However, gestures are beginning to make their way into our interactive vocabulary through a variety of innovative input devices that-although not new inventions-have reached a tipping point when it comes to affordability, availability, and consumer acceptance. Till now, such subtleties have been largely absent from our day-to-day interactions with computers. With a touch, a glance, or a motion, we can convey a host of information. But human communication is nuanced and complex, filled with physical elements, subtle signals, facial expressions, and gestures. (Let’s hope, as UX designers, that our users do not see the interfaces we create as being toxic!)įor nearly 25 years, the keyboard and the mouse have provided the physical connection that mediates most of the interactions we have with computer technology.
But in the virtual world, we require abstractions and use intermediaries to accomplish our tasks for us-like engineers who have to manipulate a robot arm to move radioactive material around inside a reactor. Does performing a particular action require a single click or a double-click? Can I drag that file to move it or launch an application, or do I need to use a dialog box? What’s the keyboard shortcut for magnifying images in this particular program again? In the real world, we don’t need to double-click a piece of paper to read it or move it. In the virtual world, though, we constantly have to think about how to take such actions. Turn a photograph around on a table? Pick it up to take a closer look? Put it into a file folder? All of these are purely automatic actions. In the physical world, we don’t have to think about manipulating an object-we just do it. While it’s a given that engaging in our digital experiences requires physical devices, it may be less obvious that the input method affects the way in which we communicate with our computers-particularly, the way we feel about the experience. As we create our digital lives-communicating and socializing with others, collecting content for business and pleasure, building objects with software, buying products-we understand that, despite its moniker, this existence is only half virtual.
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