Wednesday 9 March 2011

How will HCI develop and impact us in the future?


HCI and the technology is improving a lot. Technology now will be outdated in 5 years time because of the new ideas and discoveries. Maybe the mobile phones in the future can do more than a desktop computer can today. In the future, the technology will be more user friendly and accessible to more users. Technology in the future will be more helpful to people and more automation will be developed. This will impact us in the future. Most of the work in the future could be computerized or automatic. More people can communicate easily in the future.

This is a video of how mobile media and communication developed through the years and how much it will develop in the following years.

Wednesday 2 March 2011

HCI and Culture


Domestic Appliances
Domestic appliances have HCI and display to show the user on how to use the appliance.
For example, a washing machine has digital displays to show how long the washing is going to take and how many rotation there is per minute.
There is a good effect of this technology in the society because there are appliances with that can display different languages digitally and people can change in languages that they can understand.
Mobile Phones
Mobile phones are a portable telephone. You can use this equipment to communicate with people by calling or texting. Some of the new mobile phones have internet and you can use the internet on your phone to access websites such as social networking websites.  People use phone in everyday life. It helps them connect to other people. It can also be used to gain access to information easily from anywhere in the world.

Mobile entertainment
A mobile entertainment is a type of entertainment or gadget that you can use when on the move. Laptops, mobile phones, and handheld games consoles are examples of mobile entertainment. Mobile entertainment has a good impact on culture because now people will use their mobile entertainment even when they are out. More of the consoles and equipments are user friendly so more people will use them as a means of entertainment while out on the move.  Some of the handheld games console can also connect to the internet. This will help them communicate with other people with other cultures.
Games
Video games are a type of entertainment that you can do inside the house. Mostly teenagers play video games on their desktop computer or games console like ps3 and xbox360. This has a good effect on culture because nowadays, games console have internet access so you can play with people from around the world and you can also communicate with them. There is also a negative effect on culture because people don’t go outside much because they are addicted to gaming. They cannot meet friends and they just communicate with their virtual friends or their friends inside the game.
Deskilling
Deskilling is the means of using technology to replace worker in crafting industry. Companies buy this type of technology because it is much cheaper to pay for it rather than to pay for a worker monthly. Also this type of technology can work or operate 24/7 and also a machine doesn’t take work off compared to workers.  This has a bad impact on the culture because more people will become unemployed and the crime rate might rise because of this.
Laptops
A laptop is a computer used for mobile use. It is powered by mains electricity by using an AC adapter. You can use laptop when on the move. There are also different uses for laptops like going on the internet for social networks and gaming. Laptops bring different people with different culture together because it has made communication easier for people who are always on the move. There are also translation websites and software that makes you understand different language.

Developing nations
Developing country is a term used to describe a country that doesn’t have enough technology to live up to high standards to live but some developing countries have high average standards of living. Developing countries need to depend on the technology that they will have and that will affect many people in the developing countries. Developing countries does have an effect on culture because if the countries want to improve they will acquire some of the technology and this will help them improve.

Monday 28 February 2011

HCI and the Economy


Advantages
HCI has good impacts on the economy; some businesses use internet to advertise and sell their products and that will boost their sales. As economy grows, some companies develop new computerised systems and that also boosts the company’s sales. Online banking also helped the economy as it makes it easier for users to transfer money and pay bills directly.
Disadvantages

 
Some hackers use advertisements and e-mails and pretend to be a real bank and scam other users in getting their personal details and bank account details. Also, as new technology develops, some companies throw their old computer systems and dump it somewhere out of the country. Some of the computer waste or e-waste has dangerous chemicals and it will pollute the environment and people around it.
Reducing the complexity of input
Reducing the difficulty of input has a good impact on the economy. For example, cars have so many and complicated settings on the HUD. By making the settings easier, more people will be comfortable and they will understand how the system works. The economy will benefit on these type of technology because if a company develops something that is easy to use, more people will buy the equipment.
Increased automation
This will need less manual labour, which means that a company don’t need many employees. The company will save money because they will pay less for the manual labour and this will make their product cheap. One disadvantage of this type of technology is people cannot afford to spend lots of money because there are only few jobs left.
Speed up inputs
This technology can read documents in a really fast time and it rarely makes a mistake from reading a document or file. It speeds up the processing of documents and files. The economy will save money because they will not employ someone to read any documents anymore. They could just use a speed reader.
Text readers
This is a software that can read text in Internet Explorer, MS Word, Adobe pdf files and e-mails. The effect of text reader in economy is a person who is finding hard to read can use this type of software and they will understand the text. This will make them buy the software or even buy a computer because there is a software that can help them to overcome their difficulties therefore boosting the economy with sales.
Automatic judgement of output
Automation is the use of control systems to reduce the need of people working in production. Automation is one of the important roles in the economy. The effect of this technology in economy is people now use automation to make their life easier and this will help them. For example, in a factory they can use automation to produce their product easily rather than letting the workers do the manual work.  This will help the factory to meet their deadlines and their target number of products.
Voice Input
Voice recognition is one of the most used computer input devices. It is one of the easiest methods for data entry because you don’t have to type out the words, you can just speak and the computer will recognize the words and type it out for you. Some products recognize 30,000 word vocabularies to 60,000 words. Some of the voice recognition software recognizes 95% of the words. The effect of this technology in the economy is people will use this software to make it easier for them to do some tasks. This will also help an organisation create documents because they can just speak and the software will type what they are writing.  This will be easier for workers.
Thought input
Thought input is one of the new technologies that are being developed by companies. This technology allows a user to use his thoughts to control a computer system. For example, if you want to dial a phone number, all you have to do is think of that number and the phone will dial the number that you are thinking of. This technology has a good impact on economy as it will be easy for other people to use a computer. For example, a handicapped user or employee could just use thought input to do his work. This could increase the productivity of a company.

Mobile Communication
Mobile communication is a type of communication that you can use while on the go. Mobile phones, laptops are the examples of this communication. This technology allows us to communicate even if we are on the bus, car, or a train going to work. This has a good impact on the economy because people can now arrange meetings and communicate with each other just by using a mobile phone.

HCI and the Society

HCI or human computer interface is making the computer work for us to make it easier for us to do activities or make some work.  Computers enable us to make purchases in the internet (Amazon, eBay) and it is easy because in just a few clicks you will purchase anything that you want in the comfort of your home. Computers also allow us to be entertained by gaming or social networks (Myspace, Facebook). One disadvantage of this technology in the society is, people don’t go out too much because almost everything they need can be purchased and delivered in their home. Also, some users prefer chatting online rather than going out and socialise in person. Some users get addicted to game and they play their games all day and not going out to get some exercise.  
People use computerized devices system because they want to achieve their goals easily. For example, if a user wants to do an essay for their coursework, they will use Microsoft Word rather than writing in pen because writing in pen is quite messy if you get mistakes but in the computer, you can correct some spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes easily before printing it.
Computerised systems should be easy to learn and use to make it available to a large audience. If you make a computerised system complicated to use, a few users will know what to do and some beginner users will not know what to do. And if the systems are not easily learnt, some users might take a lot of time learning it and they might give up if it is too complicated for them. Making computerised systems user friendly will have a good impact to the society because users can do tasks on computers easily and effectively.
HCI made it easier for people to use technology and it has made communications or daily chores easier. Mobile phones made it easier for people to communicate with others. Flexible phones make it easier to store phone safely. Touch screen technology also helps people to use the phone without pushing any button. Some of the new technology and HCI is user friendly and it is much easier and accessible to new users.
HCI also helps people with disabilities to use computers easily. For example, if someone has a disability and has trouble with typing something in the computer, they can use speech recognition software. They can just speak and the computer will type what they are saying. This impacts the society because people with disabilities can work even if they have disability. They can also contribute to society even if they are disabled.
HCI creates equipments or software that is user friendly. This impacts the society because more people will use computers and this will bring people together. More people also will work with computers because it is easy and this will help them with their job.
Domestic appliance displays helps the society. Appliances with digital displays can help people. For example, a digital display in a washing machine will tell people know when the washing up is finished. People with disabilities can also benefit to digital displays in appliances. For example, people that are deaf could just look at the display and this will tell them information about what the appliance is doing.
There are pilots who use remote control airplanes called drones to control an aircraft in their airbase. This will help them because they can just control the aircraft without risking their lives. It is also helpful for disabled pilots who are injured. For example, if they lose their feet on an accident, they can apply as a pilot ant control aircrafts using remote control devices.
Data logger has a big impact on the society. This will allow a worker to collect information about every person. This helps the society by finding about a specific person. For example, someone has broken the law. The police will look at the data and all the information that the person has.
Fly by wire is a system that replaces the manual flight control. This system allows automatic signal sent by the aircraft to perform actions. This helps the society because people can just use a system to control an aircraft. it does have a negative effect on society, because airports will just rely on computers to fly an aircraft and some pilot might lose their job.
Virtual reality has a good effect on the society. People can experience anything in the virtual reality. They can also use virtual reality to create something unreal. The negative effect of virtual reality is people or users will get stucked on virtual reality and not in the real world.
Heads up display helps the society because they will give information on what the machine is doing. They could also know what the limitation of equipment is. A negative effect of this is people are now relying on HUD and it might give wrong information.