P1 - Describe the impact of HCI on society, the economy and culture

Unit 23 - Human Computer Interface, Assignment 1.
George King - 11162744

P1 - Describe the impact of HCI on society, the economy and culture.

  Human Computer Interface (HCI) is used to describe how people interact with computers and other technological devices. Innovations in computers have led to more ways in which we communicate with our devices - over time these have changed the way we live our lives. One of most common HCI technologies in use today is the Graphic User Interface (GUI), this is allows people to use animations and pictures to interact and operate the computer.

Here is an example GUI used on computers and laptops - Windows 7.

Impact on Society

  Our lives in general have been changed by the advances in modern Human Computer Interaction, and the technology that uses it. 

Touch GUI (Graphical User Interface)

  A touch screen is essentially a collection of images and text on an electronic screen, by pressing the screen on the selected images - this then acts as the input method for the device. Hand-held devices such as smart phones, tablets and PDAs have now adopted this modern technology - touch screen technology replacing physical keys as the normal input method. Some interfaces are easily recognizable to most people today, the touch screen interface used by apple is an iconic computer interface - this specialised interface, along with the touch screen aspect makes using devices more simple than in the past. 

The only downside to devices that just use touch screen monitors is that users with hand disabilities won't be able to use it - however, most users will be able to benefit from its enhanced usability   

A user in the image above is showing how they interact with a touch screen monitor to input information onto a device. 

Augmented Reality (AR)

  Recently, scientists have been wanting to change the way we interact with computers with use of augmented reality. AR is where you use physical hardware to view real-world environments with an overlay of augmented graphics, sounds and information. The technologies comprises of a camera to record the environment and a display to show that environment with the over-laid information. Though a very recent technology, it is already being used in some instances and professions in society, such as; Medical, navigation, architecture, military and sports. This human computer interaction is the closest we have gotten to amalgamating the real world to the virtual world. Furthermore, I can see the positive impacts that this can have on society, by providing additional information on real-world environments, soon, devices will be able to permanently display virtual information within the real world.

Prototype augmented reality software is being demonstrated here, a user is able to use this software to navigate their environment. 

Impact on Economy

  Relating to business and organisations, Human Computer interaction has changed the way in which business is handled and managed. The three aspects of these changes are productivity, increased automation and the working environment - all of which contribute to how HCI has changed the business industry. 

Desktop GUI (Graphical User Interface)

  Organisations quickly started to use computers as part of their infer-structure, they saw the potential that employees could use them to produce their work. However, original computers used 'command based' interfaces - which where complex and unappealing to the eye. When the graphical user interface became readily available, organisations quickly saw to implement this new technology. With employees having dozens of tools at their disposal, and with simpler displays, they needed less teaching on how to use them. The overall affect that GUI has had on the economy is that individuals now produce more work.   

Voice Control Software
  

  This software is used along side a microphone and speaker to provide and auditory interaction with a computer. Industries have implemented voice control systems in some areas of their organisations. Disabled employees who previously couldn't interact with computers can now do so via the use of their voice. In some instances, employees who aren't disabled could still benefit from using voice control as it offers hands free interaction between the user and the computer.  

Here is a hardware and software combination which can be used to operate a computer through your voice. 

Impact on Culture

Mobile Devices

  Most people today carry some sort of electrical device in their day-to-day lives, everything from smart phones, iPod's and BlackBerry are common in today's society. The interface of a mobile device such as smart phone has to be careful designed, to incorporated all the features needed to make it a smart phone, whilst making the interface small enough to be carried around. As mentioned previously, touch screen technology helps to eliminate the need for bulky buttons, by replacing these buttons with an interactive touch screen. This amalgamation of technologies have affected the culture of today (of all generations) as most people now carry a device of this type. Integrated into the interface of mobile devices is the ability to connect to the internet with one or two clicks, this combined with Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G technologies make for fats internet connection from around the world.  

Apple has created one of most iconic human computer interfaces in the world,  people around the world no how to use its interface. Therefore these has changed the way people see modern mobile technologies, as people will be more familiar with this interface. 

De-skilling work

  On the other hand, not all of the impacts of HCI are positive on the culture today, for example, some people may argue that due to the ease and simplicity of interfaces in the work place, key skills are being lost. In the past, everything had to be done by hand, skilled men and women would work and make almost everything needed for day-to-day life, overtime, machines and computers have been taking over as workforce behind industries. Now more then ever, the interaction between human and computers is less than in previous years (mainly on industry machines and computers). This is because computers are becoming more self reliant and intelligent, so less people are needed to operate the same amount of machinery. 

  Organisations would see a positive outlook on this, less people are needed to have the same, if not more level of output. Cheaper computers and running costs mean that organisations don't need to pay people for training costs and their wages. Here is a supporting article describing how technologies are the main reasons for jobs being de-skilled: http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/soc/courses/soc4jj3/stuweb/pbl_3/skills.htm 

Some factories have taken this concept to next level, having entire factories with no humans in - everything is operated by computers and machinery.  

D1 - Evaluate the impact of a potential future development in HCI

Unit 23, Assignment 1
George King - 11162744

D1 - Evaluate the impact of potential future development in HCI

 

  For this part of the assignment I will be looking at potential new technologies that could revolution our economy, society and culture. New ways in which interact with computers and devices are being developed to make it easy and more enjoyable to interact with them - plus to increase  our work load.

10/GUI

  This new Graphical User Interface (GUI) was created to combine multi-touch functions with new windowing operations. Users would replace the traditional mouse and keyboard set up and replace it with an interactive multi-touch screen. Here they would then be able to navigate the page and input graphical and text based information. The team who is developing 10/GUI is set to change the traditional keyboard and text based window and turn into a more graphical based GUI.
 
  One of the reason they propose to introduce this new GUI is it may reduce strain on the arms and wrists of users - with less movement needed to operate a computer, injuries are less likely to happen. Furthermore, it also may also affect the economy due to its ability to input different types of information directly through the touch pad. This could potentially improve work output.
 
 

Here is how the proposed layout will look, with a user optimising the multi-touch features of the touch screen.



Further, the windowed view would be expected to loom like this, here there is also an example of the multi-touch capabilities.

Gesture Control 

  The most recent form of gesture control is used with the xbox, this uses a motion control interface to interact with some games. However, I feel that this technology can be used in other instances, such as in the work place,   or for casual users. When the correct hardware and software technologies are combined, users would be able to have more natural and fluent control over their computer system. The hardest part to perfect this technology is not the motion capture, but how to make the interface easy for all people to use. 

  I feel this technology will effect society the most, as gesture control offers no real benefits for a business - however, people may use this for its fun and simple way to interact with technology. Smart televisions, games consoles and computer systems will be the first to adopt this new HCI technology. However, other devices such as light switches and other environmental devices could use gesture control systems - just by swiping your hand over the device, a light switch could be turned on. Another potential impact for people who use this technology constantly is that overall fitness levels may get better, due to movement being the source of interaction, users must move their hands or arms in order to interact with the device.   

 

Though the gesture control has not been completely finalised, some basic instances are being developed now.

Below is another resource showing how gesture control hardware and software is used to control an operating system.

 

Potential Health benefits of HCI
 
  One concern scientist have about the future of our society is that to much exposure to screens may cause eye and brain damage. With systems becoming more readily available, and people of younger generations having access to devices, this may cause damage to our society.Today we are allready experiencing some health impacts due to computers and the way in which we interact with them; these are - These mainly include sore backs, shoulders, wrists and vision problems. More examples are listed here; http://www.ehow.com/info_8195560_potential-health-risks-due-computers.html.

  More automated systems, and peoples jobs being done by machines are resulting in humans doing less physical movement as a whole than in the past. With computers becoming self aware and intelligent, computer systems will take over more of our lives - thus making us as a society progressivly more lazy.