology
marketing
usability

12. PCs are too complex…
A PC is supposed to be good at everything (general –purpose)
…but excellent at everything?
Trying doing everything makes them complex & difficult to use
Norman argues:
Because PCs are general purpose, they force us to do things in uncomfortable, inelegant & difficult ways
In general, the less the product offers, the easier it is to use
The HCI maxim:
Know your user!
But if the users are everyone, how is this possible?

13. General purpose information processor
One device that does everything -
It has been done… the PC :
read your s, write a play, edit photographs, model 3D images, work out your finances, model the airflow over a wing on your prototype aeroplane, etc
All only using keyboard, 2D screen and mouse
Given a complex task, we make our PCs single purpose…
Writing an academic paper; PC becomes a typewriter
Programming; More than one PC used, one for writing the program, one for the online manuals, etc

14. Illustrating with examples
Synthesisers:
General–purpose machines good at producing any sound
They do it well, but not excellent
Compare with pianos – single purpose, but doing so excellently
Early computer (Macs):
Were extremely usable (easy to use), but not very powerful
Could do a few things but did them well
Radio:
Compare listening to a radio station on a radio and using audio streaming on a PC
General purpose clothing
Design a single piece of general purpose clothing
It can be used as shirt, trousers, skirt, shoes, hat and overcoat
It can be done…
Less than elegant; not comfortable or easy to slip in

15. Therefore … According to Donald Norman:
The less the product offers, the easier it is to use.

16. PCs are marketed at technophiles / early adopters
Buy new technology as soon as it becomes available (they like complexity and challenge of working out how something works)
PC sales targeted at technophiles – sold according to how good the technology is
512 MB better than 256 MB, 2.4 GHz better than 1.2 Hz, etc.
It seems twice as good, but can you do twice as much / twice as fast?
Technophiles / early adopters <> mass market
Most people do not like complexity – have better things to do than to figure things out
Cheap appliances sold once, last for years
Huge market size
Backed up by sale of content and services

17. PCs are marketed at technophiles / early adopters (continued)
Transition from marketing to early adopters to marketing to everyone else is slow and risky
The PC business model
Sell lots of computers and software
Built in obsolescence
Hardware and software to be updated every year
Vicious circle: software ‘fills’ the hardware capability

18. Information appliances
Information appliances = “something that does the job of a computer (i.e. processes information), but doing it invisibly and in a much more focussed way”
Characteristics of information appliances
Single purpose
Does one thing, but excellently
Hidden technology
Underlying technology should be hidden to user
Needs to know what it does, hot how
Allows free interchange of information
One appliance should transfer and accept information from other appliances without user worrying about compatible formats
Data produced by one appliance can be easily transferred to another appliance
All companies should use the same or interchangeable formats (open source)
‘Serendipitous flexibility’
The user (not the designer) can choose how to put several information appliances together to make a new system
Connect appliances of any kind in any sequence
Examples
See example on pp.163

19. Different types of input devices
Input devices enhance the performance of a system
Keyboards
Ergonomic, Mini, On-screen, Infrared keyboard projected on any flat surface
Mouse
Mechanical, optical, cordless, left-hand, RSI
Trackballs, Touch pads, Pointing sticks
Joysticks and wheels
More suitable to rapid response tasks (games)
Light pen
Useful when system is icon-based, space is limited, cannot touch with hands, e.g. health practitioners or people working with chemicals
Digital pen and graphics tablet
Architects and graphical designers
Intuitively acceptable, no substitute for artistic ability

20. Different types of input devices (2)
Touch screen
Information kiosks
Advantages / Disadvantages?
Voice and audio input
Alternative to keyboard input
Applicable: phone-based, psychomotor disabilities
Good quality microphone essential
Training necessary, although continuous speech accepted
Voice input is subset of audio input
Other
Digital cameras, webcams, video-conferencing, scanners, OCR, barcode scanners, terminals
Biometrics: Fingerprint scanners, face recognition, voice verification, signature verification, smart cards storing biometric data – all for security purposes

21. Output devices Screens eBooks Electronic papers Interactive TV
CRT vs. FST and plasma: Space-saving and less eye stress
eBooks
Download text from the Internet and display and conveniently sized screen
Electronic papers
What is this?
Interactive TV
Furnishing TV with processing power
HCI considerations
User sit further away
Multiple users at once
TV is seen as entertainment rather than work
Screens cannot be packed with info, different metaphors to be used, more appropriate interaction ways

22. Output devices (2) Self-monitoring system
Systems should be self-monitoring without being impossible or dangerous to deploy
People not removed, but involved in different way
System must be able to repair itself in a hostile environment, e.g. moon rover craft stumbling over a rock
Virus detection and removing
UPS: Protection system with reserve software and power
RAID: Duplication of data and automated switchover in event of hardware failure

23. Summary... Computers are information processors
Most people don’t want ‘information processed’
They want to write a letter, take a photo, etc.
The future is information appliances