Richard Monson-Haefel is an award winning author, software architect and multitouch designer/developer. Check out his blog,Multitouch + NUI

NATURAL USER INTERFACES AND TOUCH SCREENS

By Richard Monson-Haefel


Until recently, the human-computer interface (HCI) that has dominated the world of computing has been the graphical user interface (GUI), which requires a keyboard and a mouse for input and displays information in the form of windows, icons, menus and pointers (collectively known by the acronym WIMP). GUI is the HCI paradigm that has dominated people’s interaction with computers for 30 years, but there is a new paradigm in human-computer interaction called natural user interfaces (NUI), which will usurp GUI’s dominance in the same way GUI superseded the command-line interface.

NUI is actually an umbrella term for a cornucopia of technologies that allow humans to interact with computing devices without the need for a mouse and a keyboard. These technologies include touch screens, speech recognition, pen-based interactions, hand gestures, and automatic identification (e.g., facial recognition, RFID, and voice recognition). Although they can each be used in isolation to complement the traditional GUI paradigm, they are much more powerful when combined. The best known NUI interface today is the Apple iPhone, which employs a touch-sensitive screen rather than buttons and dials. But the iPhone is only the tip of the NUI iceberg. In 10 years, the iPhone of today will seem quaint compared to computing devices that will be in common use.

In the very near future, touch screens will be combined with pen-based input, speech, in-the-air gestures, and automatic identification to create completely new experiences with computing devices that make GUI interfaces we use today (e.g., Windows, Mac and Linux) look as antiquated as the teletype. Keep your eye on the emergence of this new category of products based on NUI because they are going to change forever the way people interact with computers.