The Future of Designing Human-Technology Interactions

Petr Kosnar

IamPetr.com

@faxecz

To know your future you must know your past

George Santayana

Let‘s talk about the technology as about a tool amplifying human capabilities. The tool typically has two sides – one fitting the user (the round side), and the other fitting the problem (the sharp side).

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More recent example of a human using technology... In comparison to the previous slide, the goal of this person is way more complex and abstract. The person wants to send a message to another person. Today‘s technology allows this: Extension of human capabilities.

Remember the communication in the times before this technology was available...

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...or even earlier. While talking about technologies and interactions, we are dealing with human capabilities, and technology capabilities. Humans are naturally not capable of communicating on a distance, so they need a technology that allows it. But note that the human remains the same!

human capabilities vs.

technology capabilities

We can shape technology, and control it. But we cannot (much) control human capabilities. Humans can just learn something new, but that is not a radical change in human capabilities.

human capabilities vs.

technology capabilities

Human capabilities are very limited. Limited perceptual abilities, attention, memory, motorics, strength, shape and size of our body, ... And the technology must fit these limitations if people are supposed to use it.

human capabilities vs.

technology capabilities Technology capabilities are unlimited in long-term view! Humans are constantly developing new technologies. Current generation can do what the previous generation was only dreaming about. If we face new problem, we usually try to find a solution and develop a technology that allows us to solve the problem – new tools.

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Example: autonomous car. Technologies are copying human abilities, and are often able to complete the tasks better than – incredibly imperfect – humans. The technology is here today... But when do people get access to it? There is a gap between inventing the technology, and the moment when it reaches the mass market.

ecosystem

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Technologies need ecosystem that makes them accessible to people. This ecosystem consists (not only) of: announcing the existence of the technology; telling people what it can be good for, and letting them to play with it; making it accessible; providing tools for using it (frameworks, APIs, testing platforms).

ecosystem

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Emergence of such environment takes a long time... Sometimes it never happens – there have been plenty of ground-breaking technologies that never reached wide public, because they never had an ecosystem around. Building up this ecosystem is a task for DESIGNERS.

Of course, it is easier to design within an existing ecosystem, but that does not bring anything new... Especially not anything what involves the new technologies. In order to achieve the innovation, we must intentionally create and shape new ecosystems.

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We must follow the latest discoveries, search for the ways of serving them to people in the best possible way – i.e. so that it solves their current problems. It‘s designers‘ role to make the latest technologies accessible (bringing them into people‘s houses), and shape the future and the environment for the next generation.

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We must not design for today‘s needs using yesterday‘s technology. We must design for the next generation, with a vision of 5, 10, 15 years. Utilizing technology that will be still novel in that timeframe.

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Do not be afraid of pushing people into learning something new – they will manage – they always did. There is nothing like „natural interface“, everything is learnt (e.g. , using a keyboard, touchscreen, ...). There are only more or less established mental models. We, as designers, are defining mental models of new devices!

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Design meaningful interactions

create the ecosystems for novel technologies

&

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Thank you! Petr Kosnar

IamPetr.com

@faxecz

Image credits 1. Flickr: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/35256023@N02/6282946000/) 2. Flickr: ebayink

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/24178168@N07/6816581220/) 3. Flickf: garryknight

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/8176740@N05/6789300666/) 4. The Detroit Bureau (http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2012/03/hands-

off-we-take-a-drive-gms-autonomous-super-cruise/) 5. Flickr: blakespot

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/35448539@N00/4773693893/) 6. Flickr: Humphrey King

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/53646146@N02/8199045417/) 7. Flickr: ebayink

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/24178168@N07/6816581064/)