The Impact of HCI.Kyle Tuckey.

The effects HCI has had on: Society, The Economy and Culture.

10/16/2012

Kyle Tuckey.

.

ContentsINTRODUCTION- THE IMPACT OF HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION ..................................................1

SOCIETY ...................................................................................................................................................2

Improve Usability. ...............................................................................................................................2

Specialised interfaces. .........................................................................................................................2

Hostile environments. .........................................................................................................................3

Complexity...........................................................................................................................................4

THE ECONOMY........................................................................................................................................5

Increased automation .........................................................................................................................5

Automatic judgement of output .........................................................................................................5

Voice input ..........................................................................................................................................6

Thought input......................................................................................................................................6

CULTURE .................................................................................................................................................7

The ways in which people use Computers...........................................................................................7

Psychological and sociological impact ................................................................................................7

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT – THOUGHT PROCESSED INSTANT MESSAGING..............................................8

How it Works.......................................................................................................................................8

How do you designate commands? ....................................................................................................9

Impact on society ................................................................................................................................9

Impact on Economy.............................................................................................................................9

Impact on Culture..............................................................................................................................10

Good and bad points .........................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION- THE IMPACT OF HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION

The ways in which people interact with computers has changed the very way we live our lives in in ways you may not have realised have changed. We use computers at home, school and the work place for almost everything whether it is writing a report of washing our cloths. We are here to look at the impact human computer interaction has had on our lives in the three main categories of our lives society, economy and culture.

Kyle Tuckey.

SOCIETY

with and no peripherals needed so the tablet has made PCs more portable and smaller and easier to use.

Specialised interfaces.Every machine has a way for you to interact with it but not all interfaces are the same. For example a standard household machine would have a basic GUI with icons and menus for you to click on and play around with. But with a different type of machine like a machine designed for a deaf person the interface will often show sign language through images on the computer screen and the interface will be mostly image based or it will show sub titles for the person to readthe interface will be based on sound so every time you type something the computer will speak the letter you just typed or when you open a program the computer will speak to you name of the

Improve UsabilityIn modern times the usability of computers changed phenomenally fast and the amount of time we spend interacting with computers covers pretty much every daily activity we do. good example of usability is banks years ago you would have had to wait in a line for hours depending on how long it is. Now with ATM machines you can draw out money by pushing a few buttons in a matter of seconds and then walking away also these machines are placed in almost every town centre or high street for quick and easy access they are also found at almost every popular area like a cinema for instance so if you need money for the cinema you simply walk up to one of the machines and draw out money for food and tickets.good example is the tablet PC usually with computers you will have the machine itself ana large number of peripherals that ban be difficult to pack up and move. With the tablet you simply have a screen that you can interact

with and no peripherals needed so the tablet has made PCs more portable and smaller and easier to

.ay for you to

interact with it but not all interfaces

standard household machine would

interface will often show sign language through images on the computer screen and the interface or it will show sub titles for the person to read. Same with a blind person

d so every time you type something the computer will speak the or when you open a program the computer will speak to you name of the

Improve Usability.modern times the usability of computers has

and the amount of time we spend interacting with computers covers pretty much every daily activity we do. A good example of usability is banks years ago you would have had to wait in a line for hours

ow with ATM an draw out money by pushing

a few buttons in a matter of seconds and then walking away also these machines are placed in almost every town centre or high street for quick and easy access they are also found at almost every popular area like a cinema for nstance so if you need money for the cinema

you simply walk up to one of the machines and draw out money for food and tickets. Another good example is the tablet PC usually with computers you will have the machine itself an d

that ban be difficult to pack up and move. With the tablet you simply have a screen that you can interact

with and no peripherals needed so the tablet has made PCs more portable and smaller and easier to

interface will often show sign language through images on the computer screen and the interface . Same with a blind person

d so every time you type something the computer will speak the or when you open a program the computer will speak to you name of the

Kyle Tuckey.

program you just opened also your keyboard would be equipped with brail to make typing easier. A good example of specialised interfaces is Windows 7 and Windows 8 for example if you use a desktop computer, windows 7 would be the better choice because the function and features as well as the GUI itself are better suited for a mouse and keyboard. However because windows 8 is more icon and image based with rarely any lists and the programs being fitted onto slides it would be more appropriate for a tablet because it’s easier to navigate through slides and programs.

Hostile environments.Before computers had advanced to this stage of accessibility it was not uncommon for you to hear stories of people becoming lost in deserts or being blown up by a mine in a war zone. Now there are devices you can use to avoid these dangerous and rather unfortunate incidents you don’t hear as many stories of people dying in these hostile environments. A lot of the developments used to prevent these are very easy to use for example when searching for mines you often see a soldier walking up the road with a device that looks a lot like a metal detector and he moving it back and forth just above the ground. That is a mine detector when it beeps it means there is a mine in that area and he will know to

avoid it. Or there is in fact a computer that is used to disarm bombs instead so that the lives of soldiers is not put at risk it is called a DRAGON RUNNER and is a bomb disposal robot which has the ability to place small charges to disrupt objects that look suspicious it also has wire cutters. It is also equipped with a remote camera and can send video footage back to the specialist who is remotely controlling it from a safe distance it is used to assist in bomb disposal and allows troops to advance from a safe distance. Just in case you do get lost in a desert there is a watch that has an extra function for if you get lost basically when stuck in the middle of nowhere you can press a button on the watch that will activate a distress signal which may then be picked up by the authorities who then come out to find you. Pilots use these watches in case of a crash or a forced landing they use by unscrewing a cap on the side and pulling out an antenna which then gives out a distress signal which covers 100 miles and lasts for 48 hours the watch is called the “Breitling Emergency 43mm chronograph with distress transmitter”

Kyle Tuckey.

Complexity.As computers have advanced they have become increasingly easier to use. At first a computer was something that was only ever used by experts and was the size of a large wardrobe and it was handled with specialised equipment so that we don’t give it viruses. Then when computers finally became a household item it was much smaller and used a command line interface that used numerous complex commands and code lines. Then the first GUI was made which basically had all the programs just put on the screen with barely any form of navigation. Now in modern times we can do everything that may have taken lines of commands to do by double clicking a few images and we can find information with one keyword in fact machines like tablets don’t use keyboards or mice at all and use simple a simple touchscreen for everything. So not only has technology become easier to use but the devices are also getting smaller and smaller to the point that the phones in our pockets are far easier to use and more powerful than the first ever machine which was the size of a wardrobe.Also some machines need to be complicated in order to make things easier for example the cockpit of a pilot is filled with extremely complicated looking buttons all of which do a very important function such as auto pilot mode (fly by wire) which basically automatically puts you on route for the flight destination without the pilot having to manually drive himself. They also have a heads up display to show if they are on route and how much fuel they have and an estimate of time on how long until they reach their destination. A simpler example of this would be a game like world of warcraft for example basically when you are in a party your heads up display updates to show your party members health. This is useful for a healer within the group because it makes it easier for him to see who is on low health and heal them so they can continue fighting. So in a nutshell the complexity of systems makes it easier for the people using them to do their jobs.

Kyle Tuckey.

THE ECONOMY

Increased automationAutomation has become a large part of the economy in present time because it saves time and money which leads to better production. It has also replaced many jobs and human workers because they have become redundant but that in itself has also saved money so many jobs are now automated. Factories are a large example of automation for example a car factory the machines are capable of slicing up metal sheets and piecing them together

without almost no error at all whereas with human workers the amount of human error would be quite large also many phone companies have automated phone calls that ring people and ask for specific details instead of 1 worker phoning many people and repeating the same thing over and over again

Automatic judgement of outputRemember the machine from Charlie and the chocolate factory that decided whether the chocolate eggs laid by geese were bad or not and some were sent down a chute and the good eggs were moved for packaging? That is pretty much what this is basically there are machines in factory’s that run products like apples or oranges through a series of tests such as weight and colour if they fail the tests they are sent to the waste section and if they pass the tests they are moved to be packaged and sent off. So how has this impacted the economy? Basically before these machines were around this job was done by employees and was a very long process riddled with a lot of human error and muddling up the goods and the bads so now that these machines are here you no longer need the personnel to do this so you earn more money since you don’t need to pay employees to do this and the process is much faster and efficient which results in more rise in money so the impact is that It has made the testing of these products and the processes faster and more efficient since there is no human error which results in a lot of money.

Kyle Tuckey.

Voice inputThis has become a large thing not only in the economy but in society as well and has many uses. But one of the key uses for voice input is security for example many data vaults have voice readers equipped to analyze and identify speech patterns to identify the person speaking people need this so that only high ranking employees are able to access precious data it is also used for other purposes for example some machinery in factories take voice commands to make input of commands easier and less complex than having to search through menus of commands for one command. This has also opened up more job positions who are physically disabled for example if there is a man who has no arms without voice input he would not be able to type or do anything that involves the use of hands so with voice input he can input commands without having to have physical contact with the machine itself

Thought inputThere is not any real example of a machine that uses thought input at this moment in time but in the future this will have a large impact on the economy. Basically if we are able to command machinery with our thoughts just think of how many devices will become redundant remote controls, and any device that remotely controls another or uses buttons in general because we will be able to command machinery without any physical action at all. This will probably also lead to a larger decrease of human resources which will lead to more money also thought input is essentially more secure than any other input because the commands cannot be intercepted so it will increase security think about it a device that opens based on the thoughts of a specific person. There is a device that has been recently released to the public called the ‘Emotiv systems mind-control device’ which is basically a

headset you wear which reads sensory input from our brains and uses that input to command computers. It has been experimented with games and it has been used to command computers as well and has been said to in the future replace mice and keyboards so how would that affect the industry? Well you would be able to control the machinery with a thought so there will be no physical activity needed which means that you could operate the facility you are working in much faster since you won’t have to move to various locations to operate various machinery. Also the headset itself can learn patterns to what you operate so over time it will begin to execute those patterns which will only increase the speed of productivity in the workplace.

Kyle Tuckey.

CULTURE

The ways in which people use ComputersComputers have changed the world as a whole but in different ways. Pretty much every person in the world owns a PC and a mobile phone which they use for research, entertainment, communication and other reasons. People use computers for almost everything they do in daily life. If they need to wash their cloths they will use a washing machine if they need to cook food they will use a cooker if they themselves need to wash they will use a shower. What was once done by hand is

now done by computers and machinery even travelling is accomplished through vehicles such as cars and trains. This is different in other countries that have not developed as much for example most of the E-waste from machinery is sent to India where it is burned down for the valuable materials it has and has become one of the largest selling markets in India.

Psychological and sociological impactSince the arrival of social networks the verbal communication of people outside of their homes has dropped majorly in fact some people communicate with others purely though social networks. Social networks allow you to talk with anyone, anywhere at any time so the entire world is connected. This means the need to go out and socialise is gone seeing as you can do all of that without going out. This has had an effect on our social skills leading to us shortening sentences or simple words into smaller easier words for example “Laugh out loud” is now “lol”. Entire conversations can be based on purely abbreviated words so when we finally do communicate face to face we may use those words during conversation because it has become “normal” to do so. Overtime the idea of going out to meet someone become unnatural to some people who have developed a reliance on the social networks to communicate with others and so become paranoid and afraid of going outside to meet other people. De-skilling is also more common now that computers are becoming simpler and easier to use. For example when computers were still a new thing the OS that ran on it was MS DOS which is a CLI interface which is extremely complicated to use and requires that you memorise a lot of complicated commands. When GUI came along every required a click of the mouse to operate and you didn’t have to memorise long lines of code to operate your system so computing now no longer requires a specialist to operate them and anyone can do it so the demand for IT specialists decreased phenomenally so the skills they had no longer benefitted them so you no longer practice them which causes you to forget how use the specialist skills you had hence the term “de-skilling”. Developing nations have also changed quite a bit due to E-waste. Due to the process required to break down the machine parts and get the valuable materials and the lack of safe tools to use and facilities the fumes from burning machine parts has damaged them both physically and mentally. Many people who engage in the process of breaking down E- waste for a long period of time actually ends up with a lowered IQ because of the fumes.

Kyle Tuckey.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT – THOUGHT PROCESSED INSTANT MESSAGING

How it WorksThe basis for this idea was based on two things mobile phones and thought processing. We know that mobile phones have become an extremely strong part of our daily lives to the point we can’t imagine our lives without them. The reason for this is because it has connected every single person who owns a mobile phone to a network that is quick and easy to use so you can potentially contact most of the global population with one device. We use these devices to talk to family members, call security services, and to even

order food. The other aspect of this idea is thought processing we are constantly using our brain for everything even when we are doing nothing which in my opinion is a waste of brain power. So how can we use our thoughts to contact others? This is the key question that I want to answer with this idea.

The most effective form for this device is a band that you place onto the back of your neck where your spine meets the brain cortex. This is the more comfortable form because it is in the perfect position to intercept your brain waves and there is no implants needed for this to work so why is this the best place to intercept brain waves? Well this is because this is where the data from the brain is sent across the body and back basically every time we move or do an action electric waves is sent from our brains to the nerves and muscles of the limb we are moving and tells it to move, the electric wave is then sent back to the brain. So the goal of the device is to intercept the wave as it is coming back to the brain and store our own data into it which is then received by the brain and processed so a good example of this would be a man in the middle attack for example you have a Ethernet cable connecting a machine to the network and you send data from the machine through the network but there is a part of the cable that has been tapped into that received the data and has stored its own data within the sent data back to the machine where it is then processed.

The device will be used as a new form of instant messaging similar to mobile phones except the message is sent straight to the brain through the device the devices themselves will be connected to the same network that phones use so everyone is connected. But surely there will be problems with this device such as how will the devices read our thoughts? Well as the electric wave is coming back towards the brain it is intercepted and the data is stored in the electric signal which is then sent to the brain you would sent data to the device as the electric signal travels back down because the commands you picture in your brain should be read by the device as the signal travels back down the spinal cord. Since it is connected to the same network as mobile phones you should be able to send and receive messages for example when you receive a message it is stored in the signal travelling to the brain and your brain processes it.

Kyle Tuckey.

How do you designate commands?The device won’t work if there are no commands so how do we set them? Well there will be a USB port for you to charge the device as well as to set commands via your computer once plugged in the machine will install two things: a driver for the device and a user interface for you to set commands as well as store contacts I think that simply reading your thoughts and sending them is impossible there has to be a command to let the device know what command you want so you will start off with thinking of “start message” in your head which is sent to the device through the signal which then prepares the message as the signal comes back it lets you know it’s ready to start sending so you start the next command which is you say the word “Human” in your head so it takes you to the contacts for humans then after that you simply think of the name of the person you wish to contact and because the device has learned the contact details of that person it knows exactly who to contact. Once the device has told you that the second part has been finished you then think up the text you want to send and finish it with another command called end of message once that is done you send the last command called send which is then received by the device of the other person. So the commands would be:

Start message > Contact > Human: Jack > “hello there I will meet you at 6PM” > end message > send

Commands such as start message, end message and send will already be ready for you so you only need to prepare the contact lists. Turning it off and on will be done by the use of a button since thinking on and off could get annoying.

So now that we know how to communicate with humans what about machines? Well the process is the same except when you reach the contact part you think of the word “machine” instead of “human” and depending on what you names the machine when setting up the contacts on your computer you would think of the computer name. Instead of saying a full sentence the command would be something simple like “run program adobe flash” which would then make it open flash. So it would go like this:

Start message > contact > Machine: PC-01 > “run program adobe flash” > end message > send

Impact on societyI think that if this device was to be created and worked how it should do it would quickly become globally popular with the public. People do not like having to hold phones to their ears (hence why they created Bluetooth headsets) and others don’t like people listening in on their conversations so this device allows you to make your conversations completely private because no one can read your mind and listen to the conversation you are having some people won’t even know you are having a conversation also people won’t need to hold phones to their ears because it is conveniently placed on the back of their necks out of sight from other people so basically instant messaging becomes more private and more comfortable. It also opens up a huge area of development in thought processing which could lead to new developments in the area

Impact on EconomyThis device is capable of 2 things contacting humans and commanding machines. So how do these affect the economy? Well messaging people would become quicker easier and more private so your calls can’t be tapped and your brain waves can’t be intercepted so company secrets can’t be leaked.

Kyle Tuckey.

As for commanding machines productivity will rise because there will be less need to do physical actions to get devices to work so you won’t have to run from area to area to get things done meaning the rate of productivity becomes faster which means you’re wasting less time which results in more money.

Impact on Culture.The device essentially replaces the need for mobile phones and may even replace the jobs of some people within the work place. People may develop a psychological need for the device as they use it more because they are more connected to other people than they are through a mobile phone and everything becomes more private. Some de- skilling may also occur because will this device there won’t be a need for keyboards or mice when commanding machines so many people will stop using the keyboard and mouse and start using this to operate machines and those who text or use mobile phones regularly will over time lose the ability to type at fast speeds and operate phones. Because this is replacing devices there could be an increase in E-waste so developing countries will receive more E-waste to break down.

Good and bad pointsGood

The device can’t be hacked. Productivity in the workplace increases. Instant messaging becomes more private. The device has a comfortable form and is easily concealed. Easy to use and manage. Is connected to everyone worldwide.

Bad

If not turned off you may receive a message at inappropriate times. Could become a distraction in for students. Can be annoying to suddenly receive messages sent directly to the brain If you have an idea make sure the device is turned off otherwise if you receive a message

you will probably forget the idea itself. Make sure it is turned off in conferences so you are not distracted.

Kyle Tuckey.

References:

http://www.automatingmanufacturing.co.uk/why-automation-matters/intro.html [date accessed 25/9/12]

http://www.automatedproduction.com/ [date accessed 25/9/12]

http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/flying-buddy-2-is-a-mind-controlled-quadcopter-2012094/ [date accessed 25/9/12]

http://www.luxist.com/2005/08/09/breitling-emergency-43mm-chronograph-with-distress-transmitter/ [date accessed 16/10/2012]

http://www.army.mod.uk/equipment/engineering/18825.aspx [date accessed 16/10/2012]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2142340/Mind-bending-Controlling-Windows-PC-brain-possible-hardware-shelves.html [date accessed 24/10/2012]

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

Society: Your examples are valid but very vague – your research notes should give you sufficient detail of types of HCIs to back up your discussion.

Economy: This section is rather too brief - could have given a lot more detail about the HCI impact. E.g. Details about increased individual productivity, reduced input from the users, mobile communications, creation of jobs etc.

Culture: Add comments about the impact of de-skilling work & impact in the developing nations. Negatives as well as positives

Overall Your assignment covers the impact of HCI in very general terms and I get the impression you have tried to remember everything you learnt without referring to any class notes or research. Consequently the reader doesn’t learn very much and there is not enough detailed discussion to achieve Pass.

Not yet achieved 13/10/12

D1 - evaluate the impact of a potential future development in HCI

Future prediction: thought processed instant messaging

This task has obviously interested you and you have written a thoughtful piece with some interesting detail. On the whole this assignment is not at the level expected for a distinction grade.

It should be presented as a newsletter or set of leaflets

Not achieved13/10/12