Assessment 2

Check out assessment 2 - finally finished.
I hope it makes sense. All this talk of gesture based interfaces has got me thinking about investing in a Kinect. Could be the way of the future!

Click the link or go to here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FhMeoHe2xpFWiKmwWl5JKJZD56Mhb_TeWnaapXoAfa4/edit?hl=en_US

Activity 2 - the Accessible Accelerometer

The recognition of the orientation of a smartphone is facilitated by the accelerometer.

Looking at the Phonegap API (applications programming interface) reference we see that:

"The accelerometer is a motion sensor that detects the change (delta) in movement relative to the current device orientation. The accelerometer can detect 3D movement along the x, y, and z axis."

Phonegap is library of tools that enable the development of iPhone and Android apps using html, javascript and css. The advantage of referring to its API documents is that it abstracts the interface away from the lower native language specific function calls. It gives us a higher level overview of the common functionality of the components of the devices across several operating systems and platforms.

At its most simplistic level, in usability terms simply rotating the phone from the default portrait orientation to landscape affords the user a larger target area for interacting with the virtual keyboard.

That is, it makes the 'keys' easier to hit.

By taking advantage of the change in orientation, app designers can provide a more beneficial user experience by taking advantage of the wider screen real estate.

There are obviously far greater uses for this feature (games, remote control etc) but the simple act of providing a larger interactive surface by simply rotating the device is probably its most far reaching in the usability sense.

References:

• http://www.learnxpress.com/smartphone-accelerometer-enhancing-users-experience-in-using-smart-phone-applications.html
• http://docs.phonegap.com/phonegap_accelerometer_accelerometer.md.html

Interface: the Rise of the Machines

...or how we talk to our digital friends.

Ever since Doug Englebart invented the mouse in the '60s, the desktop metaphor for human-computer interaction has reigned supreme.

With advent of smartphones and the touch screen interface, are the desktop metaphor's days numbered?

Assessment Presentation

Products like the iPhone and the slew of tablets that are hitting the market have changed consumer expectation with regards to usability and functionality. Windows 8, to be released next year, has changed its look and feel to make the transition from keyboard and mouse based interaction to touchscreen interaction much simpler.

Javascript code libraries like jqTouch and Sencha have enabled web based applications to morph into touch based applications with minimal rewriting of the code. This leads some to question whether the hegemony of Microsoft will continue.

As we spend more time online, the 'pc' is rapidly becoming just a life support for a browser. The web is the ecosystem, the underlying operating system is becoming irrelevant.

How we interface with these devices is becoming more organic with gesture based interaction becoming easier to incorporate and develop.

For a pictorial overview of the evolution of the man-machine interface, look here.

Patty Maes and 6th Sense

The most impressive aspect - from my point of view - of the Patty Maes/Pranav Mistry device (apart from its capability) is the cost: $350! Talk about lowering the barriers of entry. Other major IT companies would make the system and software that ran it totally proprietary and sell it for $10,000. Yes, I'm looking at you Redmond, Washington.
It amazes me what people can produce with off the shelf components and open source software. Look at OLPC. Look at the $100 laptop project in India. Look at the programs founded by Nicholas Negroponte - also from MIT - in Uruguay.
Lower the barriers of entry, keep the software and componentry open and as non-proprietry as possible and things will start to happen.
From my perspective the biggest IT companies just don't get it. They'll laud the benefits of a project like Microsoft's Second Light device and overlook the benefits of work done by Maes and Mistry.
I've got no problem with major companies making a buck, but its when they hold the education sector to ransom by their drug dealer like behaviour that get me upset.

I'm particularly miffed at Microsoft. At my school we've had to factor an extra $100 on top of the cost of computers (pre DER) for the purchase of licences for Windows and Office. There are alternatives but the populace are tricked into thinking that the MS Office suite is an ersatz 'standard' that everybody must adhere to or else they'll fall by the wayside.

Its projects like Sixth Sense that give me hope that there are people out there who are genuine in their approach to the implementation of technology in education for the betterment of the learning process, not as a means to keep stockholders happy. Where's the altruism? The Sixth Sense project and those like it have it in spades!
To see what other wonders might be in the pipeline, have a look at this!