Content: A few weeks ago, I went to California to visit my son and his girl friend. When we walked into the home, they were standing in front of a large TV with blaring music and a concert; she was dancing and playing the drums and he was playing a wild guitar. It was their music that was being created and I do not know if I would have gone to the concert. However, I learned later that this was the WII. The Wednesday lecture made me rethink this experience that I really could not relate to at that time. This is the face of human computer interaction that makes a computer more than a computational machine. A whole multidisciplinary field with psychology, computer science, anthropology, software engineering, and sociology is evolving. It is not without risk as we develop “techno-dependency.” In turn, these “new kinds of digital tools” and novel devices lead to an independent new development. “Central into the new agenda is recognizing what it means to be human in a digital future.” (Sellen et al). As part of this, the article by Rich opens up new ideas about how we can interact with devices, even some of the simplest devices that we now have that are complex and also inconsitent. User interfaces with ANSI/CEA 2018 may help create task based menus that allow learning of the device instructions. This is a more limited scope than the interaction of human and computer, but nevertheless just as important. However, this type of concept also allows generalization to devices made by different manufacturers without diminishing the device uniqueness and differentiation that is demanded for profitability by the different manufacturers. We need to be thinking about human and computer/device interaction and how each can benefit from other. Dr. Kanov spoke of universality and extend the ability of disabled or blind individuals to experience. Bad interfaces are not useful but can be acceptable if beautiful or cool. Part of the designs of software and hardware must involve user input and alteration from the beginning as part of multidisciplinary groups. A key feature is that just as software is written in a task based language that the definition and development of these tools must also be task based and hierarchail. Unfortunately, security and privacy issues are part of the human equation that have great risk. Different types of application demand different types of usability, as illustrated for emergent versus less emergent uses, which may often sacrifice satisfaction and user friendliness. User centered design versus activity centered design also becomes a tradeoff. It is clear that things have evolved since I built a short wave radio and got excited about listening to Nairobi or Budapest. I did not understand what they were saying anyway and I can not predict the novel ways that interactions with any one device and the human users will evolve. It is clear that this field has great potential application now and in the future to medical care and that I understanding Java and software engineering will be useful.

Posted by Stuart