Nnews
Technology | DOI: 10.1145/1646353.1646360
Kirk L. Kroeker
Alternate interface
technologies emerge
Researchers working in human-computer interaction are
developing new interfaces to produce greater efficiencies in personal
computing and enhance miniaturization in mobile devices.

HArDWArE EnGInEErS COn- TInUE to pack more pro- cessing power into smaller designs, opening up an ar- ray of possibilities that researchers say will lead to human-computer interfaces that are more natural and efficient than the traditional hallmarks of personal computing. These smaller designs have given rise to new mobile platforms, where the barrier to further miniaturization no longer is the hardware itself but rather humans’ ability to interact with it. Researchers working in human-computer interaction (HCI) are dedicating effort in both areas, developing interfaces that they say will unlock greater efficiencies and designing new input mechanisms to eliminate some of the ergonomic barriers to further miniaturization in mobile technology.

Photo coUrtESy oF kay hErSchELMaNN

Patrick Baudisch, a computer science professor at Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, points out that there are two general approaches to HCI, a field that draws on computer science, engineering, psychology, physics, and several design disciplines. One approach focuses on creating powerful but not always total-

nanotouch, a back-of-device input technology for very small screens on mobile devices and electronic jewelry. the technology demonstrated here by Patrick Baudisch was developed at microsoft Research and hasso Plattner institute.

ly reliable interfaces, such as speech
or gesture input. The other focuses on
creating less complex, more reliable
input techniques. Partial to the second
approach, Baudisch argues that inter-
faces developed with simplicity and
reliability in mind facilitate an unin-
terrupted engagement with the task at
hand, increasing the opportunity for
users to experience what psychologist
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls “opti-
mal experience” or “flow.”
Baudisch began his HCI career in
the Large Display User Experience
group at Microsoft Research, where he
focused on how users could interact