Welcome

This Science, Technology and Society course taught in the Computer, Writing and Research Labs asks the question: What does the future hold for User Interface (UI) design? We will examine how extrapolative technologies may inform our next generation of UI design. Virtual interfaces are leaving the desktop and re-emerging in phones, PDAs and ordinary objects like refrigerators. What do we think the next step will be?

The first part, or definitional phase, of the course will consist of an investigation of the construct of UI. To discover the future of UI, we must first understand its past and current status. The class will also spend time identifying the criteria of a good design a la Ed Tufte. The second part of the course revolves around the future of UI. We'll review UI technologies as proposed by a number of different visionaries in several fields: technical, literary and entertainment.

This course will use computer-assisted instructional technology in the furthering of class objectives. In addition to this website, we will also be using our campfire IM space and class forums to post information.

This website will be updated weekly and students are encouraged to review the weekly assignments prior to class start.

Additional Information

Interfaces are entrances to information spaces, and whether fictional or virtual (which can sometimes be the same thing), we must learn how to decode the interface before we can utilize the information it shapes. One way we learn the book interface in Western culture is through simpler instantiations of interface like primers and children's books. Though shorn of an original religious significance, the primer interface, made up of images and text, remains our elementary school introduction to the book interface. Neal Stephenson draws out this analogy by creating a primer that both expands upon current fictional interfaces (like fairy tales) and creates new ones (like a new phyle). The Diamond Age, or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (TDA) is an interactive story that incorporates the child and her needs into its narrative.

Stephenson's text encodes meaning by using a virtual interface that mirrors and shapes real world events. He reinvents the primer by reshaping its capabilities, not its history or purpose. The Primer incorporates different textual interfaces, like those of the fairy tale, dictionary and encyclopedia. But the crucial distinction between Stephenson's Primer and the conventional bound book is the use of interactivity. Interactivity is the core principle of TDA. The Primer responds to Nell's requests by shaping a fictional world that mirrors her needs. The human element in the Primer, Miranda, builds a relationship with Nell based on a level of virtual interaction. Characters in the text must engage themselves, either virtually or physically, in order to find answers. For example, an acting troupe, Dramatis Personae, uses its audience as its characters and their interactions as its script.

Stephenson's text also illustrates the importance of multiple perspectives of design. The Primer is a result of multidisciplinary collaboration. Today's research into interactive design is no different. The disparate elements of multimedia make such considerations necessary.

To read more about Stephenson and Tufte, continue to the theory section.