When I think of the future of computer interfaces, there's one realization I keep coming to. There will always be a need for silent unencumbered expression of thought. And the most versatile method, it to use our ten digits. Hence my play on words, "Digital data entry". The most ubiquitous of these mediums are handwriting, typing, and texting, chronologically. Getting rid of the keyboard seems to me a nearly impossible ordeal. Gesture interfaces will be important, no doubt, especially as we deal with arranging and understanding huge quantities of data at one time. Gesturing a business email though, won't catch on. Even with intelligent software that can help predict and show the most likely words you may use next, it just doesn't make sense to use your arms that much for text entry. Though, I suppose there will be some who adopt it for the sole purpose of burning a few calories while they waste away inside a cubicle. Kind of like the office chair ball.
I could see someone marketing gesture software for the office though, something that sells itself as a fitness product. Take a Wii balance board and put it on a chair. That's your mouse, and you shift your weight to point it around. Work those obliques! Then use a few wands, like a Wii or Playstation Move, and design some small pockets to add weight as you wish. Viola, you may look silly, but your arms and abs could look better. I'll make that prediction now, someone will use this idea. But this can only be a fad, or an option for young vain executives, and silly creative types (me?), you'll never see this set up in a library. We must design for the lowest common denominator, and the fact is, there are many people out there that don't have the ability, or don't want to waste their energy while they write an email or surf the web.
We have 10 fingers capable of individual movement, and we need an interface that reacts to our input. Gestures cannot do this physically, only aurally. Feedback is important, buttons are important. That's why touch screens (virtual buttons) click audibly or vibrate physically, to help us know something has been pressed. I do not doubt the variety of ways this technology can be used, but you won't see it in the accounting office.
What else could we input with? Voice? Yes, but we're not going to talk out the email we're sending mother at work in front of everyone, nor would we want a whistle blower to have to verbalize an anonymous tip off. Silence is definitely key here. Of course it is, that's why texting is so huge now. I think we all realize that texting is basically mobile telegraph stations. It appears kind of backwards. If we can just talk, why don't we? The telephone took much longer to develop, and it revolutionized the world. Well, the reality is, we can't always talk. I like to send someone my thoughts while I'm thinking them, but maybe they're at work. Maybe it can wait (ex: "You left your hat"). Maybe you don't need a response, like ("I'll be upstairs at Henry's"). There are a million reasons not to speak your message, and there's hardly a phone out there that hasn't tried to make texting easier. By QWERTY or by predictive text, T9, etc. There's a very real need for it, don't get turned off because 13 year old girls aren't talking anymore.
So what then? Mind control? Should you be able to control a public computer? What connection does that computer have with you? Can you control another persons computer? I can't even imagine how easy it would be to accidentally send something, or think the wrong words to your embarrassment. This is filled with troubles and riddles, and all sorts of security problems.
So what is the future? The future is the keyboard I'm afraid. Could we all switch to a new data entry system? The fingers are just too good of an input device to ignore, but we've trained the whole nation to type on QWERTY. Tiny movements, 10 individual options at any given time, and the whole world has more or less accepted this device. Maybe there is a better layout, maybe we could merge some stenography concepts into a simpler looking device, but that would leave out the people that need to 'hunt and peck'. I think we've got another 40 years of this device, if not longer. Look at the original digital data entry machine. The first keyboard. The piano.
The piano stuck.
GeorgeP
Go watch "Ghost in the Shell", the series I believe, and gaze in awe at what Shirow Masamune has envisioned as the "new data input method" or keyboard. Basically, human hands are replaced with cybernetic hands that, in their default configuration, look and behave like normal hands. When the person needs to input data into a computer their hands transform (transformers!) into twenty smaller digits and FLY ACROSS A NEO-KEYBOARD. It is so awesome.
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