Future interactions and the future of user interfaces

User interfaces are evolving. That's not necessarily something that a lot of people like to admit; that means you might need to actually test your newly evolved user interface on users! Nevertheless, user interfaces of the future will be radically different from their current state. The PEW internet project asked a collection of experts and futurists what the future of human interaction with technology will be like. There's broad agreement that reality will become increasingly virtual, just as virtuality will be increasingly realistic. And in order for that to happen, interfaces have a long way to go to become intuitive so they can be universally adopted by users coming from all the different backgrounds and perspectives that people have.

What will users look for in the future? That was the question asked of twenty different commentators and premonitors of the Internet and life in the next twenty years.

These were their predictions:

You've seen Minority Report? According to Sean Steele of InfoLock, "air typing" (or was it "air mousing"?) like we saw in that movie will be ubiquitous. But he is even more optimistic: Thought transcription is one of several ways in which the human computer interaction will be fundamentally altered in the next ten or twenty years. Twenty years seems a safe bet. According to Steele, eye tracking along with "predictive behaviour modelling" will also be huge advances. It used to be that the eyes were the window to the soul and that the medium is the message. If Steele is right, we might soon be able to say that the "eyes are the interface"

Ross Rader says, "We will see the display interface device separated from the input device over the next 12 years." Instead of bulky computers everywhere, people will keep their own data and plug their own input devices into display devices which "will be everywhere." Rader is a director at Tucows, the pioneer domains portal.

David Brin is the author of The Transparent Society which predicts that privacy will be overtaken by low-cost surveillance, communication and database technology. Begun as an essay in 1996, this already seems a passé premonition in the age of Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and the accountability they seem to entail. However, there are those who disagree, and indeed here in early 2009 accountability seems to be unheard of by many. In another respect, we seem to be as close to Brin's world as we are to Huxley's Brave New World which was written many, many years ago. In predicting interfaces, Brin says that "Your eyeballs will track your desires, sensed by your eyeglasses." Brin is interested in the way that interfaces will use subconscious alerts to give you what you want. How often have you wanted a question answered as you are asking it? According to Brin, there will be interfaces that "detect ‘almost speech' that you do not actually voice." Since many of us use technology to answer questions, this seems to entail a world that answers needs and questions before we even fully formulate them.

In this again, the divide between user and interface becomes more blurred. Brin hypothesizes small sensors on our teeth that will allow us to tap commands.

As an aside, John Underkoffler has shown in a TED Talk on the future of UI that direct interaction with 3D models of information through hand gestures is already well within our reach (pun unintended) and he promises that this type of interface will be standard by 2014-15. (Incidentally, Underkoffler was a consultant on Minority Report.)

Others interviewed by PEW point out the potential in wirelessness. Everywhere you go, you will interface with the environment in ways you can choose. "WiFi- and WiMax-enabled badges with voice recognition will act as personal assistants, allowing you to talk with someone by saying their name, to post a voice blog, or access directions from the Internet for the task at hand" says Jim Kohlenberger, director of the Voice on the Net Coalition.

Of course, these are only a few of the changes that might happen in the next years and decades. As we all know, technological change relies on a variety of competing factors and considerations. Now that the hype over web 2.0 has basically reached its peak, what will be the next big wave of the Internet? When will it strike - and most importantly - how will you be ready for it? You can read the full report from PEW.

You can find out about Interpix Design's usability services by contacting us now. Let us help you develop products that will help your company anticipate the future of user interfaces. Call us today.