the world our interface
Since several years, interfaces, which are a hot topic since several decennia, are – to put it polemically – becoming something ‘to get rid of’ whenever possible. In more nuanced terms, focus and scope move increasingly from pure interface to interaction and onwards to complete experience (cf. experience design).
Influenced by philosophies of simplicity and transparency, human centred design, trends such as calm technology or ubiquitous computing (coined by the late Mark Weiser), tangible bits (MIT Tangible Media Group), things that think, ambient intelligence (Philips), the disappearing computer (EU initiative), everyware, etc. … information is moving beyond the screen (see also the work of Bill Buxton), technology is blending into our environment, into everyday objects. Hence the world and its objects once again become our interface.
For those of you who thought the fancy ‘interface’ in Philip K. Dick‘s film-adaptation Minority Report by Steven Spielberg was pure science fiction, check out Jeff Han‘s talk and demo at the TED conference (see also his multi-touch interaction research page). In this specific context, also see Raytheon’s military implementation or the projects of the people at naturalinteraction.org for similar examples.
Image via Engadget.
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