Unit 23 - D1 - Evaluate the impact of a potential future development in HCI on culture

Unit 23 - D1 - Evaluate the impact of a potential future development in HCI on culture

The main positive impact of future developments in HCI on culture is providing the public with a wider range of tools featuring new technology in multiple different interfaces. The need to have information at hand has become a necessity for people in modern culture, so this could signify the end of application based operating systems such as the IOS. This would then mark the beginning of operating systems such as Windows 8 which offer the ability to pool live information from various sources into one handy area, without having to purchase applications.

 

Apples iPhone 5 - An example of the applications.



Windows 8 - A demonstration of the 'Live tiles'
 

Another impact on our culture is the fact that it could potentially change the way we compute on the go forever. By creating a device which allows you to check the weather, recive social media notifications, analyses your area and provides you a live feed of useful information they have essentially created something which functions the same as a smart phone, but with a direct live view in the corner of your vision. This could potentially make the smart phone obselete as it is arguably easier to use and provides the same functions, at the same price.

 

http://www.techradar.com/news/video/project-glass-what-you-need-to-know-1078114 This link provides all the useful information regarding the specifications and features of the Google glasses.

Unit 23 - D1 - Evaluate the impact of a potential future development in HCI on the economy

Unit 23 - D1 - Evaluate the impact of a potential future development in HCI on the economy

The most obvious way that Project Glass could positively impact the economy is by boosting the productivity levels of people using the glasses. An example of boosting productivity levels is by reducing the amount of time it takes to do things, that's because the headset will be voice controlled you will be able to perform tasks, make calls, save files and other things as quickly as you can say them, and if you don't want to talk you can make simply head movements and gestures to interact with the glasses which could potentially be a lot quicker than typing or scrolling through menus to find or open things. Another reason is that it completely frees up the users hands so they can easily multitask whilst still using the glasses to send emails or perform other tasks. Admittedly, these reasons may not save a great deal of time, however, across an entire business or work setting, the small amount of time saved could produce a lot of difference.

This video shows through live demonstration how quick and easy it is to use the functions on the glasses, such as the videos, which you can see would be much quicker than having to take a phone out of your pocket and set up the video.

Unit 23 - D1 - Evaluate the impact of a potential future development in HCI on society

Unit 23 - D1 - Evaluate the impact of a potential future development in HCI on society

 

One way Project glass could potentially affect society is by sparking a wave of people inventing new and innovative ways of interacting computers due to it being one of the most unique methods of HCI to date, incredibly different to the standard method of modern computing; the smart phone.

 

 

 

'Google glasses' method of HCI.

The traditional handheld design of HCI.

 

Google's ambitious new method of portable HCI for the public could show other big name companies that it's okay to experiment with different methods of computing, or even endorse current projects which could in turn create many new products for the public to use, overall creating a positive impact by improving the way we compute on the go.

 

http://gizmodo.com/5923321/would-apple-iglass-be-better-than-googles-glasses 

http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/future-tech/apple-files-patent-for-google-glass-competitor-1090407 These articles show that the smart glasses market is becoming more and more relevant as two giant companies are investing time into them. 

 

 

This new method of HCI could also potentially bring negative impacts too. One potential example of a negative impact is the fact that due to HCI becoming easier, less physical interaction is actually needed, for example the voice control of Project glass, which can be good for those who are disabled or have difficulty using standard interfaces such as buttons or touch screens. However, on the whole it could contribute to humans in general becoming lazier and over time gradually becoming weaker and weaker. Admittedly this could take a good deal of time; however, it's still a very real and relevant potential impact which could severely impact the society of the future.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16313832 This article is a discussion on the fact that modern technology along with easier HCI is making humans lazier, and also reducing communication skills due to how easy it is to communicate online using these methods, for example, emailing someone using Project glass will require simply speaking to the glasses in order to send an email, which is easier and more convenient than speaking to someone face to face.

Unit 23 - D1 - Evaluate the impact of a potential future development in HCI on society - Introduction

Unit 23 - D1 - Evaluate the impact of a potential future development in HCI on society - Introduction

"Google Glasses"

Project glass (Google glasses) is a project by Google in an attempt to make an ‘augmented reality head mounted display’. The main purpose of this was to allow the hands free displaying of information, which would essentially be a step up from conventional smart phones. The glasses could be controlled by voice commands or buttons on the side of glasses, which is similar to the input required by a smart phone.

The headset.

These headsets will provide many of the features you can find in a smart phone, for example, web browsing, map features, appointment creation and alerts and even a camera with video capabilities. However, it offers all these in a package that is just a little bigger than a pair of glasses. 

The development of these glasses could provide numerous impacts, both negative and positive, on society the economy and our culture.

https://plus.google.com/+projectglass#+projectglass/posts This link is to the official project page.

Unit 23 - P1 - Describe the impact of HCI on culture.

Culture

Due to the evolution of the GUI making computing more mainstream and allowing people to do more and more complex computing on portable devices i.e a smart phone, our culture has been changed dramatically. The first change is the way people use computers, originally the were the size of entire rooms and used solely for calculations executed by commands, but now you can find personal computers in an increasing number of households and are used for all manner of things, from work to online shopping, the vast majority using a GUI.

Facebook, a social networking site.

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/facebook-hits-one-billion-users-1360594 This shows the incredible growth of people using computers in recent times.

HCI can also have bad impacts on culture. An example of this is deskilling work, deskilling work is when human workers are replaced by automated machines for example, in car manufacturing. You could argue that deskilling work is a good thing for businesses due to needed less specialists in a company and getting work done at a reduced cost. However, the impact on culture is negative as it means that unemployment can rise due to the fact that workers are fired and may not have the necessary skills to be re-employed, on top of that the morale of remaining workers could fall due to them feeling undermined by machines, which could then in turn reduce the quality and consistency of their work.

An example of machines in the assembly line industry.

Unit 23 - P1 - Describe the impact of HCI on economy.

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

Economy

The productivity per individual would almost certainly have increased along with the evolution of the GUI. This is because not everyone will have the capacity to learn and remember how to use CLI, even with a list of commands it can be time consuming and difficult to inexperienced users. However, with a mainstream GUI such as Windows you can be taught how to use it quickly and easily and have quick access to important applications or most used programs, for example, pinning them to the Windows 7 task bar  This has impacted the economy by bringing computing, and the advantages they bring (improved storage, better communication etc) to businesses, who then use them to increase profit i.e by selling online etc.

 Computers in an office setting.

Another way HCI has impacted the economy is through automation. Automation is the process of a computer completing a task without human input. Automation has impacted the economy by allowing computers to complete tasks which may have to have been done by humans, which you'd have to pay, and the maintenance of a computer would most likely be cheaper than a human workers wages and can also be quicker and reduce the amount of mistakes.

 

 

 

 

This video shows a computer performing the tasks of making candy canes through automation, this task used to be a job performed by groups of people.

http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/t-ase/ This website contains some information on automation.



Unit 23 - P1 - Describe the impact of HCI on society.

P1 - Describe the impact of HCI on society, economy and culture. Society Command line interface is a type of human computer interface which involves using a keyboard in order to write commands i.e. run, for the computer to execute commands. A GUI is a 'graphical user interface and allows people to interact with the computer via icons etc. An example of CLI. An example of a GUI. The change to GUI has improved usability for the average user vastly as you no longer need to execute commands with a keyboard which can be tricky if you don’t know all the commands you need or if you aren't a very good typist. Instead you can use graphics on screen such as program icons to launch applications by clicking on them, which is far easier as you can associate a program to an image, making it far more usable for people who have difficulty reading and typing. This has impacted society by reducing necessary specialised knowledge on computing, and allowing average people to use them. HCI has also changed to improve usability in a variety of other ways, such as the touch screen. A touch screen has allowed people to use more complex pieces of technology whilst on the go, an example of this are tablets, such as the iPad. You could argue that tablets aren't necessary due to laptops already being around, however, the touch screen allows you to pack the same specifications into an even smaller package, the iPad 2 has a 1ghz processor, 512mb RAM, two cameras and has a 10 hour battery life which will be perfectly fine for people on the go and due to it only being 1.3lbs it'll be lighter than a laptop and more convenient as it's thinner. Specialised interfaces are a very important factor that has impacted society greatly. Specialised interfaces come in a variety of ways, for example, voice control. Voice control does exactly what it sounds like, you can interact with a computer using your voice to issue commands, for example, using Siri (an iPhone program) to call someone. Voice commands have impacted society by allowing people to use devices hands free which allows them to do other tasks whilst still having access to their devices, it is also useful for people who have difficulty interacting with computers using conventional means, i.e keyboard and mouse. There are also specialised interfaces for those who are visually impaired, for example Windows 'Narrator' in the ease of access folder, this tool reads what is on the screen aloud, this has impacted society by obviously allowing the visually impaired to use and interact with computers, where they may not have been able before. The 'Ease of access' folder.  Complexity is another factor involved in the impact of HCI on society. Over time the way we interact with computers has become easier and more intuitive for example the GUI. However, some methods are more complex, for example, heads up displays. Heads up displays are a type of computer display which are transparent and shown in front of the users on a screen. They are good as they allow you to interact with a computer without having to break concentration of look away, which is good in settings such as an aircraft. A heads up display.   http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000619.htm , http://www.osnews.com/story/4418 these links contain information of the comparisons of GUI and CLI and what they are.   http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/What-accessibility-features-does-Windows-offer This site shows people what specialised features are available for people.