Insights into the future of Human-Computer Interaction

Lately I have been toying with the idea that game controllers may supplant the mouse and keyboard as an interface to our computers. As the power of game systems’ graphic ability improves and the popularity of gaming increases more young people are going to grow up using these kinds of systems. Do you really expect them to trade their gaming experience for a keyboard, mouse, and a boring interface that contains only text boxes and buttons? We have not arrived at a new paradigm yet, but I found this article on the web that provides some real food for thought. I love the quotes taken from the book The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design. Such as this one:

“If you want to think about the future of the human-computer interface, think about the history and future of symbolic systems. The true antecedents of tomorrow's computers were not calculating machines or electronic circuits, but alphabets, natural and formal languages, and the symbolic language known as science.”

And this one:

“To see tomorrow's computer systems, go to the video game parlors! Go to the military flight simulators! Look there to see true responsiveness, true interaction. Compare these with the dreary, pedestrian office software we see everywhere, the heavy manuals and Help Screens and Telephone Support. The world of work at computer screens is still a benighted world.”

So far, ideas like virtual reality using techniques such as VRML haven’t panned out. Neuromancer was a good book but is only fiction. It may well be up to the next generation, the Millennials, to spontaneously generate the next HCI. If you want a good example of how human behavior can transform technology and be transformed by technology I recommend reading Smart Mobs by Howard Rheingold.