Of the five senses, the one that has survived the longest would have to be touch. While food, music, the visual arts or the delicious scent of perfume have been in our consciousness (and hurting our wallets) for centuries, the humble sense of touch seems inexplicably immune from commercialization.
I’m here to tell you that all this is about to come to an end, thanks to a millennia-old but newly fashionable concept called human computer interaction, or HCI.
HCI is about applying human abilities to the design of tools, systems and environments that are safe, effective and comfortable to use. This in itself isn’t exactly new; it’s been around since Cro Magnon man was fashioning his first flint axe.
So why has HCI’s time now come? In recent decades the big leap has been for artefacts to shift from being passive tools to computer-controlled systems, such as the desktop PC, mobile phone or in-car dashboard. Today, practitioners are looking at how to make interaction as smooth and effortless as possible.
Anything can be commercialized. To read more, click here.