The future of HCI (D1)

Future technologies on our doorstep

Although hover boards and lightsabers may be a long time away, there are many advanced (and some what alien to us) technologies close to being the next revolution, things that are possible now or in the very near furtue, the majority of these things are based on Human Computer Interaction. Similar to the film "Minority Report" starring Tom Cruise, this operating system shown in the video below is called SOE(spatial operating environment) and it is hugely advanced compaired to operating sytems used a few years ago, it shows a complete new take on HCI and how we could potentially use computers for various things, SOE is centered towards work that is needed to be done on a computer that usually takes a long time, SOE combines an operating system with human interaction, allowing the work to be completed alot faster and in a different way than usually, in essence this is Human Computer Interaction.

"The g-speak platform enables the development of multi-user, multi-screen, multi-device, spatial, networked applications."
http://www.oblong.com/g-speak/ (20/10/2015)


g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.
(20/10/2015)

Similar to SOE, many technologies are going down the route of immersive media, for example virtual reality, at the moment it already exsists for a price tag, you can link a virtual reality headset to a computer with the correct specifications and you can start viewing virtual reality.
This is another fine example of Human Computer Interaction and how technologies are steering towards this route, withing the next few years virtual reality headsets and the software that supports them will be alot cheaper and avaliable to the public, it will bring many things, virtual games, movies, work stations, web browsing, virtual relationships etc etc, but how will this impact society? how will it impact relationships? is steering towards virtual reality and all the things it brings the right idea?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersion_%28virtual_reality%29
(20/10/2015)

Unit 23: Human Computer Interaction (A)

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


"You have watched a video in class, describe how the technological changes had an impact on the video family’s lives, society, economy, & Culture overall?"

A BBC Documentary called "Electric Dreams" follows a family that took part an experiment to live life with the technology and lifestyle from 1970-1999 over a month, They received a new piece of technology or gadgetry each day, and each day represented a new year, the technology that they are given every day was the newest and most cutting edge at the time.

Before the experiment the family relied very heavily on technology, the internet, gaming consoles, computers and all the things that we have in the 21st century to aid our day to day lives.

They had their house refurbished to the same way it would of been in 1970, and had all of their technologies removed from the house and also things like washing machines, freezers, kitchen appliances, all the things that were not available in 1970 England. The main things that i noticed over the course of the 3 part series was the huge draw away from the family's social levels between each-other that technology has, when they started the experiment they spent their day at work and school, when they all returned home they would all stay together in the living room, eating tea at the dinner table, and then would stay with each-other for most of the night, playing board games etc. in the living room, talking about their day and just socializing with each-other in general. Compared to the different way of things in modern day family life, Most family's get home from school/work, eat tea with each-other and then go separate ways, be it watching TV in separate rooms, playing games or on their other devices (Computers, Phones, Tablets Etc.).

So on a social level, HCI (Human Computer Interaction) increase in general has made technology more ergonomic and more pleasant to use, it has made the GUI (Graphical User Interface) of devices and computers a lot more involving, personal and also more socially structured, it has created a huge network of things that are interconnected and intertwined with one and other that has made the social side of the modern-day person a lot easier and a lot closer to you, compared to the difficulties of these things 20-30 years that had to be faced, now you have all your friends, all the world news, e-commerce and much more at your fingertips, this is the impact HCI has now created for the way humans deal with these things.

The main changes that were observed from the documentary show this, from going from nothing apart from a few board games and each other’s company at the start of the experiment to returning to the lifestyle that they are used to of little communication and little times spent with each other, when they had no access to modern day technology it was clear that they were enjoying spending time together as a family and this shows the effect and distraction technology can have on family’s and people in general. 

The children of the family also started spending more time outside playing with their friends. 

"The study of 2,000 parents revealed the average parent spent ten hours and 26 minutes playing outside during the working week when they were children - double the five hours and 32 minutes children head outdoors today."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2307431/Children-today-read-chores-HOMEWORK-play-outside.html
(14/10/2015)






This image shows the difference that HCI has made on a social level, even though it is comparing 2005 to 2013, it still shows how people have adopted technology as a part of their lives and how it affects us in how we experience things, the images show how at a (speech/concert/gathering) we spend a lot more time recording/sharing on social media the event than actually just experiencing it first-hand.
This also impacts culture in music and other media.







http://usercontent1.hubimg.com/8992430_f520.jpg
(18/10/2015)


The economic effect of HCI is huge, many claim that the advance in technology as caused a negative effect on economy and jobs because of the way it has made a lot of jobs and careers less imported through the way technology has automated these jobs, but HCI's effect on economy in my option has made a positive effect in the way it has created more industries that it has potentially effected, it has created such this as software developing roles, working in media and roles in this industry rely heavily on HCI, shops and retail companies use e-commerce (Electronic Commerce) heavily and it generates a lot of revenue, even the material production that is required for technology is huge, the components and materials that are needed for the building of computers, phones, servers create lots of jobs in the sourcing of these materials and the production of such electronics.

"If you just hold your cell phone for 30 seconds and think backwards through its production you have the entire techno-industrial culture wrapped up there. You can't have that device without everything that goes with it. You see mining, transportation, manufacturing, computers, high-speed communications, satellite communications, it's all there, you see and it's that techno-industrial culture that's destroying the world."

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/technology-stopped-evolution-destroying-world
(19/10/2015)

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/17/technology-created-more-jobs-than-destroyed-140-years-data-census
(19/10/2015)