Designing Human-Computer Interaction in Science Fiction

[Lenny]

Touch screens are great, but… Very much but, in my line of work. I really do like to have a physical knob selected to turn a control; doing it with the screen itself is not natural yet.

Touch screens are great, but I agree completely that they should not even be considered for some systems.

For example, two uses that really annoyed me in the new The Amazing Spider-Man film:

The top one shows a touchscreen security lock, and the second shows a touchscreen fire alarm... there is no need to replace stable, mechanical systems with something that can be hacked or easily broken.

My biggest problem with touchscreens in systems is the prevalence of skeuomorphism and realism in the interface design - why should my digital calendar only show a single month and force me to swipe it away to be shown a completely separate month? Why should my digital book look like a real book, showing only two pages and giving me a tacky page-turning animation? Why should sound-mixing apps for those idiot hipster DJs who think they're all that look exactly like a mixing desk, down to textured sliders and knobs that act the way real knobs and sliders do? We have this fantastic technology that allows us interaction without the limitations you come to expect from physical and mechanical objects, and then some idiot designer goes and sticks an interface on it that looks and acts exactly like its real world counterpart.

Digital interfaces allow you to do things that just aren't possible with physical objects - let me drill right down into the minutes in an hour on my calendar app, and compare days and weeks over multiple months; let me view my book as one continuous scrolling page, or change the zoom, or give me controls to allow me to jump to anywhere (how about a search function that shows a nice list of all occurrences of a character, for example?).

Ironically, the company to blame for this trend is Apple. Despite being lauded as the greatest design company in the world, iOS looks disgusting, with fake leather and shining wooden bookcases everywhere.

If anyone is at all interested in designing interfaces properly, this article is a good starting point: http://sachagreif.com/flat-pixels/

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Eye-tracking, and controlling interfaces with the eye, is another fascinating subject.

From a technical standpoint, it is an incredibly hard problem, because the eye naturally jumps around without conscious direction from the, er, 'owner'. The key to building working systems controlled by eye movement is being able to determine when the eye movement is purposeful (obviously...).

I can remember reading a fair few research articles on the subject when Google Glass was first announced - I'm short on time at the moment, so I'll hunt them down at a later point, but the general solution, if I remember correctly, is to observe the movement of muscles around the eye, as purposeful movements (e.g. when the optician tells you to look left, right, up, down) trigger muscle movement that doesn't occur when the eye is naturally flitting around.

 

[Dave]

Some of us can recall the days when voice was going to be a major part of interacting with a computer...

...Has this possible future disappeared, or is it simply on hold (in the real world) because other technologies (touchscreens and gesture recognition) are, at the moment, easier to implement reliably?

Apparently, not at all...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21827631

Uncannily like Holly from Red Dwarf though.

 

[BetaWolf]

Hmm, I've thought about using HCI for piloting smallish STL spaceships. Some kind of interface based around the eye might work. I was never too comfortable with something requiring invasive brain surgery, another sense of 'plug and play'? But through special contacts or a small device worn over the eyes (I was influenced by the headsets on Caprica for entering virtual reality).

Gestures are a nice possibility, indeed. As much as Patrick Stewart gestured on Star Trek: TNG, he should have had an option to simply used his hands. Of course you don't want to give directions to the computer unintentionally. Especially if you talk with your hands a lot.

 

[AJB]

I agree it is very important to give HCI or technology in general a significant amount of thought when writing SF. Personally, it's not the parts of writing I look forward to most, but I agree if no thought is put into it then it can jar the flow/feel of the story. Even the smallest reference needs to have the appropriate thought behind it.

In a way, sort of, it's akin to magic/magic systems in fantasy. (having read the recent thread about magic - I understand that some people don't like the idea of having magic to be used as a function for technology. But that's not what I'm getting at. Anyway....). Because it's part of the world, it needs to feel authentic, while at the same time not detract from story elements. Like how magic using characters can have their personalities entwined with their magic abilities, technology can/could have the same effect, since it comes down to the interactions people have with their world or others. E.g. Think how far communication technology has grown and the effect this has with everyday relationships - For instance There's not so much 19th century love-longing with long-winded letter writing being the only way to share emotions with someone far away anymore. I think I may be getting more and more off topic.... But these small things like HCI may lead to these wider social consequences. Think if google specs allows you to see people's profiles/interests or see general info about places/objects, these small everyday interactions will surely shape people's characters/personalities, even if just a little.

Thanks Lenny and others who contributed to this thread since It will definitely make me think more when writing HCI or other technology.