Institute For The Future

Challenges of Moving Computing Out of the Office

The latest issue of ACM Queue is all about the future of human-computer interaction. Some of the papers are very technical, but the introduction by UC-Berkeley's John Canny is worth a read. It traces the history of desktop computing and sets the stage for what might happen going down the road into a world of context-awareness, multiple devices and form factors, etc.

One quote really resonates:

The story is similar for the other new markets for IT: medical, automotive, etc. In all cases, we're adapting designs that were beautifully optimized for the office to a completely different environment. If

the past is any lesson, that isn't going to work.

 

There's a good section on audible/speech interfaces too, which I know is something on the minds of many Technology Horizons members.