Beyond The Desktop

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Beyond The Desktop

• The Future of the Interface

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The co-evolution of hardware, interface and users
Immersive hardware
Graphical displays, keyboards and mice
Character displays and keyboards
Punched cards
Wireless, mobile embedded hardware
time
Immersive, ubiquitous, pervasive, ambient,
wearable, tangible etc.
Direct manipulation - graphical user interfaces
Command line interfaces
Boffins
Workers
Everybody
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Virtual Reality Interfaces
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Virtual Reality Applications
scientific visualisation
Games
Simulation
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VR Interface Challenges

• System performance
• Movement
• Health and safety
• Haptics small
• Presence

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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

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Factors that affect presence

• Immersion
• Mode of navigation
• Self-body image
• External disruptions
• Inconsistencies between the users mental model
  of the world and its actual behavior
• Boredom and amount of activity

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Ubiquitous Computing
The third wave of computing?
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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.

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Ubiquitous Interfaces
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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?

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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?

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A Continuum of Realities
Mixed Reality Continuum
Virtual Reality
Physical (everyday) Reality
Augmented Reality
Augmented Virtuality
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Can You See Me Now?
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The seams in CYSMN
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Designing for seams

• Remove them
• Hide them
• Manage them
• Reveal them
• Exploit them

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Mixed Reality Continuum
Virtual Reality
Augmented Reality
Augmented Virtuality
Physical (everyday) Reality
CYSMN spans points on the continuum
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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