Artificial Ingenuity - Research - The New Computer-Human Interface

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The New Computer-Human Interface

The first recognizable electronic computer called ENIAC was a room sized collection of over 18,000 vacuum tubes built in 1946, and was programmed by wiring different banks of tubes to each other. The history of computer-human interaction now spans almost sixty years, and shows a clear evolutionary process of convergence with normal human communication modalities.

There have been a number of innovations that forever changed the human-computer interface paradigm. Some of the major shifts in conceptual boundaries have tremendously increased the usefulness of computers by bringing them closer to normal human interaction. Several of these key paradigm shifts are below, the first five have occurred, and the last two have been predicted but not realized. As follows:

     1.      Acceptance of the Von Neumann computing model, having a processing unit directed by a stream of instructions. Prior to this the computer itself was re-wired as a circuit with an output representing the computational result.
     2.      Incorporation of abstractions from the physical design of the processing unit, allowing "languages" which express problem modeling.
     3.      Use of EBCDIC, ASCII, etc. to represent computational values and results in human language.
     4.      Conception of the "User-Interface" as a means of programs interacting with non-programmers.
     5.      Implementation of "Graphical-User-Interface" technologies, allowing abstract representation of computer system objects and data.
     6.      Natural language technologies, allowing computer directives to be phrased in less precise human language terms, rather than as specific and rigid programming statements. Strangely, this technology has only appeared embedded within complex applications, and is largely ignored.
     7.      Voice output and speech recognition, allowing human interaction in a more natural form than traditional computer input/output devices. Many big players, including IBM, expected this new technology to change the way we use computers. However, this has remained primarily a novelty.

Reviewing the above steps, an obvious conclusion is that the more "human like" a computer becomes, the easier it is for a human to use it without extensive specialized training. As technology has advanced, the raw computation power of computing devices has increased by many orders of magnitude, allowing revolutionary paradigm shifts to be implemented. Why have the last two steps not been realized? They are merely changes in the method whereby humans must communicate in computer terms.

Regardless of the significant innovations and improvements made in this area, computer-human interaction is still limited by the user's ability to communicate on the computer's terms. The user must know how to use the operating system and the dozens of programs that come with it, as well as the "application" which fulfills the needed functionality, be it word processing, accounting, or information searching. These "computer literacy" requirements exclude very large segments of the population from reaping the benefits of computer technology.

The next revolutionary paradigm shift will be to make human-computer interaction human centric, breaking the computer centric paradigm we have followed for over forty years. The normal mode of human interaction is conversational, rather than procedural or declarative. Communication between the parties is a mutual process of refinement, implemented by a verbal social intercourse. A question that is too broad leads to a request for refined specificity, which leads to an answerable question being issued. Difficulties in communication are alleviated by the social components of the interaction.

Consider the following two "natural language" interactive scenarios:

Query: horses size
Results: 678,000 pages found, capacity exceeded, please refine query.
Query: tallest horse
Results: 37,200 pages found, capacity exceeded, please refine query.
Query: what is the worlds tallest horse
Results: 3,060 pages found, capacity exceeded, please refine query.

-Or-

Q. "How big are horses"?
A. "Do you mean their size or their weight?"
Q. "Oh, I mean how tall are they?"
A. "That depends on the type of horse, what type did you want to know about?"
Q. "umm, well, how tall is the biggest horse there is?"
A. "The tallest horse ever recorded was named Goliath, and he was 6ft tall at the shoulder. He was an English Shire that lived from 1981 until July 3, 2001"

The vast majority of computer users, no matter their level of ability, have grown frustrated and dissatisfied while attempting to communicate to a computer what they wish to accomplish. Given the above examples it is highly unlikely that any user, even those not computer literate, would be deterred by the conversation. The social interaction basis of the second interaction is the normal default communication style for human beings. Communicating in other styles requires a translational change in modality, be it interpretation or conversion.

The new paradigm, which we shall refer to as "Social User Interfaces", brings the benefits of the computer age directly to a currently disenfranchised segment of the population. The full implications of this new view of computers will have to be determined over time, much as the previous evolutionary steps have been. One clear benefit will be that computer technology can become truly ubiquitous in our society, rather than limited to those comfortable with developing traditional "computer skills". Although computers exist in approximately 30% of the homes in the US, the total number of citizens considered "computer literate" is less than 12%. The Social Interface concept provides computer use ability to the majority of the population, regardless of social and economic boundaries.

There are a number of other social and economic implications to shifting human-computer interfaces to the realm of social communication. Modern computing models are based upon the concept of the "work station", comprised of physical input and output devices, such as a keyboard and video monitor. The SUI concept removes the necessity of this model, and would not require a physical input device if speech recognition technology is applied.

The miniaturization of computing devices has been limited by the physical requirements of the input devices. The SUI potential encompasses a device as small as a hearing aid, which the user can interact with verbally. Given the expanding networked environment, any visual or printed output could be directed to the nearest device. The author encourages readers to review the MIT Project Oxygen documentation, as that the ubiquitous environment being designed and implemented is a natural platform for the SUI concept. Their web site is at: http://oxygen.lcs.mit.edu/

Some of the applications for SUI technology include, but are not limited to:

       1.      Personal digital assistants usable by anyone.
       2.      Non-workstation location limited computer use.
       3.      Computer access from any phone or cell phone.
       4.      SUI based tutoring programs for schools or home use.
       5.      Social/entertainment applications.
       6.      SUI based digital language interpreters for business, politics.
       7.      Home/business automation systems.
       8.      Shared computer systems using normal communication networks.
       9.      Automated receptionists, phone systems.
     10.      Paid use consultation databases for medicine, science, law.
     11.      Fully functional "Wearable Computers".
     12.      Automobile navigation, automation systems.
     13.      Information mining systems usable by anyone.
     14.      Automated training systems of all kinds.
     15.      Public library, information systems.

The computing power and artificial intelligence technologies now exist to bring about this conceptual revolution. The potential and power of this new paradigm has been overlooked temporarily, much like the development of the Graphical User Interface and mouse was overlooked by Xerox in the 1980's. Massive changes in the abstract conception of technology is often misperceived or not recognized during infancy, for the very reason that it requires a shift in paradigm. Even a technologically prolific company like Xerox can miss the GUI potential that Windows fulfilled.

Social User Interfaces bears the promise to truly bring computers to the people as has been envisioned for years by futurists and science fiction authors. The children of today expect it, and societal need mandates that it become a reality.

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