Futuristic Interfaces

SIGGRAPH 2009 just wrapped up in New Orleans this week. At the event, there are some interesting futuristic interfaces were displayed. You can check out other interfaces in the above link.

• Touchable Holography
• Augmented Reality for Ordinary Toys
• Hyper-realistic Virtual Reality
• 3D Teleconferencing
• Scratchable Input

These futuristic interfaces imagined and developed. Some are very practical and some are not. I feel futuristic inputs are cool and fine, but something seems to be missing from their project descriptions. As we read Dourish, “Where the Action Is”, I personally think designers should read this book and understand what embodied action is. It’s about shared awareness between users and the world surrounds us. I think I mentioned this in other post about engineers or developers creating cool gadget because they can. That should not be encouraged or at least others should be asking questions. Designers must consider social awareness, intimacy and emotions in physical world. Any system should be considered as human-centered. What do you think of designers considering embodied interaction? Is it practical or that’s just an idealistic view?

By the way, a guy that does scratching surfaces will not be invited to my place. I don’t want him to scratch my furniture. ;)

Source:
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/23940/

Why does your vehicle smell like “forest”?

In last July, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced the development of new air conditioning system called, “Forest AC”. This new AC system creates optimum cabin environment by controlling temperature, ventilation, aroma, and humidity. You say, aroma? Yes, I know. Nissan says the new system was based on a research on effects of aroma on human mental activity. You can read the rest as I was curious about what can really do with aroma. There are some systems out there to control automatic temperature of interior of your car and add pollen filters to help you make comfortable while you drive. All these system goes under ubiquitous computing. This new system even goes further by blocking order and removing order using “ion”. Making feel comfortable as you drive is a good idea, but you wonder about the process of designing system like that.

Nissan says…

“Nissan develops technology to set new standards in terms of comfort, quality and other factors for every aspect of the automobile, putting human characteristics first, based on the Life on Board concept, which is designed to deliver more joy of driving.”

Where am I going with this? Well, I am wondering if engineers in general think because they can develop system like this, they will develop it. I wondered if they ever consider users and context of driving in general. You can put as many sensors as you can install in a vehicle, but I wonder if they try to understand the context of driving. Making driver “not think” may not apply to this context. Did they just forget about “experience of driving”? Humidity and airflow control maybe good idea, but aroma has some issues. I think “scent” is another sensor drivers use to detect something wrong in a car. Is it good idea to take away users natural senses while driving? I thought drivers should be using all the senses to connect with vehicle and roads to create “driving experience”. I wonder what Dourish would say about relationship between a driver, car, and the road. Did he think these senses ruin your interaction with the world surround us?

Source:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/27/nissans-forest-ac-blows-wild-scents-through-your-ride-to-keep-y/

http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2009/_STORY/090723-01-e.html