The examples described here only scratch the surface in terms of ways in which we might interact with future computers of any shape or form.

 

orientation of the display is the primary form of input.

From Interactive Blobjects to Curved Computer Interactions. In the Interactive Blobjects project, we are today exploring opportunities afforded by marrying everyday objects with oddly shaped displays through tracking and projection. For example, Dynacan, the dynamic beverage can shown in Figure 6a, is an early prototype of a fully recyclable curved computer. Its display features Flash animations, videos, and RSS feeds. Future versions will be made of flexible full-color E-Ink, powered by a processor and battery pack inside the can. Users can scroll by rotating the can, which is sensed by a set of accelerometers. Electronic components can be made detachable prior to recycling the can. Dynacan is part of a larger workbench investigating OUI design. Figure 6b shows how any piece of cardboard, curved or a cube, can simulate a computer interface. By selecting dials, menus, and interactive skins from a palette of interaction styles (shown in the background) a simple cardboard box is turned into a fully functional iPod. Press a finger on the palette and the iPod becomes a fully functional iPhone instead. More complex blobjects are also possible, like architectural cardboard models with live animated textures, or interactive spherical displays, like the Google Earth browser in Figure 6c.

 

CONCLUSION

The examples described here only scratch the surface in terms of ways in which we might interact with future computers of any shape or form. Possibilities include computers with displays that are curved, flexible, and that may even change their own shape in order to better fit the data, or user for that matter. In Organic User Interface design, these computers will no longer be conceived of as distinguishable from the world in which they live. All physics acting upon displays, including their shape, will be used to manipulate information. Functions will be triggered through form changes that follow the flow of the ever-changing world of the user. In a world where multi-tasking is increasingly common, the chief purpose of an OUI is to interweave a plurality of highly contextualized, interspersed activities across a variety of disconnected contexts. One challenge will be for it to do so in a manner that carries consistency across

activities and contexts. Rather than a single OUI acting as an advanced Swiss army knife, users need to utilize the OUI that comes in the form most appropriate for a particular activity. Flexibility should not be misinterpreted as “one OUI fits all”: it is exactly in celebrating the diversity of display shapes that a wealth of OUI designs will find their purpose.

In the not-so-distant future, curved, full-color, flexible LEDs, OLEDs, or E-Ink displays will appear in our homes, furniture, e-books, jewelry, and clothing. When tired of the color of your suit, the pattern of your wallpaper, or the interface on your cellphone, you simply download a new one from an online store. Some hardware interfaces may one day be monitized like software entirely, substituting the wasteful trend of buying new atoms with that of more eco-conscious bits. That would be a final frontier in the design of computer interfaces that turns the natural world into software, and software into the natural world. ^c

 

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DAVID HOLMAN ( holman@cs.queensu.ca) is a Ph.D. student in the Human Media Laboratory at Queen’s University in Canada. ROEL VERTEGAAL ( roel@cs.queensu.ca) is an associate professor of Human-Computer Interaction at Queen’s University in Canada, where he directs the Human Media Laboratory.