Beyond The Desktop

The Future of the Interface

The co-evolution of hardware, interface and users

Punched cards

Character displays and keyboards

Graphical displays, keyboards and mice

Immersive hardware

Wireless, mobile & embedded hardware

Command line interfaces

Direct manipulation - graphical user interfaces

Immersive, ubiquitous, pervasive, ambient, wearable, tangible etc.

time

Boffins Workers Everybody

Virtual Reality Interfaces

Virtual Reality Applications

scientific visualisation

Simulation Games

VR Interface Challenges

System performance Movement Health and safety Haptics & small Presence

Presence

A mental state where participant has the sense of being in the location specified by the displays - “being there”

A fundamental goal of VR? Measuring presence

subjective presence behavioural presence

Factors that affect presence

Immersion Mode of navigation Self-body image External disruptions Inconsistencies between the user’s mental

model of the world and its actual behavior Boredom and amount of activity

Ubiquitous Computing

The third wave of computing?

Ubiquitous computing “Activate the world. Provide hundreds of wireless computing devices

per person per office, of all scales (from 1" displays to wall sized). This has required new work in operating systems, user interfaces, networks, wireless, displays, and many other areas. We call our work "ubiquitous computing". This is different from PDA's, dynabooks, or information at your fingertips. It is invisible, everywhere computing that does not live on a personal device of any sort, but is in the woodwork everywhere” [Mark Weiser, PARC, 1988]

Ubiquitous computing is roughly the opposite of virtual reality. Where virtual reality puts people inside a computer-generated world, ubiquitous computing forces the computer to live out here in the world with people.

Ubiquitous Interfaces

Ubiquitous Interface Challenges

Interaction with invisible sensors Context awareness Interruptions and (dis)engagement Privacy, security and accountability Interaction in public settings How to study and evaluate experiences?

Interacting with (invisible) sensing systems

How do I address one (or more) of many possible devices?

How do I know the system is ready and attending to my actions?

How do I effect a meaningful action, control its extent and possibly specify a target or targets for my action?

How do I know the system is doing (has done) the right thing?

How do I avoid mistakes?

Mixed Reality Continuum

Virtual Reality

Physical (everyday)

Reality

Augmented Reality

Augmented Virtuality

A Continuum of Realities

immersion ubiquity

Can You See Me Now?

The seams in CYSMN

Designing for seams

Remove them Hide them Manage them Reveal them Exploit them

Mixed Reality Continuum

Virtual Reality

Physical (everyday)

Reality

Augmented Reality

Augmented Virtuality

CYSMN spans points on the

continuum

Final Word

Good interface design is fundamentally about understanding and designing for people

Much of it seems like common sense - but the skill is in how you do it in practice

Interface design is becoming ever more important as ‘users’ and interfaces diversify