HCI has an impact on more than just society, it has an impact on cultures within our society and the way different cultures perceive new technology is different depending on the culture itself. Electronic devices are gradually becoming a bigger part of our lives and taking over our free time and becoming things of habit. There is a law known as Moore's law which states that computer power doubles every two years. This is implying that over time the amount of tasks electronic devices can perform is increasing and this has a direct effect on the way we can use them in our every day lives.
Smart phones are a key example of how technology is progressing all the time, the things that are smart phones are capable of these days would once have seemed beyond imagination, however as the Moore's Law states, if technology is advancing at such a rapid rate then who knows what will be around another 2 years. Smart phones are capable of allowing people to run there lives from their phone. Things such as shopping on-line and browsing emails to managing your finances. Phones also come with multi-core processors which is used also in some desktop and many notebook computers. As i mentioned in the society post text-to-speech, voice recognition and touch screen are all being experimented with all the time to see how it can be moved forward. Using social media sites is an example of how smartphones can have a big effect on culture, by being provided mobile internet people can access Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. This goes for entertainment too, there are many games that can be obtained from app stores which opens up a whole new area for people to create applications and games, as well as using apps such as Netflix.
When everything is taken into account, there are many pros's as well some cons for how HCI has a direct effect on culture's. It has opened up doors for the community to get involved and create their own apps to be displayed and interacted with on electronic devices. It can help different cultures to understand how other cultures live and are portrayed but to also give their own views and opinions which can often lead to conflict but also positive outcomes.
Monday 2 February 2015
Economy
HCI is being developed at such a fast rate that the productivity created by people has increased rapidly. With the advances in computing and robotics means that more things are now automated in turn of being controlled by people, there are already many examples of this in places such as factories and the machinery that the factories use to mass produce products, it is easier to manage the machines than it is to manage the people that are working on the line and in control of the machines. However there are still people needed to maintain the machines and make sure they are running all the time.
A commonly used form of automation is the management of documents and reports. These can all be done using texting, emails and other word based applications and software. Distributing them is easy using email and multiple recipients can be selected at once. The emails are then stored on a database with back ups therefore they are safe and not at risk of being lost or deleted. Smart phones enable users to edit documents when you do not have desktop or laptop access available to you.
A way that many companies have utilized the development of HCI technology is by setting up E-Commerce websites, which allow them to promote and sell their products or services via online transactions. This is much preferred over retail stores as it offers the chance to open your doors to a much wider audience and many other benefits. It is also much cheaper than building a store in the high street's, setting up e-commerce doesn't cost nearly as much. With the development of technology comes more laziness from the consumers and if people can help it they will stay at home, well e-commerce offers a chance for people to stay in the comfort of their own home whilst they do their shopping. More supermarkets and companies are taking to e-commerce now as it is ever increasing in popularity.
There are multiple types of input that can be sped up with the enhancements of HCI. Shops want people to be able to shop with ease and with speed, when checking out and scanning bar codes, particularly in the self service check outs, it is important that they scan quickly and developments in HCI can enable the process to go a lot quicker and hassle free.
A commonly used form of automation is the management of documents and reports. These can all be done using texting, emails and other word based applications and software. Distributing them is easy using email and multiple recipients can be selected at once. The emails are then stored on a database with back ups therefore they are safe and not at risk of being lost or deleted. Smart phones enable users to edit documents when you do not have desktop or laptop access available to you.
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| This shows the homepage of 'Dropbox' which is widely used to share documents. |
A way that many companies have utilized the development of HCI technology is by setting up E-Commerce websites, which allow them to promote and sell their products or services via online transactions. This is much preferred over retail stores as it offers the chance to open your doors to a much wider audience and many other benefits. It is also much cheaper than building a store in the high street's, setting up e-commerce doesn't cost nearly as much. With the development of technology comes more laziness from the consumers and if people can help it they will stay at home, well e-commerce offers a chance for people to stay in the comfort of their own home whilst they do their shopping. More supermarkets and companies are taking to e-commerce now as it is ever increasing in popularity.
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| This shows the front page of one of the best E-Commerce websites available 'Amazon' |
There are multiple types of input that can be sped up with the enhancements of HCI. Shops want people to be able to shop with ease and with speed, when checking out and scanning bar codes, particularly in the self service check outs, it is important that they scan quickly and developments in HCI can enable the process to go a lot quicker and hassle free.
Society
HCI has an impact everywhere especially on society as a whole. Since HCI is improving the usability of almost all our devices that we use today then there is no surprise that it will have an impact on the way we go about our day to day lives. A user of a device with a good interface does not need to have as much training or even need to know a great deal of information. When a design is created for a device, the main agenda is the usability of the interface itself, its something that all UI developers ensure they have taken into consideration.
Touch screen technology is a good example of how using and navigating designs of interfaces has improved over time. It is particularly important and common on devices such as tablets, mobile devices and many other hand held devices as well as screens such as tills in food restaurants. This all has an impact on the way we can under go our day to day lives and go about it much quicker and with more ease.
Another attempt to change society with HCI was with voice recognition and that has been experimented with and that was with the Siri voice on the iPhone. Other phones to have tried their own versions such as the windows phone, however none of these have had anywhere near the same impact on society that touch screen had and has not caught on at quite the same speed. One of the main problems that devices with voice recognition have is actually being able to understand what anyone that uses it is saying, as people from different accents and languages are not always recognized.
This is all in place to make using devices easier to the public and moving the development process forward in order to keep up with competitors on the market. For example the iPhone, windows phone and Android are all competing with each other to make their device more user friendly than the other company. This effects society because we as the consumers have more of a choice in which device we can use or purchase.
The development of these easy to use interfaces has an impact on users with disabilities as well. There is technology such as text-to-speech, this enables people who have their vision impaired to be able to get a description read out to them, this way the only have to listen and don't have to try and read any writing. A good interface and design can be implemented into military applications to enable drones to be flown without actually having to put a pilot in, this saves many lives and reduces the risk of human loss.
Touch screen technology is a good example of how using and navigating designs of interfaces has improved over time. It is particularly important and common on devices such as tablets, mobile devices and many other hand held devices as well as screens such as tills in food restaurants. This all has an impact on the way we can under go our day to day lives and go about it much quicker and with more ease.
Another attempt to change society with HCI was with voice recognition and that has been experimented with and that was with the Siri voice on the iPhone. Other phones to have tried their own versions such as the windows phone, however none of these have had anywhere near the same impact on society that touch screen had and has not caught on at quite the same speed. One of the main problems that devices with voice recognition have is actually being able to understand what anyone that uses it is saying, as people from different accents and languages are not always recognized.
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| This is the Siri voice recognition on the iPhone |
This is all in place to make using devices easier to the public and moving the development process forward in order to keep up with competitors on the market. For example the iPhone, windows phone and Android are all competing with each other to make their device more user friendly than the other company. This effects society because we as the consumers have more of a choice in which device we can use or purchase.
The development of these easy to use interfaces has an impact on users with disabilities as well. There is technology such as text-to-speech, this enables people who have their vision impaired to be able to get a description read out to them, this way the only have to listen and don't have to try and read any writing. A good interface and design can be implemented into military applications to enable drones to be flown without actually having to put a pilot in, this saves many lives and reduces the risk of human loss.
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